Runtime vs Zipbox

Runtime costs $0.025 per vCPU-hour and Zipbox costs $0.00685 per vCPU-hour. Runtime runs Firecracker microVMs and has no session limit. Zipbox runs Firecracker microVMs and has no session limit.

Updated

Runtime

Isolation
Firecracker microVM
Free tier
100 hours of a 1 GB machine in the first 30 days
Max session
No limit

Zipbox

Isolation
Firecracker microVM
Free tier
$25 credit after a one-time $5 top-up
Max session
No limit

What is different

10 fields differ. The rest are the same or not listed.

Runtime
Zipbox
vCPU, per hour
Runtime: $0.025
Zipbox: $0.00685
RAM, per GiB-hour
Runtime: $0.0075
Zipbox: Included
Storage
Runtime: $0.000119 per GiB-hour after 10 free GiB
Zipbox: Free
Free tier
Runtime: 100 hours of a 1 GB machine in the first 30 days
Zipbox: $25 credit after a one-time $5 top-up
Billing
Runtime: Active CPU time only
Zipbox: Bundled machine time
Largest sandbox
Runtime: 16 vCPU · 64 GiB
Zipbox: 6 vCPU · 16 GiB
Snapshots
Runtime:
Zipbox: No
Pause and resume
Runtime:
Zipbox: No
SDKs
Runtime: JavaScript / TypeScript, Python, Go, Ruby, Java
Zipbox: TypeScript, Python, Go, Rust
Integrations
Runtime: OpenAI Agents SDK, Vercel AI SDK, Claude Agent SDK, LangChain, MCP, Claude Code
Zipbox: MCP, Claude Code, Claude Agent SDK, OpenAI Agents SDK, Vercel AI SDK, LangChain

Full comparison

18 fields, at each provider's list price

Pricing

vCPU, per hour
Runtime: $0.025
Zipbox: $0.00685
RAM, per GiB-hour
Runtime: $0.0075
Zipbox: Included
Storage
Runtime: $0.000119 per GiB-hour after 10 free GiB
Zipbox: Free
Free tier
Runtime: 100 hours of a 1 GB machine in the first 30 days
Zipbox: $25 credit after a one-time $5 top-up
Paid plan from
Runtime: Pay as you go
Zipbox: Pay as you go
Billing
Runtime: Active CPU time only
Zipbox: Bundled machine time

Limits

Max session
Runtime: No limit
Zipbox: No limit
Idle stop
Runtime: After 5 minutes
Zipbox: Not listed
Largest sandbox
Runtime: 16 vCPU · 64 GiB
Zipbox: 6 vCPU · 16 GiB
Concurrent sandboxes
Runtime: Up to 200
Zipbox: Not listed

Platform

Isolation
Runtime: Firecracker microVM
Zipbox: Firecracker microVM
GPU
Runtime: No
Zipbox: Not listed
Snapshots
Runtime:
Zipbox: No
Pause and resume
Runtime:
Zipbox: No

Developer

SDKs
Runtime: JavaScript / TypeScript, Python, Go, Ruby, Java
Zipbox: TypeScript, Python, Go, Rust
Integrations
Runtime: OpenAI Agents SDK, Vercel AI SDK, Claude Agent SDK, LangChain, MCP, Claude Code
Zipbox: MCP, Claude Code, Claude Agent SDK, OpenAI Agents SDK, Vercel AI SDK, LangChain

Trust

License
Runtime: Not listed
Zipbox: Not listed
BYOC
Runtime: Not listed
Zipbox: Not listed

Hourly cost

One sandbox running for one hour

Runtime
Zipbox
1 vCPU · 2 GiB
Runtime: $0.040
Zipbox: $0.007
2 vCPU · 4 GiB
Runtime: $0.080
Zipbox: $0.014
4 vCPU · 8 GiB
Runtime: $0.160
Zipbox: $0.027

Compute only, at list rates.

Open the calculator

Which one fits

Based on the fields above

Runtime fits when

  • You need snapshots.
  • You need pause and resume.
  • Your code waits a lot: CPU is billed only while it is in use.
  • You need a sandbox larger than 6 vCPU · 16 GiB.

Zipbox fits when

  • You want the lower list price: $0.014 against $0.080 an hour for 2 vCPU and 4 GiB.

More comparisons

See all comparisons

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