Vercel Sandbox vs Zipbox

Vercel Sandbox costs $0.128 per vCPU-hour and Zipbox costs $0.00685 per vCPU-hour. Vercel Sandbox runs Firecracker microVMs and limits a session to 24 hours. Zipbox runs Firecracker microVMs and has no session limit.

Updated

Vercel Sandbox

Isolation
Firecracker microVM
Free tier
5 CPU-hours every month
Max session
24 hours

Zipbox

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

What is different

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

Vercel Sandbox
Zipbox
vCPU, per hour
Vercel Sandbox: $0.128
Zipbox: $0.00685
RAM, per GiB-hour
Vercel Sandbox: $0.0212
Zipbox: Included
Storage
Vercel Sandbox: Snapshots $0.08 per GB-month. Drives $0.05 per GB-month in iad1, plus reads and writes. Hobby includes 15 GB of each.
Zipbox: Free
Free tier
Vercel Sandbox: 5 CPU-hours every month
Zipbox: $25 credit after a one-time $5 top-up
Paid plan from
Vercel Sandbox: $20 / month
Zipbox: Pay as you go
Billing
Vercel Sandbox: Active CPU time only
Zipbox: Bundled machine time
Max session
Vercel Sandbox: 24 hours
Zipbox: No limit
Largest sandbox
Vercel Sandbox: 8 vCPU · 16 GiB
Zipbox: 6 vCPU · 16 GiB
Snapshots
Vercel Sandbox:
Zipbox: No
Pause and resume
Vercel Sandbox:
Zipbox: No
SDKs
Vercel Sandbox: Python, JavaScript / TypeScript
Zipbox: TypeScript, Python, Go, Rust
Integrations
Vercel Sandbox: Claude Agent SDK, LangChain, OpenAI Agents SDK, Vercel AI SDK, Claude Code, MCP
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
Vercel Sandbox: $0.128
Zipbox: $0.00685
RAM, per GiB-hour
Vercel Sandbox: $0.0212
Zipbox: Included
Storage
Vercel Sandbox: Snapshots $0.08 per GB-month. Drives $0.05 per GB-month in iad1, plus reads and writes. Hobby includes 15 GB of each.
Zipbox: Free
Free tier
Vercel Sandbox: 5 CPU-hours every month
Zipbox: $25 credit after a one-time $5 top-up
Paid plan from
Vercel Sandbox: $20 / month
Zipbox: Pay as you go
Billing
Vercel Sandbox: Active CPU time only
Zipbox: Bundled machine time

Limits

Max session
Vercel Sandbox: 24 hours
Zipbox: No limit
Idle stop
Vercel Sandbox: Not listed
Zipbox: Not listed
Largest sandbox
Vercel Sandbox: 8 vCPU · 16 GiB
Zipbox: 6 vCPU · 16 GiB
Concurrent sandboxes
Vercel Sandbox: Up to 10,000
Zipbox: Not listed

Platform

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

Developer

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

Trust

License
Vercel Sandbox: Not listed
Zipbox: Not listed
BYOC
Vercel Sandbox: Not listed
Zipbox: Not listed

Hourly cost

One sandbox running for one hour

Vercel Sandbox
Zipbox
1 vCPU · 2 GiB
Vercel Sandbox: $0.170
Zipbox: $0.007
2 vCPU · 4 GiB
Vercel Sandbox: $0.341
Zipbox: $0.014
4 vCPU · 8 GiB
Vercel Sandbox: $0.682
Zipbox: $0.027

Compute only, at list rates.

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Which one fits

Based on the fields above

Vercel Sandbox 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

  • A session must run longer than 24 hours.
  • You want to pay only for usage, with no plan fee.
  • You want the lower list price: $0.014 against $0.341 an hour for 2 vCPU and 4 GiB.
  • You need a desktop in the sandbox.

More comparisons

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