E2B vs Vercel Sandbox
Answer in brief
Choose E2B for code interpreters and short-to-medium-lived agent tasks that need microVM isolation, with an open-source self-host path; choose Vercel Sandbox for teams on Vercel and agent builders who want microVM isolation, active-CPU billing and credential brokering. E2B uses Firecracker microVM isolation and is open source; Vercel Sandbox uses Firecracker microVM isolation.
E2B vs Vercel Sandbox at a glance
| Attribute | E2B | Vercel Sandbox |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | Open-source cloud sandboxes for AI agents, each a Firecracker microVM, with pause/resume, snapshots and forking. | Firecracker microVM sandboxes on Vercel’s infrastructure, persistent by default and billed on active CPU, with fine-grained egress control. |
| Isolation | Firecracker microVM with its own kernel per sandbox | Firecracker microVM with a dedicated kernel per sandbox |
| Open source | Yes (Apache-2.0) | No (SDK and CLI Apache-2.0) |
| Self-host / BYOC | Yes / Yes | No / No |
| SDKs | Python, JavaScript/TypeScript | JavaScript/TypeScript, Python |
| Cold start (vendor claim) | Not documented | “Start in milliseconds” (vendor claim, no figure); snapshot resume faster than fresh start |
| Max session | Up to 1 hour continuous (Hobby), 24 hours (Pro) or custom (Enterprise); pausing resets the clock and paused sandboxes are kept until deleted | 5 min default; up to 45 min per session on Hobby and 24 hours on Pro/Enterprise; persistent sandboxes can be resumed indefinitely |
| Persistence | Pause/resume preserves filesystem and memory; snapshots of running sandboxes, forking from a snapshot, filesystem-only snapshots, auto-resume and volumes (beta) | Persistent by default — filesystem auto-snapshotted on stop and restored on resume; manual snapshots; Drives (beta) and S3 mounts |
| GPU | No — sandboxes are CPU-only | Not documented |
| Networking | Internet on by default; can be disabled or restricted with allow/deny lists of IPs, CIDRs and domains; public sandbox URLs for exposed ports; custom domains and published egress IPs | Firewall modes allow-all, deny-all or domain/CIDR rules, updatable at runtime; credential brokering injects headers so secrets never enter the sandbox; public URLs for up to 15 ports |
| Pricing | Per second: $0.000014 per vCPU-second (~$0.050/vCPU-hour) + $0.0000045 per GiB-second (~$0.016/GiB-hour). Pro plan $150/month plus usage; Enterprise from $3,000/month | Active CPU $0.128/hour (billed only while CPU is used) + provisioned memory $0.0212/GB-hour + $0.60 per million creations, plus storage and transfer (iad1 rates) |
| Compliance | SOC 2 Type II; HIPAA BAA and DPA available on request | Runs on Vercel infrastructure with SOC 2 Type II (company-wide) |
| Best for | Code interpreters and short-to-medium-lived agent tasks that need microVM isolation, with an open-source self-host path | Teams on Vercel and agent builders who want microVM isolation, active-CPU billing and credential brokering |
Verified November 8, 2026 from each provider’s documentation. Cold-start figures are vendor claims, not our measurements.
Which should you choose?
Choose E2B if…
- You want the most widely integrated agent sandbox, with a large ecosystem of examples
- You need Firecracker microVM isolation for untrusted multi-tenant code
- You want an open-source codebase you can self-host or run via BYOC
- You want ready-made code-interpreter and desktop SDKs
Choose Vercel Sandbox if…
- You deploy on Vercel or use the AI SDK
- You want secrets brokered outside the sandbox
- Your agents idle while waiting on models and you want active-CPU billing
- You want persistent-by-default microVMs
Both are worth piloting with your own image and region. See the full E2B profile and Vercel Sandbox profile, or the complete comparison.
Frequently asked questions
Is E2B or Vercel Sandbox better for AI agents?
Neither is better for every workload. E2B is best for code interpreters and short-to-medium-lived agent tasks that need microVM isolation, with an open-source self-host path. Vercel Sandbox is best for teams on Vercel and agent builders who want microVM isolation, active-CPU billing and credential brokering.
Which is open source, E2B or Vercel Sandbox?
E2B is open source (Apache-2.0); Vercel Sandbox is not.
How do E2B and Vercel Sandbox isolate code?
E2B: Firecracker microVM with its own kernel per sandbox. Vercel Sandbox: Firecracker microVM with a dedicated kernel per sandbox.
Sources
Cite this page
Agent Sandboxes. (2026). E2B vs Vercel Sandbox. agentsandboxes.org. Last reviewed November 8, 2026. https://agentsandboxes.org/compare/e2b-vs-vercel-sandbox/
Found an error or a missing sandbox? Submit a correction — every entry links to the sources it relies on.