AWS AgentCore vs Azure Container Apps Sandboxes
AgentCore is an AWS agent platform: short 2 vCPU microVM sessions that stop after 8 hours, plus a managed Code Interpreter and Browser. Azure Container Apps Sandboxes are microVMs with no session cap that keep their disk and can suspend with their memory, inside your Azure account.
The companies and products
AWS AgentCore
Amazon Bedrock AgentCore is a set of AWS services to deploy and run AI agents: a Runtime that hosts your agent code, plus built-in Code Interpreter and Browser tools.
AgentCore is not a sandbox product first. It is a hyperscaler's agent platform: you push a container image or code, and each Runtime session gets its own Firecracker microVM that you reach through AgentCore APIs. Around it sit managed tools (Code Interpreter, Browser) and services for memory, identity, gateways and evaluations, and an Instances compute type runs longer sessions on EC2 in your own account. It is built for teams who already build on AWS and want agents to stay inside their account, IAM and VPC.
Azure Container Apps Sandboxes
Azure Container Apps Sandboxes is a service inside Microsoft Azure that gives each agent or user an isolated microVM you create, suspend and resume through an SDK.
It is part of Azure Container Apps, the hyperscaler's serverless container platform, and lives in your Azure subscription as a sandbox group resource. Each sandbox boots from an OCI image or a snapshot, has its own kernel, and can be suspended with its memory and resumed in under a second. It is built for teams already on Azure that want stateful code execution with Azure networking, identity and billing.
Which use cases each one fits
For each use case, Battleships prices every sandbox provider on the same workload and sorts them from the cheapest monthly bill up. “7th cheapest of 345” means 6 of the other 344 providers run that workload, with every feature it needs, for less. “With limits” means the provider runs it but misses something, so it is listed after every full match. Open a use case for its whole ranking and what each provider misses.
| Use case and its workload | AWS AgentCore: price rank | Azure Container Apps Sandboxes: price rank | boat: price rank |
|---|---|---|---|
| Software factory 100 at once · 4 vCPU / 8 GB · 2,200 sessions of 8 h a month A coding agent on AgentCore stops after 8 hours and keeps only its 1 GB storage mount; Azure keeps the whole disk but has no SSH or /dev/kvm, which boat gives every sandbox. | 100th of 367, with limits $888 a month | 288th of 367, with limits $5,276 a month | 3rd cheapest of 367 $634 a month |
| Always-on AI employees 50 machines 24/7 · 2 vCPU / 4 GB | 64th of 366, with limits $1,300 a month | 302nd of 366, with limits $6,544 a month | 5th cheapest of 366 $657 a month |
| Code interpreter bursts 100 at once · 1 vCPU / 2 GB · 200,000 sessions of 1 min a month Both fit short code runs well: AWS AgentCore ranks 7th with a managed Code Interpreter billed for CPU actually used, and Azure Container Apps Sandboxes ranks 34th with sandboxes that suspend and resume in under a second. | 7th cheapest of 345 $114 a month | 34th cheapest of 345 $354 a month | 186th of 345, with limits $2,000 a month |
| Sandboxes for your users 300 at once · 2 vCPU / 4 GB · 30,000 sessions of 23 min a month Azure Container Apps Sandboxes ranks 22nd and fits, since each user gets a sandbox with HTTPS ports; AgentCore sessions have no open ports, and boat ranks 1st with HTTPS on up to 50 ports per sandbox. | 210th of 361, with limits $506 a month | 22nd cheapest of 361 $2,260 a month | Cheapest of 361 $209 a month |
| RL rollouts 1,000 at once · 2 vCPU / 4 GB · 1,000,000 sessions of 3 min a month | 125th of 360, with limits $8,075 a month | 153rd of 360, with limits $10,740 a month | 34th of 360, with limits $2,000 a month |
| Agent evals 250 at once · 4 vCPU / 8 GB · 15,000 sessions of 20 min a month | 33rd cheapest of 364 $650 a month | 75th cheapest of 364 $1,728 a month | 10th cheapest of 364 $200 a month |
| CI runners 40 at once · 8 vCPU / 16 GB · 6,000 sessions of 12 min a month Both run CI jobs that fit their limits, but neither documents /dev/kvm for Android or VM builds; boat ranks 4th and exposes it. | 52nd cheapest of 377 $399 a month | 103rd cheapest of 377 $1,046 a month | 4th cheapest of 377 $86 a month |
| 24/7 dev boxes 1 machine 24/7 · 4 vCPU / 8 GB Neither offers SSH: AgentCore resets everything outside its storage mount after a stop, and Azure gives a shell through its own CLI and portal; boat ranks 18th with SSH and a disk that keeps everything. | 228th of 368, with limits $52 a month | 322nd of 368, with limits $262 a month | 18th cheapest of 368 $26 a month |
| Computer-use agents 50 at once · 4 vCPU / 8 GB · 20,000 sessions of 15 min a month AgentCore Browser drives a browser, not a desktop, and Azure's sandboxes are headless; boat ranks 6th with a Linux desktop streamed at 60fps. | 104th of 369, with limits $202 a month | 279th of 369, with limits $1,573 a month | 6th cheapest of 369 $200 a month |
| Browser-use agents 50 at once · 2 vCPU / 4 GB · 30,000 sessions of 10 min a month AWS AgentCore ranks 4th thanks to its managed Chromium with live view and replay; Azure's sandboxes are headless, so you bring your own browser, while boat ranks 7th with Chromium on a full desktop. | 4th cheapest of 367 $144 a month | 288th of 367, with limits $795 a month | 7th cheapest of 367 $200 a month |
| Scraping & bots (startup scale) 50 at once · 1 vCPU / 2 GB · 100,000 sessions of 3 min a month AWS AgentCore ranks 27th with its managed browser and proxy support, ahead of Azure's headless sandboxes; boat ranks 6th. | 27th cheapest of 346 $287 a month | 284th of 346, with limits $561 a month | 6th cheapest of 346 $90 a month |
| Mass scraping & bots (undetectable) 1,000 at once · 1 vCPU / 2 GB · 3,000,000 sessions of 2 min a month | 165th of 338, with limits $5,458 a month | 239th of 338, with limits $10,956 a month | 71st of 338, with limits $1,800 a month |
| Parallel red teaming 200 at once · 2 vCPU / 4 GB · 5,000 sessions of 30 min a month | 62nd of 360, with limits $294 a month | 278th of 360, with limits $517 a month | 2nd cheapest of 360 $200 a month |
| GPU eval jobs 10 at once · 8 vCPU / 32 GB · 500 sessions of 30 min a month | Can't run it | Can't run it | Can't run it |
| macOS agents 5 at once · 4 vCPU / 8 GB · 1,000 sessions of 20 min a month | Can't run it | Can't run it | Can't run it |
Key features
| Feature | AWS AgentCore | Azure Container Apps Sandboxes | boat |
|---|---|---|---|
| What it is | An AWS agent platform: hosted agent sessions plus managed Code Interpreter and Browser tools | A compute type inside Azure Container Apps: microVM sandboxes you create, suspend and resume through an SDK | A sandbox platform: each agent gets its own full Linux machine |
| Isolation | Firecracker microVM per Runtime session; Code Interpreter and Browser in a containerized environment | MicroVM per sandbox with its own kernel | Full VM with its own kernel on dedicated AMD Ryzen 9 9950X hosts |
| Biggest machine | 2 vCPU / 8 GB per microVM session, not adjustable; bigger EC2 types only on Instances | Tiers up to 4 cores / 8 GB; up to 16 vCPU / 32 GB by API | Up to 16 vCPU / 32 GB on the $100 plan and above |
| Session length | Up to 8 hours per lifecycle on microVMs, 15 idle minutes by default; up to 14 days on Instances | No documented cap; auto-suspends after an idle timeout, 5 minutes by default | No cap on paid plans; you set the time to live |
| What survives a stop | Only one storage mount under /mnt, up to 1 GB, in preview; EBS volumes on Instances; the rest resets | Memory and disk on suspend; resume in under a second with processes running | The whole disk, saved every minute and on stop; resume boots the machine again |
| Snapshots and fork | No user snapshots or fork of a session | Snapshot a running sandbox with its memory and create new sandboxes from it | Automatic snapshots every minute; fork a running sandbox with its disk |
| Docker, systemd and /dev/kvm | Root inside the microVM; arm64 container images; Docker and /dev/kvm not documented | The azure-dev image ships Docker on systemd; the default ubuntu image has only Buildah; nested virtualization not documented | Root, Docker, systemd and /dev/kvm for Android emulators and VMs on every sandbox |
| Inbound access and shell | No open ports or SSH; sessions are reached only through AgentCore APIs with IAM or JWT | Public HTTPS routes per published port; shell through the aca CLI, SDK or portal; no SSH or public IP | HTTPS URLs for up to 50 ports, token-protected by default; raw TCP; SSH |
| Network controls | VPC mode with security groups, PrivateLink and a NAT gateway for a fixed outbound IP | Egress policy with allow, deny, rewrite and header rules by host, path and method; VNet integration | Open internet, no provider-side allowlist |
| Browser and desktop | Managed Chromium with live view, session recording and replay, profiles and proxies; no full desktop | Headless; no desktop or managed browser | Full Linux desktop streamed at 60fps, with Chromium and computer use |
| Coding agents | AWS's own managed harness built on Strands Agents, or your own agent code in any framework | Copilot CLI and Claude Code images, run through the exec API | Claude Code, Codex and five more preinstalled, with a prompt, steer and events API |
| Keeping API keys out of the sandbox | AgentCore Identity stores OAuth tokens and API keys and hands them to your agent code | Group secrets usable in egress header transforms; Copilot and Anthropic tokens are injected into the sandbox at startup | Credentials proxy for model providers and any HTTPS API; switch a credential to another account when credits run out |
| GPUs | NVIDIA G-series and Inferentia2 on the Instances type | No | No |
| Regions | 17 commercial AWS regions plus GovCloud | 40 Azure regions, 9 of them in the EU | EU only (Germany, Finland, France) |
Every feature Battleships tracks (43)
| Feature | AWS AgentCore | Azure Container Apps Sandboxes | boat |
|---|---|---|---|
| Full VM (own kernel) | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Docker inside | Not published | Yes | Yes |
| Nested virtualization | No | No | Yes |
| Root | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Systemd | No | Yes | Yes |
| Desktop GUI | No | No | Yes |
| Browser | Yes | No | Yes |
| Computer-use API | Yes | No | Yes |
| SSH | No | No | Yes |
| Persistent disk | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Pause/resume | No | Yes | Yes |
| Automatic snapshots | No | Yes | Yes |
| Fork/clone | No | Yes | Yes |
| Live fork (no pause) | No | Yes | Yes |
| Memory fork | No | Yes | No |
| Custom image (Docker or snapshot) | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| ≥24 h sessions | No | Yes | Yes |
| Idle auto-stop | Yes | Yes | No |
| Wake on request | Yes | Yes | No |
| HTTPS preview URLs | No | Yes | Yes |
| Raw TCP inbound | No | No | Yes |
| Public IPv4 | No | No | No |
| Egress allowlist | Yes | Yes | No |
| Secret proxy | No | Yes | Yes |
| Secret proxy for any API | No | Yes | Yes |
| Preinstalled agents | No | Yes | Yes |
| Agent harness API | No | No | Yes |
| MCP server | Yes | No | No |
| GPU | Yes | No | No |
| Windows | No | No | No |
| Arm64 | Yes | No | No |
| Self-hosting | No | No | No |
| BYOC | Yes | No | No |
| Open source | No | No | No |
| Scoped API keys | Not published | Not published | Yes |
| Spend limits | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Usage per sandbox (API) | No | Yes | Yes |
| Audit logs | Yes | Yes | No |
| SSO | Yes | Yes | No |
| SOC 2 | Yes | Yes | No |
| HIPAA | Yes | Yes | No |
| EU data residency | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Zero data retention | Not published | Not published | Yes |
Performance
There is no comparable measurement for either: neither AWS AgentCore nor Azure Container Apps Sandboxes was part of the hpc-sandbox-benchmarks run. boat did 26.69 runs per second on the Node.js build-and-test loop at 4 vCPU / 8 GB, on dedicated AMD Ryzen 9 9950X hosts. This page makes no speed claim between the three.
Node.js build-and-test loop at 4 vCPU / 8 GB, higher is better. Measured with the open hpc-sandbox-benchmarks suite. AWS AgentCore and Azure Container Apps Sandboxes have no published run in this suite yet, so there is no like-for-like number to compare.
Pricing in five scenarios
Each bill is priced from the providers' public price lists by the open Battleships engine, with the cheapest plan that runs the scenario.
| Scenario | AWS AgentCore, a month | Azure Container Apps Sandboxes, a month | boat, a month |
|---|---|---|---|
| One coding agent, workdays 4 vCPU / 8 GB, 50 GB disk, 8 hours a day, 22 days a month, files kept between days | $26 · Pay-as-you-go (Instances) · with limits | $68 · Pay-as-you-go | $20 · $20/mo |
| One agent that never stops 4 vCPU / 8 GB, 50 GB disk, running 24/7 all month | $107 · Pay-as-you-go (Instances) · with limits | $262 · Pay-as-you-go · with limits | $26 · $20/mo |
| 50 agents in parallel 50 machines of 4 vCPU / 8 GB at once, 8-hour sessions, 1,100 sessions a month, Docker inside | $1,286 · Pay-as-you-go (Instances) · with limits | $3,421 · Pay-as-you-go | $317 · $20/mo × 3 seats |
| Sandboxes for your users 2 vCPU / 4 GB, 30,000 sessions of 10 minutes a month, up to 300 at once | $423 · Pay-as-you-go · with limits | $989 · Pay-as-you-go | $200 · $100/mo × 2 seats |
| 1,000 short jobs at once 2 vCPU / 4 GB, 1,000 at once, 3 minutes each, 200,000 jobs a month | $1,615 · Pay-as-you-go (Instances) | $2,148 · Pay-as-you-go | $2,000 · $2000/mo · with limits |
AWS AgentCore: Runtime microVMs, Code Interpreter and Browser bill per second for CPU actually used and for peak memory. The 4 vCPU shape in these scenarios is the Instances type: the EC2 on-demand price plus a 12% management fee, with EBS storage and data transfer billed on top.
Azure Container Apps Sandboxes: Azure bills per second on the Container Apps Consumption meters for the vCPU and memory of the sandbox's tier while it runs, idle time before auto-suspend included. There is no plan fee, and some regions such as West Europe and UK South charge more per second.
Azure Container Apps Sandboxes: Plans start at $20 a month, and the whole fee is usage credit. You pay per second while a sandbox runs, and a stopped sandbox costs nothing and keeps its disk.
Limits in those scenarios
AgentCore is cheaper in every scenario on this page but fits only the burst of 1,000 short jobs: a 4 vCPU agent needs the Instances type, files outside the storage mount reset after a stop, and sessions end at 14 days. Azure fits four of the five, and the always-on agent only gets close with a 3-year commitment. Azure also caps a fleet at 500 active cores by default until support raises it. boat fits all but the burst, where its plans queue starts above 90 per minute.
| Scenario | AWS AgentCore | Azure Container Apps Sandboxes | boat |
|---|---|---|---|
| One coding agent, workdays |
| None that bite | None that bite |
| One agent that never stops |
|
| None that bite |
| 50 agents in parallel |
| None that bite | None that bite |
| Sandboxes for your users |
| None that bite | None that bite |
| 1,000 short jobs at once |
| None that bite |
|
Which one should you use?
Use AWS AgentCore when
your agents must stay inside your AWS account, need a GPU, or are short code and browser tasks that fit its managed tools.
- Managed browser and code tools. For short code runs and browser tasks, Code Interpreter and Browser are ready to use, with live view, replay and CPU-only billing.
- GPUs and two-week sessions on Instances. Agents that need a GPU or a session of up to 14 days can run on EC2 in your own AWS account.
- It lives inside your AWS account. Teams built on AWS keep agents behind their own IAM, VPC, security groups and PrivateLink, with a fixed outbound IP.
Use Azure Container Apps Sandboxes when
your team runs on Azure and wants sandboxes with no session cap that suspend with their memory, wake on traffic and sit behind strict egress rules.
- Suspend with memory, no session cap. Long or stateful agents keep their whole disk, and an idle sandbox suspends with its memory and resumes in under a second.
- Fine-grained outbound rules. Its egress policy can allow, deny or rewrite each outbound HTTP request by host, path and method.
- Inside Azure, in 40 regions. Teams already on Azure get Entra ID, Azure billing and VNets, in 40 regions on six continents.
Where boat fits
Both are hyperscaler services built for teams who want agents inside their AWS or Azure account. If your agents do real work on a machine for hours, with installs, Docker, emulators, a browser and a URL you can open, boat gives each one a whole Linux computer instead.
A whole computer you can SSH into
Neither AgentCore nor Azure offers SSH or documents /dev/kvm, so Android emulators and nested VMs are out. AgentCore does not document Docker, and on Azure you must pick the azure-dev image to get it.
A screen for computer-use agents
AgentCore Browser drives Chromium but no other app, and Azure's sandboxes are headless. To give an agent a desktop on either, you build a browser, virtual display and streaming stack into your own image and keep it working.
Real keys stay outside the sandbox
AgentCore Identity hands keys to your agent code, and Azure injects Copilot and Anthropic tokens into the sandbox at start, where a prompt-injected agent can read them. boat's credentials proxy keeps them outside, for any HTTPS API.
Use boat when your agents need a whole computer for hours: SSH, Docker, emulators, a desktop and a browser, with a disk that keeps everything and coding agents built in. Compare it one to one: boat vs AWS AgentCore and boat vs Azure Container Apps Sandboxes.
Questions people ask
Is AWS AgentCore cheaper than Azure Container Apps Sandboxes?
In this page's scenarios AgentCore costs less every time, for example $1,615 against $2,148 a month for 1,000 short jobs at once. But AgentCore fits only that burst scenario, while Azure fits four of the five, so for long-running agents the lower AgentCore price comes with real limits.
Which is faster, AgentCore or Azure Container Apps Sandboxes?
There is no comparable CPU measurement for either one. boat did 26.69 runs per second on the same benchmark at 4 vCPU / 8 GB, but no ratio can be given until AgentCore and Azure are measured too.
Can AgentCore or Azure Container Apps Sandboxes run Docker?
AgentCore runs your arm64 container image as root in a microVM, but its docs do not say Docker works inside a session. On Azure, the azure-dev image ships Docker on systemd, while the default ubuntu image has only Buildah. boat runs Docker on every sandbox and also exposes /dev/kvm.
How long can a session run on each?
An AgentCore microVM session lasts up to 8 hours and stops after 15 idle minutes by default; the Instances type runs up to 14 days. Azure documents no cap, but suspends a sandbox after an idle timeout, 5 minutes by default. boat has no session cap on paid plans.
Can I SSH into either one?
No. AgentCore sessions are reached only through AgentCore APIs, and Azure gives a shell through the aca CLI, the SDK or the portal. Every boat sandbox has SSH, so editors and tools that connect over SSH work as on any server.
Is boat SOC 2 compliant?
SOC 2 is in progress. We're open about where we stand: live status at status.ascii.dev and our data retention policy at docs.boat.dev/data-retention.
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