AWS AgentCore vs Modal VM Sandboxes
AgentCore is the part of AWS that hosts agents and gives them a managed code interpreter and browser, inside your own AWS account. Modal VM Sandboxes are real Linux VMs with Docker and systemd that you start from code and that end within 24 hours.
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.
Modal VM Sandboxes
Modal is a serverless cloud for AI work, and VM Sandboxes are the version of its sandboxes that run in a virtual machine with their own Linux kernel.
You create a VM Sandbox from Python, TypeScript or Go code with runtime="vm", run commands in it, and terminate it when the job is done. Modal built the runtime on the Rust-based Cloud Hypervisor, so Docker, FUSE, systemd and nested cgroups work, with the same API, images and prices as its gVisor sandboxes. It became generally available on 1 October 2026 and suits teams that want many short-lived agent machines next to Modal's inference and training.
- Funding
- Over $466M raised
- Generally available
- 1 October 2026; early customers launched over 20 million VMs before that
- Session length
- Default 5 minutes, maximum 24 hours
- Compliance
- SOC 2 on every plan; HIPAA on Enterprise
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 | Modal VM 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 gets 2 vCPU and 8 hours per AgentCore microVM session and a full VM with Docker for up to 24 hours on Modal; boat gives it a VM that keeps its whole disk with no session cap. | 100th of 367, with limits $888 a month | 84th of 367, with limits $759 a month | 3rd cheapest of 367 $634 a month |
| Always-on AI employees 50 machines 24/7 · 2 vCPU / 4 GB An agent that lives on one machine all month outlasts both: AgentCore needs its Instances type on EC2 in your account, Modal stops at 24 hours, and boat simply keeps running. | 64th of 366, with limits $1,300 a month | Can't run it | 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 AgentCore Code Interpreter is built for short code runs and bills only for CPU actually used, which makes it a strong fit here. | 7th cheapest of 345 $114 a month | Can't run it | 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 | 210th of 361, with limits $506 a month | Can't run it | 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 Large bursts of short rollouts suit both platforms better than long sessions; boat's per-plan start limits queue very large bursts. | 125th of 360, with limits $8,075 a month | 171st of 360, with limits $16,322 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 | Can't run it | 10th cheapest of 364 $200 a month |
| CI runners 40 at once · 8 vCPU / 16 GB · 6,000 sessions of 12 min a month Modal runs Docker builds in a real VM, while AgentCore does not document Docker inside a session; boat runs Docker and exposes /dev/kvm on every plan. | 52nd cheapest of 377 $399 a month | 188th of 377, with limits $1,064 a month | 4th cheapest of 377 $86 a month |
| 24/7 dev boxes 1 machine 24/7 · 4 vCPU / 8 GB | 228th of 368, with limits $52 a month | Can't run it | 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 managed Chromium, Modal offers no desktop or browser, and boat streams a full Linux desktop at 60fps. | 104th of 369, with limits $202 a month | Can't run it | 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 AgentCore Browser is a managed Chromium with live view and session replay; Modal VM Sandboxes ship no browser, and boat runs Chromium on a full machine. | 4th cheapest of 367 $144 a month | Can't run it | 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 | 27th cheapest of 346 $287 a month | Can't run it | 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 | Can't run it | 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 Many parallel agents that need their own machine fit boat best; both AgentCore and Modal only reach a compromise here. | 62nd of 360, with limits $294 a month | 294th of 360, with limits $642 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 | Modal VM Sandboxes | boat |
|---|---|---|---|
| What it is | An AWS agent platform: hosted agent sessions plus managed Code Interpreter and Browser tools | Sandboxes inside Modal's serverless AI cloud, run as real VMs with runtime="vm" | 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 | VM with its own Linux kernel on Cloud Hypervisor | 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 | Sized by the CPU and memory you request | Up to 16 vCPU / 32 GB on the $100 plan and above |
| CPU benchmark (4 vCPU / 8 GB) | Not measured | 15.54 runs/s | 26.69 runs/s |
| Longest session | 8 hours per microVM lifecycle, 15 idle minutes by default; up to 14 days on Instances | 24 hours (default 5 minutes) | No cap on paid plans; you set the time to live |
| What survives a stop | One storage mount under /mnt, up to 1 GB, in preview; EBS volumes on Instances | Only Volumes and filesystem snapshots; a finished sandbox is gone | The whole disk, saved every minute and on stop |
| Snapshots and fork | No user snapshots or fork of a session | Filesystem snapshots boot new sandboxes; memory snapshots in alpha | Automatic snapshots every minute; fork a running sandbox with its disk |
| Docker, systemd and /dev/kvm | Root in the microVM; Docker and /dev/kvm not documented | Docker and systemd yes; nested virtualization on Team and Enterprise, on request | Root, Docker, systemd and /dev/kvm on every plan |
| Inbound access | No open ports or SSH; reached only through AgentCore APIs with IAM or JWT | Encrypted and raw TCP tunnels, connect tokens, inbound IP allowlist | HTTPS URLs for up to 50 ports, token-protected by default, plus raw TCP and SSH |
| Outbound network rules | VPC mode with security groups, PrivateLink and a NAT gateway for a fixed IP | Block all, IP-range allowlist, domain allowlist (beta) | Open internet, no provider-side allowlist |
| Browser and desktop | Managed Chromium with live view, recording and replay; no full desktop | Not offered; an example shows how to set up Xvfb and VNC yourself | Full Linux desktop streamed at 60fps, with Chromium and computer use |
| Coding agents and API keys | Managed harness on Strands Agents; AgentCore Identity hands keys to your agent code | Examples only; secrets are environment variables or your own sidecar proxy | Claude Code, Codex and more preinstalled; credentials proxy keeps real keys out of the sandbox |
| GPUs | NVIDIA G-series and Inferentia2 on the Instances type | None on the VM runtime; GPU sandboxes need gVisor | None |
| Regions | 17 commercial AWS regions plus GovCloud | US, EU and Asia-Pacific; pinning costs 1.15x to 1.75x | EU only (Germany, Finland, France) |
Every feature Battleships tracks (43)
| Feature | AWS AgentCore | Modal VM Sandboxes | boat |
|---|---|---|---|
| Full VM (own kernel) | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Docker inside | Not published | Yes | Yes |
| Nested virtualization | No | Yes | 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 | Yes | Yes |
| Persistent disk | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Pause/resume | No | No | Yes |
| Automatic snapshots | No | No | 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 | No | No |
| HTTPS preview URLs | No | Yes | Yes |
| Raw TCP inbound | No | Yes | Yes |
| Public IPv4 | No | No | No |
| Egress allowlist | Yes | Yes | No |
| Secret proxy | No | No | Yes |
| Secret proxy for any API | No | No | Yes |
| Preinstalled agents | No | No | 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 | Not published | Yes |
| Usage per sandbox (API) | No | Not published | 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
In the hpc-sandbox-benchmarks Node.js build-and-test loop at 4 vCPU / 8 GB on 29 September 2026, boat did 26.69 runs per second and Modal's VM runtime 15.54, so boat did about 1.7 times the CPU work in the same time. AgentCore has no comparable measurement: it was not part of that run, and its microVM sessions stop at 2 vCPU.
Node.js build-and-test loop at 4 vCPU / 8 GB, higher is better. Measured with the open hpc-sandbox-benchmarks suite. Modal VM Sandboxes measured on: VM Sandbox, request = size. AWS AgentCore has 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 | Modal VM 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 | $15 · Starter · with limits | $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 | $178 · Starter · 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 | $2,229 · Starter · with limits | $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 | $792 · Team | $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) | $3,193 · Team · with limits | $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 on top.
Modal VM Sandboxes: Modal bills by the second for whichever is higher, the CPU and memory you request or what you use, until the sandbox ends. Starter is free with $30 of monthly credit, Team is $250 a month with $100 of credit, and pinning a region costs 1.15x to 1.75x.
Modal VM Sandboxes: Plans start at $20 a month and the whole fee becomes 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 microVM sessions stop at 2 vCPU / 8 GB and 8 hours, so the 4 vCPU scenarios use the Instances type, and files outside the storage mount reset on a stop. Modal VMs end within 24 hours and keep only what is in a Volume, so the workday, always-on and fleet scenarios do not fit on either. For 1,000 short jobs at once AgentCore fits, Modal's small tier shares its vCPUs, and boat's $2000 plan queues starts above 90 per minute.
| Scenario | AWS AgentCore | Modal VM Sandboxes | boat |
|---|---|---|---|
| One coding agent, workdays |
|
| None that bite |
| One agent that never stops |
|
| None that bite |
| 50 agents in parallel |
|
| None that bite |
| Sandboxes for your users |
| None that bite | None that bite |
| 1,000 short jobs at once |
|
|
|
Which one should you use?
Use AWS AgentCore when
your agents must stay inside your AWS account and VPC, need a GPU, or are short code and browser tasks that fit the managed tools.
- It lives inside your AWS account. Teams built on AWS keep agents behind their own IAM, VPC, security groups and PrivateLink, in 17 commercial regions.
- Managed tools that bill only for use. For short code runs and browser tasks, Code Interpreter and Browser charge only for CPU used, with live view and replay.
- 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 account.
Use Modal VM Sandboxes when
you need Docker in a real VM for jobs that finish within a day, run huge bursts of short sandboxes, or already run your models on Modal.
- A real VM with Docker. Each sandbox has its own Linux kernel, so Docker, FUSE and systemd work, which AgentCore does not document.
- Very large bursts of short jobs. Modal runs 5,000 containers at once on Team, with filesystem snapshots to boot many sandboxes from one state.
- One platform with inference and training. Teams that already serve or train models on Modal can put agent sandboxes on the same account and bill.
Where boat fits
If your agents work on a machine for hours or days, installing, building, testing and coming back to the same state, both AgentCore and Modal cut them off and wipe most of the disk. boat gives each agent a full VM that keeps its whole disk, runs as long as you want and can serve a URL you open.
No session cap, and the disk stays
AgentCore microVMs stop after 8 hours and keep only a 1 GB mount; Modal VMs end within 24 hours and keep only Volumes. Each restart repeats setup, unless you run EC2 on Instances or write snapshot code.
Docker, /dev/kvm and a faster CPU
AgentCore does not document Docker or /dev/kvm in a session, and Modal gives nested virtualization only on Team on request. In the same benchmark, boat did 26.69 runs per second against Modal's 15.54.
Desktop, ports and agents ready to go
AgentCore has no open ports or SSH, and Modal has no desktop or browser. boat ships a 60fps desktop, HTTPS on 50 ports, preinstalled coding agents you drive from outside, and a proxy that keeps API keys out.
Use boat when your agents do real work on a machine for hours or days: installs, builds, tests, Docker, emulators and a desktop, on a faster VM that keeps its disk and a URL you can open. Compare it one to one: boat vs AWS AgentCore and boat vs Modal VM Sandboxes.
Questions people ask
Is AWS AgentCore cheaper than Modal VM Sandboxes?
In most of our scenarios, yes: one always-on agent is $107 a month on AgentCore against $178 on Modal, and 50 parallel agents $1,286 against $2,229. For one agent on workdays Modal is cheaper ($15 against $26), and on boat these three are $20, $26 and $317 a month.
Which is faster, AgentCore or Modal VM Sandboxes?
Only Modal has a measurement: its VM runtime did 15.54 runs per second on the hpc-sandbox-benchmarks CPU test at 4 vCPU / 8 GB. AgentCore was not part of that run. boat did 26.69 runs per second in the same run.
Can AgentCore or Modal run Docker?
Modal VM Sandboxes run Docker and systemd in a real VM; you start dockerd yourself. AgentCore runs your container image as root in a microVM, but its docs do not say Docker works inside a session. boat runs Docker in every sandbox.
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 on EC2. A Modal VM Sandbox lasts 5 minutes by default and 24 hours at most. boat has no session cap on paid plans.
Do files survive when a session ends?
On AgentCore only a storage mount under /mnt of up to 1 GB, or EBS volumes on Instances. On Modal only Volumes and filesystem snapshots. boat keeps the whole disk and saves it every minute.
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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