boat vs Modelence
Modelence is a platform that runs your Node.js backend, databases and scheduled jobs in production and watches them for you. boat gives each agent its own full Linux VM, with Docker, root, a disk saved every minute and coding agents you drive from outside, so the two overlap only where an agent needs a machine to work in.
Where boat stands out
A whole machine, not one web process
Every boat sandbox is a full VM with its own kernel, root, systemd, Docker and /dev/kvm. An agent can install any language, run several services and boot an Android emulator. Modelence runs one Node.js web process built from your repository.
A disk that keeps the agent's work
A boat sandbox keeps its disk when it stops, saves it every minute, and can be forked while running so you can try two ideas from the same point. Modelence rebuilds its container from your repository on each deploy.
Coding agents you drive from outside
Claude Code, Codex and other agents come preinstalled, and your app can prompt them, steer them mid-task and stream their events through one API. Real AI keys stay outside the sandbox in a credentials proxy, which can switch to another account when credits run out.
The companies and products
boat
boat.dev runs sandboxes for AI agents: each one is a full Linux VM with its own kernel.
You start a machine with one command or one API call, then SSH in, run Docker, open a desktop, or let a built-in agent (Claude Code, Codex, OpenCode and others) work in it. The disk stays between sessions, and a stopped sandbox costs nothing.
- Isolation
- Full VM per sandbox, own kernel
- Regions
- EU: Germany, Finland, France
Modelence
Modelence is a managed backend platform for TypeScript web apps, with an open-source framework and an App Builder that makes apps from a prompt.
Modelence Cloud builds a Docker image from your repository on an official Node.js base and runs one web process, with a MongoDB Atlas database and other managed resources wired in. It runs on AWS and restarts crashed processes, reroutes traffic and adds capacity under load. It is built for startups that want production hosting without a cloud engineer, not as a sandbox for agents.
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. “3rd cheapest of 367” means 2 of the other 366 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 | boat: price rank | Modelence: price rank |
|---|---|---|
| Software factory 100 at once · 4 vCPU / 8 GB · 2,200 sessions of 8 h a month A software factory needs a machine where agents install tools, run Docker and keep their work; Modelence runs one Node.js web process built from your repository. | 3rd cheapest of 367 $634 a month | 265th of 367, with limits $4,224 a month |
| Always-on AI employees 50 machines 24/7 · 2 vCPU / 4 GB Modelence keeps a web app running all month, but it gives an assistant no shell, no disk of its own and no desktop to work in. | 5th cheapest of 366 $657 a month | 265th of 366, with limits $4,380 a month |
| Code interpreter bursts 100 at once · 1 vCPU / 2 GB · 200,000 sessions of 1 min a month Modelence has no API to start a fresh machine per job and run code in it, so code runs would have to happen inside your own Node.js app. | 186th of 345, with limits $2,000 a month | 238th of 345, with limits $200 a month |
| Sandboxes for your users 300 at once · 2 vCPU / 4 GB · 30,000 sessions of 23 min a month Giving each of your users a sandbox means one isolated machine per user; Modelence scales one app's replicas instead. | Cheapest of 361 $209 a month | 261st of 361, with limits $1,395 a month |
| RL rollouts 1,000 at once · 2 vCPU / 4 GB · 1,000,000 sessions of 3 min a month | 34th of 360, with limits $2,000 a month | 268th of 360, with limits $6,000 a month |
| Agent evals 250 at once · 4 vCPU / 8 GB · 15,000 sessions of 20 min a month | 10th cheapest of 364 $200 a month | 356th of 364, with limits $1,200 a month |
| CI runners 40 at once · 8 vCPU / 16 GB · 6,000 sessions of 12 min a month CI jobs that build containers or run test suites in other languages hit Modelence's rule that projects needing Docker Compose or non-Node runtimes are not compatible. | 4th cheapest of 377 $86 a month | 300th of 377, with limits $672 a month |
| 24/7 dev boxes 1 machine 24/7 · 4 vCPU / 8 GB A dev box needs SSH and a disk that keeps your files; Modelence documents neither for its containers. | 18th cheapest of 368 $26 a month | 283rd of 368, with limits $175 a month |
| Computer-use agents 50 at once · 4 vCPU / 8 GB · 20,000 sessions of 15 min a month Computer-use agents need a desktop and a browser to drive; Modelence runs headless web containers only. | 6th cheapest of 369 $200 a month | 256th of 369, with limits $1,200 a month |
| Browser-use agents 50 at once · 2 vCPU / 4 GB · 30,000 sessions of 10 min a month | 7th cheapest of 367 $200 a month | 267th of 367, with limits $600 a month |
| Scraping & bots (startup scale) 50 at once · 1 vCPU / 2 GB · 100,000 sessions of 3 min a month | 6th cheapest of 346 $90 a month | 252nd of 346, with limits $300 a month |
| Mass scraping & bots (undetectable) 1,000 at once · 1 vCPU / 2 GB · 3,000,000 sessions of 2 min a month | 71st of 338, with limits $1,800 a month | 173rd of 338, with limits $6,000 a month |
| Parallel red teaming 200 at once · 2 vCPU / 4 GB · 5,000 sessions of 30 min a month | 2nd cheapest of 360 $200 a month | 235th of 360, with limits $300 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 |
| 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 |
Key features
| Feature | boat | Modelence |
|---|---|---|
| Kind of product | Sandboxes: a full Linux VM per agent or per user | Production hosting for Node.js web apps, databases and scheduled jobs |
| Isolation | Full VM with its own kernel on dedicated AMD Ryzen 9 9950X hosts | Docker container per app on AWS |
| What you can run | Any Linux software: any language, many processes, root and systemd | One Node.js web process built from your repository; other languages and a second long-running process are not supported |
| Docker and nested virtualization | Docker and /dev/kvm on every machine | Projects that need Docker Compose or a custom Dockerfile are listed as not compatible |
| Shell access | SSH and a command API, as root | No SSH documented; logs, metrics and settings in the dashboard |
| Disk | Disk kept across stops, with snapshots every minute and on stop | Container rebuilt from the repository on each deploy; state lives in the managed database and file storage |
| Fork | Fork a running sandbox with its disk | No fork documented; you change the number and size of containers |
| Desktop and browser | 60fps desktop with Chromium, computer use and browser control | None; headless web containers |
| Coding agents | Claude Code, Codex and more preinstalled, with a prompt, steer and events API | A Claude Code plugin and docs MCP server help you write Modelence apps on your own computer |
| Keeping keys out of the machine | AI credentials proxy for model providers and any HTTPS API; switch a credential to another account when credits run out | Secrets are environment variables injected into the container at start |
| Managed databases | None; run your own inside a sandbox | MongoDB Atlas database provisioned per environment, with PostgreSQL and Redis available |
| Running in production | You restart or resize sandboxes yourself through the API | Autopilot on Pro and above replaces crashed instances, reroutes traffic and adds capacity under load |
| Inbound access | HTTPS URLs for up to 50 ports, token-protected; raw TCP; dedicated IPv6 or IPv4 | One public URL per environment, with unlimited custom domains on paid plans |
| Regions | EU only: Germany, Finland, France | Region chosen per environment on AWS, US by default; up to 17 regions on Pro |
| Compliance and transparency | SOC 2 is in progress. We're open about where we stand: live status and data retention policy. | SOC 2 |
Every feature Battleships tracks (43)
| Feature | boat | Modelence |
|---|---|---|
| Full VM (own kernel) | Yes | No |
| Docker inside | Yes | No |
| Nested virtualization | Yes | No |
| Root | Yes | Not published |
| Systemd | Yes | Not published |
| Desktop GUI | Yes | No |
| Browser | Yes | No |
| Computer-use API | Yes | No |
| SSH | Yes | No |
| Persistent disk | Yes | No |
| Pause/resume | Yes | Not published |
| Automatic snapshots | Yes | No |
| Fork/clone | Yes | No |
| Live fork (no pause) | Yes | No |
| Memory fork | No | No |
| Custom image (Docker or snapshot) | Yes | No |
| ≥24 h sessions | Yes | Yes |
| Idle auto-stop | No | No |
| Wake on request | No | No |
| HTTPS preview URLs | Yes | Yes |
| Raw TCP inbound | Yes | Not published |
| Public IPv4 | No | No |
| Egress allowlist | No | No |
| Secret proxy | Yes | No |
| Secret proxy for any API | Yes | No |
| Preinstalled agents | Yes | No |
| Agent harness API | Yes | No |
| MCP server | No | Yes |
| GPU | No | No |
| Windows | No | No |
| Arm64 | No | No |
| Self-hosting | No | No |
| BYOC | No | No |
| Open source | No | Yes |
| Scoped API keys | Yes | Not published |
| Spend limits | Yes | Not published |
| Usage per sandbox (API) | Yes | No |
| Audit logs | No | Not published |
| SSO | No | Yes |
| SOC 2 | No | Yes |
| HIPAA | No | No |
| EU data residency | Yes | Yes |
| Zero data retention | Yes | Not published |
Performance
There is no comparable measurement. boat did 26.69 Node.js build-and-test runs per second at 4 vCPU / 8 GB in StarSling's public hpc-sandbox-benchmarks, but Modelence has no result there, and as an app host it does not offer a machine you can run the benchmark in.
Node.js build-and-test loop at 4 vCPU / 8 GB, higher is better. Measured with the open hpc-sandbox-benchmarks suite. Modelence 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 | boat, a month | Modelence, 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 | $20 · $20/mo | $42 · Starter · with limits |
| One agent that never stops 4 vCPU / 8 GB, 50 GB disk, running 24/7 all month | $26 · $20/mo | $175 · Starter · with limits |
| 50 agents in parallel 50 machines of 4 vCPU / 8 GB at once, 8-hour sessions, 1,100 sessions a month, Docker inside | $317 · $20/mo × 3 seats | $2,112 · Free · with limits |
| Sandboxes for your users 2 vCPU / 4 GB, 30,000 sessions of 10 minutes a month, up to 300 at once | $200 · $100/mo × 2 seats | $600 · Free · with limits |
| 1,000 short jobs at once 2 vCPU / 4 GB, 1,000 at once, 3 minutes each, 200,000 jobs a month | $2,000 · $2000/mo · with limits | $1,200 · Free · with limits |
boat: You pick a monthly plan from $20, and all of it becomes usage credit spent per second on running sandboxes. A stopped sandbox costs nothing and keeps its disk.
Modelence: Modelence bills containers by the hour based on their size, from Micro (0.25 vCPU) to X-Large Plus (4 vCPU / 16 GB), and the 4 vCPU / 8 GB size used here is $0.24 an hour. Paid plans (Starter $20, Pro $100, Scale $500 a month) include the same amount as cloud usage, and extra usage is billed at the end of the month. Disk is not priced separately, so our bills leave it out.
Limits in those scenarios
Every scenario is marked not a clean fit for Modelence because it hosts one Node.js web app per environment rather than handing out machines, and its containers have no disk of their own or Docker inside. Its plans also cap total vCPU across your apps: 4 on Starter, 16 on Pro and 64 on Scale, so 50 agents at 4 vCPU each need a custom Enterprise limit. On boat, the 1,000-job burst is the one that bites: starts above 90 a minute are queued, and the $2,000 plan allows fewer starts per day than the job needs.
| Scenario | boat | Modelence |
|---|---|---|
| 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 |
|
| 1,000 short jobs at once |
|
|
Which one should you use?
Use Modelence when
you want a Node.js web app, its database and scheduled jobs hosted and kept running for you, especially outside the EU.
- Hosting your web app in production. Useful for a Node.js backend that must stay up: crashed instances are replaced and capacity is added under load.
- Managed databases included. Useful if you want a database without running one: each environment gets a MongoDB Atlas database, with PostgreSQL and Redis available.
- Regions outside the EU. Useful if your users are in the US or elsewhere: Modelence runs on AWS in the region you pick, up to 17 on Pro.
Use boat when
an agent needs its own machine to work in: any language, Docker, root, a disk that keeps its work, a desktop, and coding agents you drive from outside while their keys stay out.
- A whole machine, not one web process. An agent that runs pip install, docker compose or a Go test suite cannot do it on Modelence, whose docs list non-Node apps, extra long-running processes and Docker Compose as not compatible.
- A disk that keeps the agent's work. Agents build up state: cloned repos, installed packages, half-done edits. On Modelence that only survives if your code writes it to the database or file storage.
- Coding agents you drive from outside. Modelence's Claude Code plugin helps you write Modelence apps on your own laptop. Running agents for your users means building the harness yourself, with keys as environment variables the agent's code can read.
Questions people ask
Is Modelence a sandbox for AI agents?
No. Modelence is a platform for hosting Node.js web apps with managed databases, plus an App Builder that makes apps from a prompt. It runs your app's web process in a container, but it does not hand out machines for agents to work in. boat does that.
Is boat cheaper than Modelence?
For the agent scenarios on this page, yes: one agent on workdays is $20 on boat and $42 on Modelence, one agent running all month is $26 against $175, 50 agents are $317 against $2,112, and sandboxes for your users are $200 against $600. For 1,000 short jobs at once Modelence comes out lower, $1,200 against $2,000, but its self-serve plans cap total vCPU at 64, so 1,000 machines at once would need a custom Enterprise limit.
Can I run Docker or Python on Modelence?
Not on Modelence Cloud. Its deploy docs say the image runs Node.js only, and projects that need Docker Compose or a custom Dockerfile are reported as not compatible. A boat sandbox runs any Linux software, with Docker and root.
Does Modelence keep files between runs?
Its containers are rebuilt from your repository on each deploy, and lasting data goes into the managed MongoDB database or Modelence's file storage. A boat sandbox keeps its disk across stops, with snapshots every minute and on stop.
Where does my data run?
Modelence runs on AWS in the region you choose per environment, the United States by default. boat runs only in the EU (Germany, Finland and France), with EU data residency and a zero data retention option.
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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