Daytona vs Deno Sandbox
Daytona runs sandboxes that can stay up as long as you like, as containers by default or as Linux VM, Windows and GPU classes. Deno Sandbox gives each run a small Firecracker microVM that starts in under 200 ms, is fixed at 2 vCPU and lives up to 30 minutes.
The companies and products
Daytona
Daytona is a cloud for running AI-generated code: you create sandboxes from code through its API and SDKs.
By default a Daytona sandbox is a Linux container with its own namespaces and reserved vCPU, memory and disk. You can also pick a Linux VM class (pause, fork, memory snapshots, /dev/kvm), a Windows VM class, or a GPU class with Nvidia and AMD cards. It is built for teams that run agent code, code interpreters and evals through Python, TypeScript, Ruby, Go or Java SDKs.
- Founded
- 2023
Deno Sandbox
Deno Sandbox is part of Deno Deploy, the hosting platform from the company behind the Deno runtime, and runs untrusted or AI-generated code in Linux microVMs.
Each sandbox is a Firecracker microVM with 2 vCPU, up to 4 GB of memory and a 10 GB disk that is wiped when it ends, created from a TypeScript or Python SDK. Outbound traffic goes through a proxy that can enforce a host allowlist and swap placeholder secrets for real ones. It is built for short runs of agent or user code, and a sandbox can be promoted to a Deno Deploy app.
- Isolation
- Firecracker microVM per sandbox
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. “15th cheapest of 367” means 14 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 | Daytona: price rank | Deno Sandbox: price rank | boat: price rank |
|---|---|---|---|
| Software factory 100 at once · 4 vCPU / 8 GB · 2,200 sessions of 8 h a month Daytona fits a software factory that runs for hours, while Deno's 30-minute lifetime and 2 vCPU shape make it a compromise; boat fits with Docker and /dev/kvm on every machine. | 15th cheapest of 367 $4,111 a month | 290th of 367, with limits $5,665 a month | 3rd cheapest of 367 $634 a month |
| Always-on AI employees 50 machines 24/7 · 2 vCPU / 4 GB An assistant that stays on all month fits Daytona, but a Deno sandbox ends after 30 minutes and wipes its root disk. | 24th cheapest of 366 $6,104 a month | 287th of 366, with limits $5,803 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 work for short runs: Daytona creates hundreds of sandboxes a minute, and Deno starts one in under 200 ms and bills CPU only while code runs. | 25th cheapest of 345 $271 a month | 141st of 345, with limits $329 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 Neither fits 300 user sandboxes at once as listed: Daytona's Tier 4 pool stops at 500 vCPU and Deno Builder stops at 20 sandboxes per region. | 154th of 361, with limits $2,000 a month | 148th of 361, with limits $1,863 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 | 130th of 360, with limits $8,261 a month | 122nd of 360, with limits $7,963 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 | 189th of 364, with limits $2,000 a month | 296th of 364, with limits $1,563 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 CI jobs with Docker or emulators need Docker and /dev/kvm; Daytona has /dev/kvm only on its Linux VM class, Deno does not document either, and boat has both everywhere. | 308th of 377, with limits $805 a month | 304th of 377, with limits $731 a month | 4th cheapest of 377 $86 a month |
| 24/7 dev boxes 1 machine 24/7 · 4 vCPU / 8 GB | 183rd of 368, with limits $245 a month | 179th of 368, with limits $200 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 Daytona has a VNC desktop and a computer-use API on Linux and Windows, Deno Sandbox has no desktop, and boat streams a 60fps desktop with Chromium. | 26th cheapest of 369 $1,198 a month | 280th of 369, with limits $1,583 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 | 93rd of 367, with limits $598 a month | 284th of 367, with limits $783 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 | 38th cheapest of 346 $404 a month | 286th of 346, with limits $573 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 | 202nd of 338, with limits $8,073 a month | 247th of 338, with limits $11,923 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 Daytona fits parallel red teaming with long sessions, while Deno's 30-minute lifetime and 20-at-once Builder cap make it a compromise. | 12th cheapest of 360 $2,000 a month | 251st of 360, with limits $367 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 Only Daytona fits: it rents Nvidia and AMD GPUs by the hour, and neither Deno Sandbox nor boat has GPUs. | 20th cheapest of 98 $1,190 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 | Can't run it |
Key features
| Feature | Daytona | Deno Sandbox | boat |
|---|---|---|---|
| Isolation | Container by default; Linux VM and Windows VM classes with their own kernel | Firecracker microVM with its own kernel | Full VM with its own kernel on dedicated AMD Ryzen 9 9950X hosts |
| Machine size | Up to 4 vCPU / 8 GB per sandbox by default, raisable | 2 vCPU fixed, 768 MB to 4 GB memory, 10 GB disk | 4 vCPU / 8 GB by default, up to 16 vCPU / 32 GB on the $100 plan and above |
| Session length | No cap by default; auto-stop and TTL can be turned off | Up to 30 minutes; longer work can be promoted to a Deno Deploy app | No cap on paid plans; you set the time to live |
| Files after a stop | Disk kept and billed while stopped; archived containers are free | Root disk wiped when the sandbox ends; opt-in volumes of 300 MB to 20 GB, Chicago only | Whole disk saved every minute and on stop; a stopped sandbox costs nothing |
| Pause and fork | Linux VM and Windows: pause, resume and fork with memory kept; containers: no pause or fork | No pause or fork; read-only volume snapshots that new sandboxes boot from | Fork a running sandbox with its disk; resume reboots from disk |
| Docker and nested virtualization | Docker in all classes; /dev/kvm only on Linux VMs, turned on per organization | Root access; Docker and nested virtualization not documented | Docker, root, systemd and /dev/kvm on every machine |
| Desktop and computer use | VNC desktop and a computer-use API on Linux and Windows | No desktop; a VS Code editor in the browser and SSH | Linux desktop streamed at 60fps, Chromium, computer use and browser control |
| Start time | Creates 400 to 600 sandboxes a minute from Tier 2 up | Under 200 ms | Boots a full VM |
| Reaching the sandbox | HTTPS preview URLs on any port, token-protected or public; SSH | HTTPS URL per exposed port, public without authentication; SSH | HTTPS URLs for up to 50 ports, token-protected by default; raw TCP |
| Outbound internet | Tier 1 and 2 reach only registries, git and AI APIs; Tier 3 opens the internet, with per-sandbox allowlists | Host allowlist per sandbox, enforced by a proxy outside the VM, on every plan | Open internet on every plan; no provider-side allowlist |
| Keeping keys out of the sandbox | Secrets proxy swaps placeholders in HTTPS headers for allowed hosts | Secrets swapped in on outbound requests to approved hosts | Credentials proxy for model providers and any HTTPS API; switches to another account when credits run out |
| Coding agents | Guides install agents and run them through process exec | A root image with Claude Code, run through the shell command API | Seven agents preinstalled, driven from outside with a prompt, steer and events API |
| GPUs and Windows | Nvidia and AMD GPUs by the hour; Windows VM sandboxes | Neither | Neither; Wine for Windows apps |
| Regions | US and EU, plus dedicated regions or your own machines | Amsterdam and Chicago | EU only: Germany, Finland, France |
Every feature Battleships tracks (43)
| Feature | Daytona | Deno Sandbox | boat |
|---|---|---|---|
| Full VM (own kernel) | No | Yes | Yes |
| Docker inside | Yes | Not published | Yes |
| Nested virtualization | Yes | No | Yes |
| Root | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Systemd | Not published | Not published | Yes |
| Desktop GUI | Yes | No | Yes |
| Browser | Yes | No | Yes |
| Computer-use API | Yes | No | Yes |
| SSH | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Persistent disk | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Pause/resume | Yes | No | Yes |
| Automatic snapshots | Yes | No | Yes |
| Fork/clone | Yes | No | Yes |
| Live fork (no pause) | No | No | Yes |
| Memory fork | Yes | No | No |
| Custom image (Docker or snapshot) | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| ≥24 h sessions | Yes | No | Yes |
| Idle auto-stop | Yes | No | No |
| Wake on request | No | No | No |
| HTTPS preview URLs | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Raw TCP inbound | No | No | Yes |
| Public IPv4 | No | No | No |
| Egress allowlist | Yes | Yes | No |
| Secret proxy | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Secret proxy for any API | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Preinstalled agents | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Agent harness API | No | No | Yes |
| MCP server | Yes | No | No |
| GPU | Yes | No | No |
| Windows | Yes | No | No |
| Arm64 | No | No | No |
| Self-hosting | No | No | No |
| BYOC | Yes | No | No |
| Open source | No | No | No |
| Scoped API keys | Yes | Not published | Yes |
| Spend limits | Not published | Yes | Yes |
| Usage per sandbox (API) | Yes | No | Yes |
| Audit logs | Yes | Not published | No |
| SSO | Yes | No | 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 StarSling's public run of 2026-09-29 at 4 vCPU / 8 GB, boat did 26.69 Node.js build-and-test runs per second and Daytona's Linux VM class did 21.52. Deno Sandbox is not in that benchmark, and its fixed 2 vCPU shape could not run the 4 vCPU test, so there is no comparable number for it.
Node.js build-and-test loop at 4 vCPU / 8 GB, higher is better. Measured with the open hpc-sandbox-benchmarks suite. Daytona measured on: Linux VM sandbox (same rates; KVM / nested virt per-org feature). Deno Sandbox 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 | Daytona, a month | Deno Sandbox, 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 | $56 · Tier 3 ($500 top-up) | $53 · Pro · with limits | $20 · $20/mo |
| One agent that never stops 4 vCPU / 8 GB, 50 GB disk, running 24/7 all month | $245 · Tier 3 ($500 top-up) | $200 · Builder · 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 | $2,682 · Tier 3 ($500 top-up) | $2,779 · Builder · 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 | $2,000 · Tier 4 ($2,000 top-up every 30 days) · with limits | $783 · Builder · with limits | $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 | $2,000 · Tier 4 ($2,000 top-up every 30 days) · with limits | $1,563 · Builder · with limits | $2,000 · $2000/mo · with limits |
Daytona: Daytona bills per second for the vCPU, memory and disk you reserve, and keeps billing the disk while a sandbox is stopped. You pay from a prepaid wallet: open internet needs a $500 top-up (Tier 3), and the biggest pool needs $2,000 every 30 days (Tier 4).
Deno Sandbox: Sandboxes need the Pro plan at $20 a month or Builder at $200 a month; the fee is not credit but includes allowances shared with Deno Deploy apps. Past those, CPU costs $0.10 per hour of active CPU time and memory $0.025 per GiB-hour for the whole life of the sandbox.
Deno Sandbox: Plans start at $20 a month, and the whole fee becomes usage credit spent per second on running sandboxes. A stopped sandbox costs nothing and keeps its disk.
Limits in those scenarios
Deno Sandbox fits none of the five scenarios as written: a sandbox lives up to 30 minutes, is fixed at 2 vCPU with up to 4 GB, and Builder allows 20 at once per region. Daytona fits the three agent scenarios, but it limits the total vCPU running at once, so 300 user sandboxes (600 vCPU) and 1,000 short jobs (2,000 vCPU) overflow even Tier 4's 500 vCPU. On Daytona Tier 1 and 2 also reach only registries, git and AI APIs. boat fits four of the five; for 1,000 jobs at once its top plan queues starts above 90 a minute, so none of the three fits that burst without a custom plan.
| Scenario | Daytona | Deno Sandbox | 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 |
| 1,000 short jobs at once |
|
|
|
Which one should you use?
Use Daytona when
your agents run for hours, need GPUs or Windows, need to pause with memory kept, or must run in the US or on your own machines.
- Sandboxes that run for hours. Fits agents that work all day: a Daytona sandbox has no lifetime cap and keeps its disk when it stops.
- GPUs and Windows. Useful if agents test models or need Windows: Daytona rents Nvidia and AMD GPUs and runs Windows VM sandboxes.
- Pause with memory, more regions. Its VM classes pause and fork with memory kept, and it runs in the US, the EU or on your own machines.
Use Deno Sandbox when
you run short pieces of untrusted code that must start in milliseconds and reach only the hosts you allow, especially if you already deploy on Deno Deploy.
- Starts in under 200 ms. Good for one sandbox per request: a Deno sandbox starts in under 200 ms and CPU bills only while code runs.
- Locked-down outbound traffic. Useful for untrusted code: every plan can limit a sandbox to chosen hosts, enforced by a proxy outside the VM.
- A path to Deno Deploy. Fits teams already on Deno Deploy: a sandbox can be promoted to a Deploy app on the same meters.
Where boat fits
If your agents do real work for hours, such as installs, builds, tests, Docker and emulators, look at boat. Every boat sandbox is a full VM with no time cap on paid plans, a disk saved every minute, a 60fps desktop and coding agents you drive from outside. It is the faster of the two machines measured here.
A full VM with Docker and /dev/kvm
A Daytona sandbox is a container by default, and /dev/kvm needs its Linux VM class with KVM turned on for your organization. Deno documents neither Docker nor nested virtualization, so Android emulators and Docker builds have no clear home there.
A machine that stays and forks
A Deno sandbox ends after 30 minutes and wipes its root disk, so long agent work must be split and rebuilt. Daytona keeps the disk but bills it while stopped. On boat a stopped sandbox costs nothing and you can fork a running one.
Agents and a desktop built in
On both Daytona and Deno you start Claude Code as a process and parse its output yourself. boat ships seven agents with a prompt, steer and events API, a 60fps desktop with Chromium, and a credentials proxy that switches accounts when credits run out.
Use boat when your agents do real work for more than a few minutes: installs, builds, tests, Docker, emulators and a browser, on a full, faster VM whose disk is still there tomorrow. Compare it one to one: boat vs Daytona and boat vs Deno Sandbox.
Questions people ask
Is Daytona cheaper than Deno Sandbox?
It depends on the job, and Deno Sandbox fits none of our five scenarios as written. One agent running all month comes to $245 on Daytona and $200 on Deno, but Deno's 30-minute, 2 vCPU sandboxes cannot run it as one machine. boat comes to $26 a month for the same agent.
Which is faster, Daytona or Deno Sandbox?
Deno starts a sandbox faster, in under 200 ms. For CPU work there is no comparison: Daytona's Linux VM class did 21.52 runs per second in StarSling's benchmark, Deno Sandbox was not tested, and boat did 26.69.
How long can each sandbox run?
A Daytona sandbox has no time cap by default; you can turn off auto-stop and the TTL. A Deno sandbox lives up to 30 minutes and can be promoted to a Deno Deploy app for longer work. boat has no cap on paid plans.
Can Daytona or Deno Sandbox run Docker?
Daytona runs Docker in all its classes, and /dev/kvm only on its Linux VM class. Deno's docs do not say Docker or nested virtualization works inside a sandbox. boat runs Docker and systemd and exposes /dev/kvm on every machine.
Which one locks down outbound traffic?
Deno lets every sandbox pass a list of allowed hosts, enforced by a proxy outside the VM. Daytona Tier 1 and 2 reach only registries, git and AI APIs, and Tier 3 opens the internet with per-sandbox allowlists. boat has open internet with no provider-side allowlist.
Do Daytona or Deno Sandbox have GPUs?
Daytona rents Nvidia and AMD GPUs by the hour, from RTX 4090 to B300. Deno Sandbox has no GPUs, and neither does boat.
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