E2B vs Morph Cloud
Both give each agent its own Linux machine that can pause with its memory and wake on the next request. E2B uses Firecracker microVMs with a 24-hour session cap, open source and three regions, while Morph Cloud sells full VMs with no session cap that branch into many copies in under 250 ms.
The companies and products
E2B
E2B calls itself the AI agent cloud: an API that gives each agent session its own isolated Linux machine.
Every E2B sandbox is a Firecracker microVM that boots from a snapshot, so it starts fast and can be paused and resumed with its memory. You build custom sandboxes from templates based on a Docker image, and drive them from Python or JavaScript SDKs. It is built for teams that run many short code, data or agent jobs, and its runtime is open source.
- Isolation
- Firecracker microVM per sandbox
- Bring your own cloud
- Enterprise data plane in your AWS, GCP or Azure account
- Compliance
- SOC 2 Type II; HIPAA BAA on request
- Machine size
- 1 to 8 vCPU and 1 to 8 GiB RAM, CPU only
Morph Cloud
Morph Cloud sells full virtual machines for AI agents that can be snapshotted, branched and restored with their memory, which it calls Infinibranch.
You get MorphVM instances as low-level building blocks and Devboxes as ready workspaces on top of them, with SSH, preview URLs and a tmux API for running coding agents you install yourself. Everything is billed in MCUs, where one MCU is 1 vCPU, 4 GB of RAM or 16 GB of disk for an hour. It is built for teams that fan agents out from one saved state, and it also sells managed GitHub Actions runners and a shared filesystem.
- Regions
- Not published
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. “16th cheapest of 367” means 15 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 | E2B: price rank | Morph Cloud: price rank | boat: price rank |
|---|---|---|---|
| Software factory 100 at once · 4 vCPU / 8 GB · 2,200 sessions of 8 h a month Both run Docker and full builds; on Morph you install the coding agent and drive it through tmux, and boat ships seven agents preinstalled. | 16th cheapest of 367 $4,143 a month | 198th of 367, with limits $2,288 a month | 3rd cheapest of 367 $634 a month |
| Always-on AI employees 50 machines 24/7 · 2 vCPU / 4 GB An assistant that lives on its machine all month hits E2B's 24-hour cap and must pause and resume; Morph and boat have no session cap. | 51st of 366, with limits $5,348 a month | 235th of 366, with limits $3,014 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 suit short code runs that pause with their memory and wake on the next request; Morph bills a paused VM only for its snapshot. | 37th cheapest of 345 $421 a month | 16th cheapest of 345 $154 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 E2B and Morph can both wake a user's paused machine on the next request, while boat gives each user token-protected HTTPS on up to 50 ports. | 23rd cheapest of 361 $2,354 a month | 12th cheapest of 361 $905 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 E2B's memory forks and high start rate suit many short rollouts; Morph's branching in under 250 ms also fits rollouts from one running state. | 2nd cheapest of 360 $9,384 a month | 86th of 360, with limits $4,847 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 | 78th cheapest of 364 $1,975 a month | 38th cheapest of 364 $675 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 Morph sells managed GitHub Actions runners, E2B has no nested virtualization, and boat runs your own runner with /dev/kvm on a fast CPU. | 337th of 377, with limits $1,429 a month | 39th cheapest of 377 $355 a month | 4th cheapest of 377 $86 a month |
| 24/7 dev boxes 1 machine 24/7 · 4 vCPU / 8 GB A dev box that runs all month needs no session cap, which Morph and boat have and E2B does not. | 192nd of 368, with limits $358 a month | 85th cheapest of 368 $116 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 E2B has a Linux desktop for computer use, on Morph you install the browser and agent yourself, and boat streams a desktop with Chromium at 60fps. | 32nd cheapest of 369 $1,342 a month | 182nd of 369, with limits $595 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 | 100th of 367, with limits $746 a month | 214th of 367, with limits $250 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 | 57th cheapest of 346 $554 a month | 239th of 346, with limits $234 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 | 227th of 338, with limits $9,223 a month | 154th of 338, with limits $4,750 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 | 11th cheapest of 360 $1,043 a month | 214th of 360, with limits $228 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 | E2B | Morph Cloud | boat |
|---|---|---|---|
| Isolation | Firecracker microVM with its own kernel | Full VM with its own kernel, with Docker in Docker and local Kubernetes | Full VM with its own kernel on dedicated AMD Ryzen 9 9950X hosts |
| CPU benchmark (4 vCPU / 8 GB) | 12.61 runs/s | Not measured | 26.69 runs/s |
| Session length | Up to 1 hour on Hobby, 24 hours on Pro; pausing resets the clock | No cap; a machine runs until you stop it or its optional time to live ends | No cap on paid plans; you set the time to live |
| Pause with memory and wake on request | Yes; resume takes about 1 second, and a paused sandbox can wake on the next HTTP request or SDK call | Yes; a paused VM bills only its snapshot and wakes on the next HTTP request, SSH or exec call | No; disk is saved and resume boots the machine again, started by API |
| Fork a running machine | With its memory, up to 20 copies per call, with a short pause | With its memory, as many copies as you ask for, in under 250 ms | With its disk |
| Nested virtualization | Not supported | Experimental | Yes, /dev/kvm for Android emulators and VMs |
| Guest systems | Linux | Linux, with experimental Windows and macOS (x86) | Linux |
| Coding agents | Templates and guides for many agents, run through the command API | You install the agent, then drive it through a tmux API that sends keys and reads the screen | Seven agents preinstalled, with a prompt, steer and events API |
| Desktop and computer use | Linux desktop for computer use | Browser-based remote desktop; you install the browser and any computer use agent yourself | 60fps Linux desktop with Chromium and a computer use API, embeddable in your app |
| Keeping API keys out of the sandbox | Secrets injected into outbound HTTPS headers (private beta) | Responses Proxy for model APIs; other secrets are handed to the machine | Credentials proxy for model providers and any HTTPS API; switch a credential to another account when credits run out |
| Inbound access | HTTPS URL per port, public by default unless you turn on a token; no dedicated IP | Named HTTP services with optional API key auth; SSH through Morph's gateway; no raw TCP | HTTPS URLs for up to 50 ports, token-protected by default; raw TCP; dedicated IPv4 or IPv6 |
| Outbound rules | Allow and deny lists by IP, CIDR or domain | No provider-side allowlist documented | Open internet, no provider-side allowlist |
| Regions | US by default; EU and APAC on Pro and above, enabled by support | Not published | EU only (Germany, Finland, France), with zero data retention |
| Self-hosting | Open-source runtime under Apache-2.0, plus bring your own cloud on Enterprise | No; SDKs are open source, the platform is hosted only | No |
Every feature Battleships tracks (43)
| Feature | E2B | Morph Cloud | boat |
|---|---|---|---|
| Full VM (own kernel) | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Docker inside | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Nested virtualization | No | Yes | Yes |
| Root | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Systemd | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Desktop GUI | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Browser | Yes | No | Yes |
| Computer-use API | Yes | No | Yes |
| SSH | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Persistent disk | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Pause/resume | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Automatic snapshots | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Fork/clone | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Live fork (no pause) | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Memory fork | Yes | Yes | No |
| Custom image (Docker or snapshot) | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| ≥24 h sessions | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Idle auto-stop | Yes | Yes | No |
| Wake on request | Yes | Yes | No |
| HTTPS preview URLs | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Raw TCP inbound | No | No | Yes |
| Public IPv4 | No | No | No |
| Egress allowlist | Yes | No | No |
| Secret proxy | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Secret proxy for any API | Yes | No | Yes |
| Preinstalled agents | Yes | No | Yes |
| Agent harness API | No | Yes | Yes |
| MCP server | Yes | No | No |
| GPU | No | No | No |
| Windows | No | Yes | No |
| Arm64 | No | No | No |
| Self-hosting | Yes | No | No |
| BYOC | Yes | No | No |
| Open source | Yes | No | No |
| Scoped API keys | Not published | Yes | Yes |
| Spend limits | Yes | Not published | Yes |
| Usage per sandbox (API) | No | Yes | Yes |
| Audit logs | Not published | Yes | No |
| SSO | No | Not published | No |
| SOC 2 | Yes | Not published | No |
| HIPAA | Yes | Not published | No |
| EU data residency | Yes | Not published | Yes |
| Zero data retention | Not published | Not published | Yes |
Performance
On the hpc-sandbox-benchmarks Node.js build-and-test loop at 4 vCPU / 8 GB, in the same run, boat did 26.69 runs per second and E2B did 12.61, so boat finished about twice as much CPU work. There is no comparable measurement for Morph Cloud: it is not in that run. Morph says it restores a snapshot in under 250 ms, which measures start time, not CPU speed.
Node.js build-and-test loop at 4 vCPU / 8 GB, higher is better. Measured with the open hpc-sandbox-benchmarks suite. Morph Cloud 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 | E2B, a month | Morph Cloud, 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 | $202 · Pro | $32 · Developer | $20 · $20/mo |
| One agent that never stops 4 vCPU / 8 GB, 50 GB disk, running 24/7 all month | $368 · Pro · with limits | $121 · Team | $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 | $2,773 · Pro | $1,459 · Scale | $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 | $1,395 · Pro+ (600 concurrent) | $325 · Scale | $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 | $2,797 · Pro++ (1,100 concurrent) | $869 · Scale | $2,000 · $2000/mo · with limits |
E2B: E2B bills per second for the vCPU and RAM you set, idle time included, until you pause or kill the sandbox. Pro costs $150 a month for higher limits, with no usage credit, and more concurrency costs $500 a month per 500 slots.
Morph Cloud: Morph bills MCUs at $0.05 each: per hour, a machine uses the largest of its vCPUs, its RAM in 4 GiB steps or its disk in 16 GiB steps. Team ($40 a month) and Scale ($250 a month) are prepaid MCU bundles at a discount, and a paused VM bills only its snapshot storage.
Morph Cloud: 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
E2B caps a session at 24 hours on Pro, so it does not fit the always-on scenario, while Morph and boat have no session cap. E2B Pro includes 20 GiB of disk, and Morph raises the price once disk goes past 16 GiB per MCU; neither publishes egress prices. Morph's limits are account-wide pools, so the Developer pool of 64 vCPU holds only 16 machines at 4 vCPU. For 1,000 short jobs at once, E2B Pro++ queues bursts above 300 starts a minute and Morph Scale fits, while boat's start limits make it a poor fit.
| Scenario | E2B | Morph Cloud | 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 E2B when
you run many short jobs that pause between requests, need outbound allow lists or US and APAC regions, or want to self-host the runtime.
- Open source and your own cloud. For teams that want to run the sandbox runtime themselves: it is Apache-2.0, and Enterprise can run in your AWS, GCP or Azure.
- Outbound allow and deny lists. For agents that should only reach hosts you pick: E2B filters outbound traffic by IP, CIDR or domain.
- Regions in the US, EU and APAC. For teams that must keep machines near US or Asian users: E2B runs in all three, while Morph does not publish regions.
Use Morph Cloud when
your agents run for days on full VMs, branch from one running state with its memory, or need managed CI runners and experimental Windows or macOS guests.
- Full VMs with no session cap. For agents that work for days: a Morph VM runs until you stop it, with Docker in Docker and local Kubernetes inside.
- Branching a running state in under 250 ms. For agents that fan out from one point: Morph copies a running VM with its memory into as many branches as you ask for.
- Managed CI runners and other guest systems. For teams that also want GitHub Actions runners from the same balance, or experimental Windows and macOS (x86) guests.
Where boat fits
If your agents do long, real work rather than short bursts, look at boat as well. It gives each agent a full VM with no session cap on paid plans, a CPU measured at about twice E2B's speed, and the agents, desktop and key handling already inside.
Coding agents you drive from outside
boat ships seven coding agents with a prompt, steer and events API. On E2B you run them through the command API, and on Morph you send keystrokes through tmux and parse the screen to know when an agent is done or stuck.
A fast CPU and /dev/kvm
On the same benchmark boat did 26.69 runs per second and E2B did 12.61, and Morph has no measurement. E2B cannot run Android emulators or VMs at all, and Morph lists nested virtualization as experimental.
Real keys never enter the machine
boat's credentials proxy covers model providers and any HTTPS API, such as GitHub or Stripe. E2B's secret injection is still a private beta, and on Morph keys for anything but a model API sit inside a machine the agent controls.
Use boat when your agents do hours of real work: builds, Docker, emulators and a browser on a fast full VM with no session cap, with coding agents driven by API and keys kept outside the machine. Compare it one to one: boat vs E2B and boat vs Morph Cloud.
Questions people ask
Is E2B cheaper than Morph Cloud?
No, Morph Cloud costs less in all five scenarios on this page. For one coding agent on workdays it is $32 a month against $202 on E2B, and for 50 agents in parallel it is $1,459 a month against $2,773. boat comes in at $20 a month and $317 a month for those two.
Which is faster, E2B or Morph Cloud?
Only E2B has a CPU measurement: 12.61 runs per second on the hpc-sandbox-benchmarks test at 4 vCPU / 8 GB, against 26.69 for boat. Morph is not in that run; its under-250 ms figure is snapshot restore time, not CPU speed.
Can an E2B or Morph Cloud sandbox run for days?
Not on E2B in one session: it stops a sandbox after 24 hours on Pro and 1 hour on Hobby, though pausing resets the clock. A Morph VM has no cap and runs until you stop it or its optional time to live ends. boat has no session cap on paid plans.
Can E2B and Morph Cloud run Docker and Android emulators?
Both run Docker inside the sandbox. E2B's docs say nested virtualization is not supported, and Morph lists it as experimental. boat exposes /dev/kvm for Android emulators and VMs.
Can both fork a running sandbox with its memory?
Yes. E2B forks a running sandbox with its memory, up to 20 copies per call with a short pause, and Morph branches a running VM into as many copies as you ask for in under 250 ms. boat forks a running sandbox with its disk, so the copy boots fresh.
Can I run Claude Code on E2B or Morph Cloud?
Yes. E2B has templates and guides and runs the agent through its command API, while on Morph you install it in a Devbox and drive it through a tmux API. On boat Claude Code and six other agents come preinstalled, with a prompt, steer and events API.
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