E2B vs Replit
E2B is an API that gives each agent session its own small Linux microVM, built for many short jobs that pause and resume. Replit is an AI app builder: you describe an app, Replit Agent writes it, and Replit hosts it.
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
Replit
Replit is an AI app builder and hosting platform: you describe an app in chat, Replit Agent writes it, and Replit publishes it.
You work in a browser workspace where Replit Agent sets up the project, writes the code, tests it and fixes problems, with system packages managed by Nix. When the app is ready you publish it as an Autoscale, Static, Scheduled or Reserved VM deployment, with Postgres and object storage next to it. It is built for people and teams who want a working app, not for programs that need to create many machines by API, so this page compares the parts where the two overlap.
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 | Replit: price rank | boat: price rank |
|---|---|---|---|
| Software factory 100 at once · 4 vCPU / 8 GB · 2,200 sessions of 8 h a month E2B fits a software factory, with sandboxes created from its SDKs and Docker inside, while Replit's MCP server drives Replit Agent one app at a time; boat adds no session cap and /dev/kvm. | 16th cheapest of 367 $4,143 a month | 181st of 367, with limits $2,000 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 session cap and must pause and resume, and on Replit it becomes a Reserved VM app billed all month; boat simply keeps running. | 51st of 366, with limits $5,348 a month | 202nd of 366, with limits $2,033 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 E2B is built for this: short code runs that start fast, pause with their memory and wake on the next request, while Replit's Autoscale is a web host, not a code runner. | 37th cheapest of 345 $421 a month | 228th of 345, with limits $146 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 can give each user a sandbox that wakes on the next request, Replit does not publish how many deployments can run at once, and boat ranks 1st here. | 23rd cheapest of 361 $2,354 a month | 233rd of 361, with limits $825 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 ranks 2nd here: its memory forks and high start rate suit many short rollouts that branch from the same state. | 2nd cheapest of 360 $9,384 a month | 258th of 360, with limits $4,226 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 | 265th of 364, with limits $685 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 that build containers or Android apps need Docker and nested virtualization; E2B has Docker but no /dev/kvm, Replit documents neither, and boat has both. | 337th of 377, with limits $1,429 a month | 275th of 377, with limits $425 a month | 4th cheapest of 377 $86 a month |
| 24/7 dev boxes 1 machine 24/7 · 4 vCPU / 8 GB A Replit workspace is a good place to code by hand and E2B stops sessions at 24 hours, while boat gives a dev box with no cap, Docker, systemd and a dedicated IP. | 192nd of 368, with limits $358 a month | 165th of 368, with limits $109 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, Replit's VNC pane only shows a desktop to a person, and boat streams its desktop at 60fps and can embed it in your app. | 32nd cheapest of 369 $1,342 a month | 190th of 369, with limits $619 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 | 229th of 367, with limits $317 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 | 234th of 346, with limits $217 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 | 150th of 338, with limits $4,378 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 | 208th of 360, with limits $215 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 | Replit | boat |
|---|---|---|---|
| Kind of product | Sandbox API: each agent session gets its own isolated Linux machine | AI app builder with browser workspaces and app hosting | Sandboxes you create, stop and fork by API, SDK or CLI |
| Isolation | Firecracker microVM with its own kernel | Not documented; the security page says strong logical separation between users | Full VM with its own kernel on dedicated AMD Ryzen 9 9950X hosts |
| Creating machines from code | Python and JavaScript SDKs create sandboxes from templates built on a Docker image | MCP server tools to create, update and publish apps; no API to start many machines | API, SDK and CLI to create, stop, resume and fork many sandboxes |
| CPU benchmark (4 vCPU / 8 GB) | 12.61 runs/s | Not measured | 26.69 runs/s |
| Biggest machine | Up to 8 vCPU / 8 GiB self-serve, more on request | Reserved VM sizes such as 4 vCPU / 16 GB; workspace CPU and memory per plan are not published | Up to 16 vCPU / 32 GB on the $100 plan and above |
| Session length | Up to 1 hour on Hobby, 24 hours on Pro; pausing resets the clock | A Reserved VM runs continuously as one published app | No cap on paid plans; you set the time to live |
| Pause, wake and fork | Pauses with memory and resumes in about 1 second; wakes on the next request; forks a running sandbox with its memory | Autoscale starts on the first request and goes idle after 15 minutes; Agent checkpoints at milestones | Disk saved every minute and on stop; fork a running sandbox with its disk; no wake on request |
| Docker and nested virtualization | Docker inside; nested virtualization not supported | System packages come from Nix; the docs do not describe Docker, systemd or /dev/kvm | Docker, root, systemd and /dev/kvm on every machine |
| Reaching the machine | HTTPS URL per port, public by default unless you turn on a token; no dedicated IP | Published apps on HTTPS domains and custom domains; SSH into the workspace on paid plans | HTTPS URLs for up to 50 ports, token-protected; raw TCP; dedicated IPv4 or IPv6; SSH |
| Coding agents | Templates and guides for many agents, run through the command API | Replit Agent, which you can also drive from an MCP client | Claude Code, Codex and five other agents preinstalled, with a prompt, steer and events API |
| Keeping API keys out of the sandbox | Secrets injected into outbound HTTPS headers (private beta) | Replit manages keys for OpenAI, Anthropic, Google and OpenRouter models; other keys are secrets in the app | Credentials proxy for model providers and any HTTPS API; switch a credential to another account when credits run out |
| Desktop and computer use | Linux desktop for computer use | VNC pane that streams a desktop to your browser; no computer-use API | 60fps desktop and Chromium, computer use and browser control, embeddable stream |
| Regions | US by default; EU and APAC on Pro and above, enabled by support | North America, Europe, Asia, South America and Australia for published apps on Core and up | EU only: Germany, Finland, France |
Every feature Battleships tracks (43)
| Feature | E2B | Replit | boat |
|---|---|---|---|
| Full VM (own kernel) | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Docker inside | Yes | No | Yes |
| Nested virtualization | No | No | Yes |
| Root | Yes | Not published | Yes |
| Systemd | Yes | No | 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 | No | Yes |
| Automatic snapshots | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Fork/clone | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Live fork (no pause) | Yes | No | Yes |
| Memory fork | Yes | No | 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 | Not published | 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 | Yes | Yes |
| Agent harness API | No | Yes | Yes |
| MCP server | Yes | Yes | No |
| GPU | No | No | No |
| Windows | No | No | No |
| Arm64 | No | Not published | No |
| Self-hosting | Yes | No | No |
| BYOC | Yes | No | No |
| Open source | Yes | No | No |
| Scoped API keys | Not published | Not published | Yes |
| Spend limits | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Usage per sandbox (API) | No | Yes | Yes |
| Audit logs | Not published | Yes | No |
| SSO | No | Yes | No |
| SOC 2 | Yes | Yes | No |
| HIPAA | Yes | No | No |
| EU data residency | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Zero data retention | Not published | Not published | Yes |
Performance
E2B and boat were measured in the same StarSling hpc-sandbox-benchmarks run, a Node.js build-and-test loop at 4 vCPU / 8 GB: E2B did 12.61 runs per second and boat did 26.69, about twice as much CPU work. Replit is not in that benchmark, so we cannot say how fast it is. This measures CPU speed only, not start time.
Node.js build-and-test loop at 4 vCPU / 8 GB, higher is better. Measured with the open hpc-sandbox-benchmarks suite. Replit 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 | Replit, 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 | $122 · Pro $100 (annual) · with limits | $20 · $20/mo |
| One agent that never stops 4 vCPU / 8 GB, 50 GB disk, running 24/7 all month | $368 · Pro · with limits | $122 · Pro $100 (annual) · 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 | $2,773 · Pro | $1,330 · Pro $1,000 (annual) · 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 | $1,395 · Pro+ (600 concurrent) | $403 · Pro $250 (annual) · 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 | $2,797 · Pro++ (1,100 concurrent) | $825 · Pro $1,000 (annual) · with limits | $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.
Replit: Replit plans (Core $20, Pro from $100) turn into monthly credits for Agent work and hosting, then usage is pay-as-you-go. A Reserved VM has a fixed monthly price per size, such as $130 for 4 vCPU / 16 GB, busy or idle; Autoscale bills only while it serves requests.
Replit: Plans start at $20 a month, and the whole fee is usage credit spent per second on running sandboxes. A stopped sandbox costs nothing and keeps its disk.
Limits in those scenarios
E2B caps a session at 24 hours on Pro and includes 20 GiB of disk, so an agent that runs all month does not fit without pausing and resuming. Replit is marked as not a fit in every scenario because it is an app platform: each always-on machine is a published Reserved VM app, it does not publish how many can run at once, and it does not document Docker. For 1,000 short jobs at once, E2B Pro++ only queues bursts above 300 starts a minute, while boat's $2,000 plan caps starts per hour and per day.
| Scenario | E2B | Replit | 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
your code runs many short jobs that start fast, pause with their memory between requests, or branch from the same state.
- Built for short jobs by API. Useful when your code starts many short sandboxes: E2B pauses one with its memory and resumes it in about a second.
- Wake on request and memory forks. A paused E2B sandbox wakes on the next request, and a running one can be forked with its memory into many copies.
- Open source and outbound rules. Its runtime is Apache-2.0 and can run on your own host, and you can limit which hosts a sandbox reaches.
Use Replit when
you want Replit Agent to build a web app from a description and host it for you, with a database, sleeping when idle and regions outside Europe.
- An app built and hosted for you. Useful if you want a working app from a description: Replit Agent builds, tests and publishes it with Postgres and storage.
- Hosting that costs nothing when idle. Useful for web apps with uneven traffic: Autoscale wakes on the first request and costs nothing while idle.
- Regions on five continents. Useful if your users are spread out: Replit publishes apps in North America, Europe, Asia, South America and Australia.
Where boat fits
If what you are really running is coding agents that work for hours, neither fits well: E2B is tuned for short jobs and stops at 24 hours, and Replit is an app builder, not a sandbox API. boat gives each agent a full VM by API that runs as long as it needs, with Docker, a desktop and agents you drive from outside.
No 24-hour stop, no month-long bill
E2B Pro ends a session at 24 hours, so your code must pause and resume long tasks. Replit's always-on option is a Reserved VM, one published app billed all month. boat has no cap and a stopped sandbox costs nothing.
Docker, systemd and /dev/kvm, on a faster CPU
E2B runs Docker but has no nested virtualization, so Android emulators and VMs cannot start, and Replit's docs describe neither Docker nor systemd. boat has all of them, and did 26.69 runs/s to E2B's 12.61 on the CPU benchmark.
Agents and keys handled from outside
On E2B you build the agent harness yourself and its secrets injection is in private beta. Replit's MCP server drives only Replit Agent, and other API keys sit in the app as secrets. boat has a prompt, steer and events API and a credentials proxy for any HTTPS API.
Use boat when your agents do real work for hours: installs, builds, tests, Docker, emulators and a browser, on a fast full VM your code starts by API and that never cuts them off. Compare it one to one: boat vs E2B and boat vs Replit.
Questions people ask
Is E2B cheaper than Replit?
Replit's bill is lower in every scenario we priced, for example $122 on Replit against $202 on E2B for one coding agent on workdays, but Replit fits none of them because it is an app platform. boat comes to $20 for the same agent and $317 for 50 agents in parallel, against $2,773 on E2B.
Which is faster, E2B or Replit?
E2B did 12.61 runs per second on the StarSling CPU benchmark at 4 vCPU / 8 GB. Replit is not in that benchmark, so there is no fair comparison. boat did 26.69 runs per second in the same run as E2B.
Can E2B or Replit run Docker?
E2B runs Docker inside its sandboxes but does not support nested virtualization. Replit sets up environments with Nix packages and its docs do not describe Docker. Every boat sandbox has Docker, root, systemd and /dev/kvm.
Can a machine run for days on E2B or Replit?
On E2B, not in one session: it stops after 24 hours on Pro and 1 hour on Hobby, though pausing resets the clock. A Replit Reserved VM runs continuously, but it is one published app billed all month. boat has no session cap on paid plans.
Is Replit a sandbox for AI agents like E2B?
Not in the usual sense. E2B and boat let your code create machines by API, while Replit is an app builder where Replit Agent writes and publishes apps, driven from outside only through its MCP server.
Where does my data run?
E2B runs in the US by default, with EU and APAC on Pro and above. Replit hosts data mainly on Google Cloud in the United States and publishes apps on five continents on Core and up. boat runs only in the EU, in Germany, Finland and France.
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