Namespace vs Koyeb
Namespace is mainly a CI and build platform whose Devboxes are remote dev machines that stop after 4 to 24 hours, on Linux, macOS and Windows. Koyeb is a serverless cloud whose sandboxes are microVMs that sleep when idle, wake on the next request, and can run on GPUs in the EU, US and Asia.
The companies and products
Namespace
Namespace is a dev platform for fast builds, tests and coding environments: CI runners, build caches and Devboxes, on its own hardware.
Most of Namespace is CI: a faster drop-in for GitHub Actions runners, with Docker, Bazel, Turborepo and Nix caching. Its Devboxes are remote Linux and macOS machines with persistent storage, made for people and AI coding agents, and they also host sessions for Claude Managed Agents, Cursor Cloud Agents and Devin. It is a different kind of product from boat, so this page compares the part where they overlap: a machine an agent works on.
- Products
- GitHub Actions runners, Docker, Bazel, Turborepo and Nix caching, Devboxes, and a compute API
- Hardware
- Its own hardware in its own racks: AMD EPYC for Linux and Windows, Apple M4 Pro or M5 Max for macOS
- Linux Devboxes
- Run from a container image you choose and include Docker; the docs do not say whether each one has its own kernel
- Funding
- Announced a $42M Series B
- Compliance
- Trust center lists SOC 2 Type II
Koyeb
Koyeb is a serverless cloud for apps, inference and sandboxes, and in February 2026 it agreed to join Mistral AI.
A Koyeb sandbox is a Koyeb service: a microVM started from any Docker image and driven from Python or JavaScript SDKs that run commands, read files and expose a port. It can scale to zero when idle and wake on the next request, and it can run on CPU or GPU instance types. It is built for teams that run AI agents or untrusted code next to apps they already host on Koyeb.
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. “80th cheapest of 377” means 79 of the other 376 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 | Namespace: price rank | Koyeb: price rank | boat: price rank |
|---|---|---|---|
| Software factory 100 at once · 4 vCPU / 8 GB · 2,200 sessions of 8 h a month | 39th of 367, with limits $3,495 a month | 54th of 367, with limits $366 a month | 3rd cheapest of 367 $634 a month |
| Always-on AI employees 50 machines 24/7 · 2 vCPU / 4 GB An assistant that never stops is a compromise on both: a Namespace Devbox is shut down after at most 24 hours, and a Koyeb sandbox loses its VM in a deep sleep; boat has no session cap on paid plans and keeps its disk. | 303rd of 366, with limits $6,645 a month | 135th of 366, with limits $923 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 Koyeb fits short code runs well, with small instances, scale to zero and a wake on the next request, while Namespace and boat are a compromise here. | 247th of 345, with limits $250 a month | 4th cheapest of 345 $66 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 Koyeb and boat both fit sandboxes for your users; Koyeb wakes a sleeping sandbox on request in many regions, and boat gives each user a full VM with HTTPS on up to 50 ports. | 284th of 361, with limits $2,068 a month | 6th cheapest of 361 $495 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 | 356th of 360, with limits $9,012 a month | 237th of 360, with limits $1,631 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 | 282nd of 364, with limits $1,043 a month | 19th cheapest of 364 $429 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 runners are Namespace's main product, with caches for Docker, Bazel and more; Koyeb does not document /dev/kvm, and boat runs CI jobs on full VMs with Docker and /dev/kvm. | 80th cheapest of 377 $765 a month | 142nd of 377, with limits $88 a month | 4th cheapest of 377 $86 a month |
| 24/7 dev boxes 1 machine 24/7 · 4 vCPU / 8 GB Both are a compromise for a 24/7 dev box: Namespace shuts a Devbox down after at most 24 hours, and Koyeb's eco shape has a 20 GiB disk; a boat machine stays up with its disk. | 126th of 368, with limits $168 a month | 217th of 368, with limits $37 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 Namespace's screenshot and click API works on macOS Devboxes only and Koyeb sandboxes have no desktop; boat streams a 60fps Linux desktop with Chromium. | 67th of 369, with limits $982 a month | 81st of 369, with limits $123 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 | 285th of 367, with limits $789 a month | 172nd of 367, with limits $123 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 | 259th of 346, with limits $332 a month | 172nd of 346, with limits $89 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 | 226th of 338, with limits $9,012 a month | 65th of 338, with limits $1,683 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 | 242nd of 360, with limits $339 a month | 233rd of 360, with limits $299 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 Koyeb fits: it runs GPU instances up to H100 and H200, while Namespace and boat are CPU only. | Can't run it | 3rd cheapest of 98 $628 a month | Can't run it |
| macOS agents 5 at once · 4 vCPU / 8 GB · 1,000 sessions of 20 min a month Only Namespace fits: it runs macOS Devboxes and instances on Apple Silicon, and neither Koyeb nor boat has macOS. | 6th cheapest of 36 $1,205 a month | Can't run it | Can't run it |
Key features
| Feature | Namespace | Koyeb | boat |
|---|---|---|---|
| Isolation | Linux Devboxes run from a container image on Namespace's own hardware; the docs do not say if each has its own kernel | MicroVM per instance | Full VM with its own kernel on dedicated AMD Ryzen 9 9950X hosts |
| CPU speed (Node.js build-and-test, 4 vCPU / 8 GB) | 21.79 runs/s | Not benchmarked; at least 0.25 dedicated vCPU per GB of memory, bursting to all cores | 26.69 runs/s |
| How long a session can run | Devboxes stop after 4, 5 or 24 hours by plan, raisable to 24 at most | No forced cap; optional auto-delete timers you set | No session cap on paid plans |
| Files after a stop | A stopped Devbox keeps its storage, billed at $0.20 per GB-month used | Local disk is lost on redeploy and a deep sleep discards the VM; volumes are in preview at 1 to 10 GB | Disk kept across stops and saved every minute; a stopped sandbox costs nothing |
| Idle sleep and wake | Devboxes stop after an idle timeout (15 minutes to 8 hours) and start again when you connect | Scales to zero after 5 idle minutes or more and wakes on the next request; Light Sleep wakes in about 200 ms | Stop and start by API; machines run until you stop them |
| Docker and nested virtualization | Docker in Linux Devboxes; /dev/kvm on Linux compute instances | Starts from Docker images; nested virtualization not documented | Docker, root, systemd and /dev/kvm on every machine |
| Snapshots and fork | No fork; compute instances can suspend and resume with RAM kept | SDK snapshots of the filesystem or running processes, and new sandboxes from them (experimental) | Fork a running sandbox with its disk |
| Desktop and computer use | Screenshot and click API on macOS Devboxes only; VNC and RDP for compute instances | No desktop or browser in the sandbox SDK | 60fps Linux desktop with Chromium, computer use and browser control |
| Reaching the sandbox | HTTPS URLs that need a Namespace login, TCP through a CLI port-forward; no public IP | One exposed HTTPS port at a time, plus an optional TCP proxy to one port; no dedicated IP | HTTPS URLs for up to 50 ports, token-protected; raw TCP; dedicated IPv4 or IPv6 |
| Outbound rules | Block, advisory or allow by domain, per Devbox blueprint, runner or instance | Block all outbound traffic, or allow only listed IPs and CIDRs | Open internet, no provider-side allowlist |
| Keeping keys out of the sandbox | Egress rules inject a header from Namespace Vault, resolved outside the workload | Secrets are set as environment variables inside the service | Credentials proxy for model providers and any HTTPS API; switch a credential to another account when credits run out |
| Coding agents | Hosts Claude Managed Agents, Cursor and Devin sessions; an MCP server lets your agent create Devboxes | Tutorials that run agents through the command API; an MCP server lets agents manage Koyeb | Claude Code, Codex, OpenCode and more preinstalled, with a prompt, steer and events API |
| Operating systems and GPUs | Linux, macOS on Apple Silicon, and Windows on Team plans and up; no GPUs | Linux only; GPUs from RTX 4000 SFF Ada up to H100 and H200 | Linux only, with Wine for Windows apps; no GPUs |
| Regions | Several regions; keeping every workload in one region needs Enterprise | Frankfurt, Paris, Washington D.C., Singapore, Tokyo and more | EU only (Germany, Finland, France), with EU data residency |
Every feature Battleships tracks (43)
| Feature | Namespace | Koyeb | boat |
|---|---|---|---|
| Full VM (own kernel) | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Docker inside | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Nested virtualization | Yes | No | Yes |
| Root | Yes | Not published | Yes |
| Systemd | Not published | Not published | Yes |
| Desktop GUI | Yes | No | Yes |
| Browser | No | No | Yes |
| Computer-use API | Yes | No | Yes |
| SSH | Yes | No | Yes |
| Persistent disk | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Pause/resume | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Automatic snapshots | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Fork/clone | No | Yes | Yes |
| Live fork (no pause) | No | Not published | Yes |
| Memory fork | No | 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 | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Public IPv4 | No | No | No |
| Egress allowlist | Yes | Yes | No |
| Secret proxy | Yes | No | Yes |
| Secret proxy for any API | Yes | No | Yes |
| Preinstalled agents | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Agent harness API | No | No | Yes |
| MCP server | Yes | Yes | No |
| GPU | No | Yes | No |
| Windows | Yes | No | No |
| Arm64 | Yes | No | No |
| Self-hosting | No | Yes | No |
| BYOC | No | Yes | No |
| Open source | No | No | No |
| Scoped API keys | Not published | Not published | Yes |
| Spend limits | Yes | No | Yes |
| Usage per sandbox (API) | No | No | Yes |
| Audit logs | Yes | Yes | No |
| SSO | Yes | Yes | No |
| SOC 2 | Yes | Yes | No |
| HIPAA | No | No | 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 Namespace did 21.79, so the same build takes about a fifth longer on Namespace. Koyeb was not part of that run, so there is no comparable measurement for it; it publishes a CPU share of at least 0.25 dedicated vCPU per GB of memory, bursting to all cores.
Node.js build-and-test loop at 4 vCPU / 8 GB, higher is better. Measured with the open hpc-sandbox-benchmarks suite. Namespace measured on: Linux compute instance (unit-minutes, PAYG/overage $0.0015). Koyeb 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 | Namespace, a month | Koyeb, 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 | $50 · Devbox (pay as you go) | $29 · Pro | $20 · $20/mo |
| One agent that never stops 4 vCPU / 8 GB, 50 GB disk, running 24/7 all month | $176 · Devbox (pay as you go) · with limits | $57 · Pro | $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 | $2,198 · Devbox (pay as you go) | $475 · Pro | $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 | $1,214 · Devbox (pay as you go) | $329 · 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 | $3,237 · Devbox (pay as you go) | $485 · Scale · with limits | $2,000 · $2000/mo · with limits |
Namespace: Devboxes are billed in Devbox Minutes at $0.004 each, pay as you go on every plan, and a 4 vCPU / 8 GB Devbox uses one a minute. The minutes in the Team ($100) and Business ($250) plans cover runners and instances, not Devboxes, and stored files cost $0.20 per GB-month.
Koyeb: Koyeb bills each instance per second at a fixed price per instance type, and Deep Sleep costs nothing. Pro costs $29 a month with $10 of usage included and Scale $299 with $100 included; the rest of the fee is not credit.
Koyeb: 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
On Namespace the limit that bites is time: a Devbox is shut down after 4, 5 or 24 hours by plan, so the agent that never stops does not fit without daily restarts, and Namespace does not publish an egress price. Koyeb's priced shape, eco-xlarge, has a 20 GiB disk with no published price for more, and eco instances guarantee only half of each vCPU, so the 1,000 short jobs at once get throttled. Namespace fits that burst, while boat's $2,000 plan queues starts above 90 a minute.
| Scenario | Namespace | Koyeb | boat |
|---|---|---|---|
| One coding agent, workdays |
|
| None that bite |
| One agent that never stops |
|
| None that bite |
| 50 agents in parallel |
| None that bite | 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 Namespace when
you need macOS or Windows machines, faster GitHub Actions runners with build caches, or Devboxes for people that stop when idle.
- macOS and Windows machines. Useful if your agents build iOS or Mac apps or test on Windows: Namespace runs macOS on Apple Silicon and Windows machines.
- CI runners and build caches. Useful if you want faster GitHub Actions: Namespace is a drop-in runner with Docker, Bazel, Turborepo and Nix caching.
- Domain egress rules and Vault headers. Useful if agents may reach only chosen domains, with keys added as headers from Namespace Vault outside the workload.
Use Koyeb when
your sandboxes need GPUs, sleep most of the time and must wake on a request, or have to run in the US or Asia.
- GPUs in the same platform. Useful when an agent or eval needs a GPU: Koyeb runs instances from RTX 4000 cards up to H100 and H200.
- Sleep when idle, wake on request. Good for sandboxes that sit idle between requests: Koyeb scales to zero and wakes on the next request.
- No forced session cap, many regions. Useful if sandboxes must run past a day, or in the US or Asia: Koyeb sets no forced session limit.
Where boat fits
If what you are really running is coding agents that work on Linux for hours or days, look at boat. Namespace cuts a Devbox off after at most 24 hours, and Koyeb throws away the VM's local disk in a deep sleep or redeploy. boat gives each agent a full VM that keeps its disk, has no session cap on paid plans, and comes with agents, a desktop and hosting built in.
A machine that keeps running and keeps its files
On Namespace an agent's processes die at the 4, 5 or 24 hour limit, and on Koyeb a deep sleep discards the VM unless you add a preview volume. boat saves the disk every minute and has no session cap.
/dev/kvm, a desktop and fork on every machine
Koyeb does not document /dev/kvm and has no desktop; Namespace's click API is macOS only, so Linux agents need a desktop and VNC installed by hand. boat ships /dev/kvm, a 60fps desktop and forks of running sandboxes.
Agents driven from outside, keys kept out
On Namespace the agent loop runs through a partner or your own code, and on Koyeb you build it on exec with keys as environment variables. boat preinstalls the agents with a prompt, steer and events API and a credentials proxy.
Use boat when your agents work on Linux for hours or days: a full, faster VM that keeps its disk, Docker and /dev/kvm, a 60fps desktop, and coding agents you drive from outside. Compare it one to one: boat vs Namespace and boat vs Koyeb.
Questions people ask
Is Namespace cheaper than Koyeb?
Not in the scenarios we priced: one coding agent on workdays comes to $50 a month on Namespace and $29 on Koyeb, and 50 agents in parallel come to $2,198 against $475. boat comes to $20 and $317 for the same two.
Which is faster, Namespace or Koyeb?
Only Namespace has a comparable measurement: 21.79 Node.js build-and-test runs per second at 4 vCPU / 8 GB, against 26.69 for boat. Koyeb was not benchmarked, and its eco instances guarantee only half of each vCPU.
Can Namespace and Koyeb run Docker?
Namespace Linux Devboxes include Docker, and its Linux compute instances expose /dev/kvm. Koyeb sandboxes start from Docker images but do not document nested virtualization. boat runs Docker with root, systemd and /dev/kvm on every machine.
How long can a session run on each?
A Namespace Devbox stops after 4 hours on Developer, 5 on Team and 24 on Business, even while you work in it. Koyeb has no forced cap, only optional auto-delete timers. boat has no session cap on paid plans.
Which has GPUs or macOS?
Koyeb has GPUs, from an RTX 4000 SFF Ada up to H100 and H200. Namespace has macOS on Apple Silicon and Windows, but no GPUs. boat runs Linux VMs only, with no GPUs.
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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