Tensorlake vs Replit
Tensorlake gives your code microVM sandboxes by API, with memory snapshots and warm clones for agents, evals and RL rollouts. Replit is a place where you describe an app, Replit Agent builds it, and Replit hosts it.
The companies and products
Tensorlake
Tensorlake is a San Francisco company that sells infrastructure for AI agents, with sandboxes as its main product.
Tensorlake Sandboxes are microVMs, backed by Firecracker and Cloud Hypervisor, that you create through an API and that boot in a few hundred milliseconds. Named sandboxes suspend when idle and keep their memory and running processes, and you can copy a running sandbox into several warm clones. Around them Tensorlake sells versioned file systems, hosted Git, an orchestration layer and a bring-your-own-cloud option, aimed at teams running coding agents, evals and RL rollouts.
- Headquarters
- San Francisco
- Investors shown
- Redpoint and Amplify Partners
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. “5th cheapest of 367” means 4 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 | Tensorlake: 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 Tensorlake fits a software factory that starts many agent machines from code; Replit drives one Replit Agent app at a time through its MCP server, and boat adds coding agents built in and /dev/kvm. | 5th cheapest of 367 $1,010 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 Tensorlake keeps a named sandbox's memory while it sleeps, Replit's always-on option is a Reserved VM billed all month, and boat keeps a full VM on with no session cap. | 9th cheapest of 366 $1,381 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 Replit's Autoscale costs less for short bursts because it scales to zero, but it is a web host; Tensorlake is a real code runner and fits fully. | 24th cheapest of 345 $250 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 Tensorlake allows 1,000 sandboxes at once on Pro, while Replit does not publish how many deployments can run at once; boat also gives each user's sandbox HTTPS URLs and raw TCP. | 5th cheapest of 361 $471 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 Tensorlake is built for RL rollouts, with warm clones from one memory snapshot; neither Replit nor boat's start-rate limits suit a thousand at once. | Cheapest of 360 $5,637 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 | 24th cheapest of 364 $506 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 Tensorlake runs Docker inside its sandboxes and Replit's docs do not describe Docker; boat has Docker on every machine and the fastest measured CPU. | 54th cheapest of 377 $424 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, Tensorlake's model suspends idle sandboxes, and boat fits a box that stays on all day. | 185th of 368, with limits $250 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 Tensorlake offers an XFCE desktop with screenshot, mouse and keyboard calls, Replit's VNC pane is for a person to watch, and boat adds a 60fps desktop with Chromium. | 9th cheapest of 369 $294 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 | 13th cheapest of 367 $250 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 | 22nd cheapest of 346 $250 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 | 121st of 338, with limits $3,484 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 | 4th cheapest of 360 $250 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 | Tensorlake | Replit | boat |
|---|---|---|---|
| Kind of product | Sandbox API: microVMs your code creates, suspends and clones | AI app builder with browser workspaces and app hosting | Sandboxes you create, stop and fork by API, SDK or CLI |
| Isolation | Firecracker and Cloud Hypervisor microVMs with their own kernel; GPU sandboxes use gVisor | Not documented; the security page says strong logical separation between users | Full VM with its own kernel on dedicated AMD Ryzen 9 9950X hosts |
| Starting many machines from code | API to create sandboxes, up to 1,000 at once on Pro | 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 |
| Docker and nested virtualization | Docker on the tensorlake/ubuntu-systemd image; no /dev/kvm | System packages come from Nix; the docs do not describe Docker, systemd or /dev/kvm | Docker, root, systemd and /dev/kvm on every machine |
| Memory snapshots | Yes: suspend and snapshots keep running processes and restore warm | No: workspace files and Agent checkpoints at milestones | No: disk is kept, resume reboots the machine |
| Clone a running machine | Copy a running or suspended sandbox into N warm clones with memory | No fork of a running machine | Fork a running sandbox (disk) |
| Keeping files | Named sandboxes suspend with memory, billed as snapshot storage; ephemeral ones end on timeout | Workspace files kept; published apps should not rely on their filesystem | Snapshots every minute and on stop; a stopped sandbox costs nothing |
| Coding agents | You bring and run your own agent | Replit Agent, which you can also drive from an MCP client | Claude Code, Codex, OpenCode and more preinstalled, with a prompt, steer and events API |
| API keys | Stored secrets are injected into the sandbox | Replit manages keys for some AI model providers; other keys are secrets in the app | Credential proxy for model providers and any HTTPS API: real keys never enter the sandbox |
| Desktop and computer use | XFCE desktop with Firefox over VNC, with screenshot, mouse and keyboard calls | VNC pane that streams a desktop to your browser; no computer-use API | 60fps desktop and Chromium, computer use and browser control, embeddable stream |
| Inbound traffic | HTTP, WebSocket and gRPC through an authenticated proxy | Published apps on HTTPS domains and custom domains; SSH into the workspace on paid plans | HTTPS URLs for up to 50 ports, token-protected, plus raw TCP and SSH |
| Hosting a finished app | Not a hosting product | Autoscale, Static, Scheduled or Reserved VM deployments with Postgres and storage | Host from a sandbox with HTTPS URLs; no hosted databases |
| GPUs and own cloud | GPU sandboxes by request; BYOC on AWS, GCP, Azure, CoreWeave, Nebius and bare metal | No GPUs, no bring-your-own-cloud | No GPUs, no bring-your-own-cloud |
| Where it runs | US and EU | Data mainly in the US; apps published in North America, Europe, Asia, South America or Australia | EU only: Germany, Finland, France |
Every feature Battleships tracks (43)
| Feature | Tensorlake | 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 | No | Yes | Yes |
| Secret proxy for any API | No | No | Yes |
| Preinstalled agents | No | Yes | Yes |
| Agent harness API | No | Yes | Yes |
| MCP server | No | Yes | No |
| GPU | Yes | No | No |
| Windows | No | No | No |
| Arm64 | No | Not published | No |
| Self-hosting | No | No | No |
| BYOC | Yes | No | No |
| Open source | No | No | No |
| Scoped API keys | Not published | Not published | Yes |
| Spend limits | Not published | Yes | Yes |
| Usage per sandbox (API) | No | Yes | Yes |
| Audit logs | Not published | Yes | No |
| SSO | Yes | Yes | No |
| SOC 2 | Yes | Yes | No |
| HIPAA | Yes | No | No |
| EU data residency | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Zero data retention | Yes | Not published | Yes |
Performance
boat scores 26.69 runs/s on the hpc-sandbox-benchmarks Node.js build-and-test loop at 4 vCPU / 8 GB, the fastest result measured. Neither Tensorlake nor Replit is in that benchmark, so there is no comparable CPU measurement for either of them, and we cannot say which of the two is faster.
Node.js build-and-test loop at 4 vCPU / 8 GB, higher is better. Measured with the open hpc-sandbox-benchmarks suite. Tensorlake and Replit have 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 | Tensorlake, 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 | $250 · 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 | $250 · Pro | $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 | $1,030 · 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 | $293 · Pro | $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 | $1,127 · Pro | $825 · Pro $1,000 (annual) · with limits | $2,000 · $2000/mo · with limits |
Tensorlake: Pro is $250 per billing cycle, which includes $250 of usage, then $0.01 per CU. CPU is billed only while active, RAM and disk on what you allocate while running, and a suspended sandbox pays snapshot storage; prepaid packs from $5 suit very small use.
Replit: Plans (Core $20, Pro from $100) turn into monthly credits for Agent work and hosting, then pay-as-you-go. A Reserved VM has a fixed monthly price per size and bills busy or idle, while Autoscale bills only while it serves requests.
Replit: 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.
Limits in those scenarios
Replit is marked as not a fit in every scenario because it is an app platform: each always-on machine is one published Reserved VM, it does not document Docker, and it does not publish how many deployments can run at once. Tensorlake fits all five scenarios on Pro, including 1,000 short jobs at once, but an ephemeral sandbox ends after 10 idle minutes by default and size is fixed at creation. boat fits four of five; for 1,000 jobs at once it queues bursts above 90 starts a minute.
| Scenario | Tensorlake | Replit | boat |
|---|---|---|---|
| One coding agent, workdays | None that bite |
| None that bite |
| One agent that never stops | None that bite |
| 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 | None that bite |
|
|
Which one should you use?
Use Tensorlake when
your code needs to start many sandboxes, fan out warm clones from one memory snapshot, or run GPUs or sandboxes in your own cloud.
- Machines your code starts. Useful for agent platforms: Tensorlake starts sandboxes by API, up to 1,000 at once on Pro, where Replit has no such API.
- Memory snapshots and warm clones. Useful for evals and RL rollouts: Tensorlake can save a sandbox's memory and copy it into many warm clones.
- GPUs and your own cloud. Tensorlake offers GPU sandboxes by request and can run sandboxes in your own AWS, GCP or Azure account.
Use Replit when
you want Replit Agent to build a web app from a description and host it for you, with databases, sleeping when idle and regions worldwide.
- 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 far from the US or Europe: Replit publishes apps in Asia, South America and Australia too.
Where boat fits
If what you are really running is agents that work for hours, look at boat. Each agent gets a full VM with Docker, /dev/kvm and a desktop, coding agents are built in, and real keys stay outside the machine. Tensorlake is a better pick for big warm fan-outs, and Replit for apps it builds and hosts for you.
Run emulators, VMs and Docker
Tensorlake sandboxes have no /dev/kvm, so an Android emulator or VM does not start, and Replit's docs do not describe Docker or systemd at all. On boat every machine has root, systemd, Docker and /dev/kvm.
Drive agents inside from outside
On Tensorlake you install and wire up your own agent, and Replit's MCP server drives only Replit Agent, with no event stream. boat ships Claude Code, Codex and OpenCode with one API to prompt, steer and stream events.
Keep keys out of the machine
Tensorlake injects stored secrets into the sandbox, and Replit keeps non-model keys as app secrets, so code the agent runs can read them. boat's credentials proxy holds real keys outside for any HTTPS API.
Use boat when your agents do real work for hours: full VMs with Docker, /dev/kvm and a desktop, coding agents built in, and keys kept outside the machine. Compare it one to one: boat vs Tensorlake and boat vs Replit.
Questions people ask
Is Tensorlake cheaper than Replit?
For one agent, Replit's Reserved VM is lower: $122 a month against $250 on Tensorlake Pro, but Replit does not fit as a sandbox. For 50 agents in parallel Tensorlake is $1,030 against $1,330 on Replit, and boat is $317.
Which is faster, Tensorlake or Replit?
There is no comparable measurement: neither is in the hpc-sandbox-benchmarks CPU test. boat scores 26.69 runs/s there, the fastest result measured. Tensorlake's docs say its default image starts in a few hundred milliseconds.
Can Tensorlake or Replit run Docker?
Tensorlake runs Docker on its tensorlake/ubuntu-systemd image, but has no /dev/kvm for emulators or VMs. Replit's docs set up environments with Nix packages and do not describe Docker. Every boat sandbox has Docker, systemd and /dev/kvm.
Is Replit a sandbox for AI agents like Tensorlake?
Not in the usual sense. Replit is an app builder where Replit Agent writes and publishes apps, with no API to start many machines. Tensorlake and boat are sandboxes your code creates by API.
Can I keep an agent's memory when it stops?
On Tensorlake, yes: named sandboxes suspend with memory and running processes. Replit keeps workspace files and Agent checkpoints. boat keeps the disk with snapshots every minute and on stop, but a resume boots the machine again.
Where do Tensorlake and Replit run?
Tensorlake runs in the US and the EU, or in your own cloud account. Replit hosts data mainly in the US and publishes apps on five continents. boat runs only in the EU (Germany, Finland, France), with EU data residency.
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