# boxes.dev

Official pricing: https://boxes.dev/  
Category: dev-env · Isolation: firecracker

## Pricing regimes (raw)

- **Starter marginal box-hours** (sizes): Starter-default 4 vCPU/8 GiB $0.75/h; Starter-4x16 4 vCPU/16 GiB $1.0425/h; Starter-8x16 8 vCPU/16 GiB $1.5/h; Starter-8x24 8 vCPU/24 GiB $1.7925/h; Starter-8x32 8 vCPU/32 GiB $2.085/h
- **Pro marginal box-hours** (sizes): Pro-default 4 vCPU/8 GiB $0.6/h; Pro-4x16 4 vCPU/16 GiB $0.834/h; Pro-8x16 8 vCPU/16 GiB $1.2/h; Pro-8x24 8 vCPU/24 GiB $1.434/h; Pro-8x32 8 vCPU/32 GiB $1.668/h

## Features

Yes: snapshots, memory snapshots, fork/clone, pause/resume, persistent disk, volumes, idle auto-stop, ≥24 h sessions, custom image (Docker or snapshot), start from your own snapshot, full VM (own kernel), Docker inside, browser, preinstalled agents, SSH, HTTPS preview URLs, open internet, BYOC, SSO, wake on request, live fork (no pause), scheduled runs (cron), audit logs, spend limits, automatic snapshots, snapshots on demand, agent harness API, gVisor or VM (no shared kernel), inbound access rules, firewall inside (nftables), extra volumes, shared volumes

No: your own Docker/OCI image, desktop GUI, computer-use API, browser + desktop control, anti-bot stealth, CAPTCHA solving, public IPv4, egress allowlist, static egress IP, self-hosting, open source, SOC 2, HIPAA, GPU, Windows, macOS, HTTP method/path egress rules, live resize, memory fork, EU data residency, MCP server, hosted agent API (their own agent), secret proxy, secret proxy for any API

Unknown: everything else. Evidence (source + quote) per feature: https://battleships.dev/data/providers/boxes-dev.json → feature_evidence

## Caveats

- Default 4 vCPU/8 GiB 100 GBdisk; larger machines burn weighted box-hours. About 1.39/2.39/2.78 multipliers are approximate.
- Single paidseat does not satisfy 50 awake devboxes. Multiple seats must be assigned to real users; do not buy fake seats solely to bypass limits.
- Template boxes consume box-hours while awake but do not occupy devbox slots; Team Template source maintenance wakes bill admin, ordinary devbox maintenance-onlywakes free.
- Included box-hours are per user, overage draws shared team prepaid balance; unequal usage per person can leave some included hours unused.
- Sleeping devboxes free; snapshot storage andegress rates not separately itemized; 100 GiBegress not assumed free.
- Monthly price not fee-as-credit: 19 includes 40 hours,99 includes 250 hours.
- Exact hypervisor type not established by reviewed docs.
- Engineonly handlesoneperson plan limits; per personincluded hours andseat-scaledconcurrency notautomaticallypooled. Trialcannot bemapped to monthlyincludedUSD.

## How this provider charges


As of 2026-09-28. USD list prices. Plans and awake limits are PER PERSON, not whole organization. Models/subscriptions not resold. Show HN 2026-06-04 item 48399358.

## Regimes

| Regime | When it applies | How billed / numbers | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Starter box-hours | Native product usage | $0.75/hour after 40 included hours per paiduser;19 USD/seat/month. | [Primary pricing](https://boxes.dev/) |
| Pro box-hours | Native product usage | $0.60/hour after 250 included hours per paiduser;99 USD/seat/month. | [Primary pricing](https://boxes.dev/) |
| Larger machines | Native product usage | 4 vCPU 16 GiB≈1.39 box-hours/h;8 vCPU 16 GiB 2;8 vCPU 24 GiB≈2.39;8 vCPU 32 GiB≈2.78. | [Primary pricing](https://boxes.dev/) |
| Sleeping | Native product usage | No box-hour charge; unlimited sleeping devboxes advertised. | [Primary pricing](https://boxes.dev/) |
| Trial | Account plan | $0/month; 10 box-hours/user total;2 awake devboxes plus Template;2 projects. | [Primary pricing](https://boxes.dev/) |
| Starter | Account plan | $19/month; Per user/paidseat:40 box-hours/month,4 awake plus Template;5 projects; extra$0.75/box-hour. | [Primary pricing](https://boxes.dev/) |
| Pro | Account plan | $99/month; Per user/paidseat:250 box-hours/month,10 awake plus Template;10 projects; extra$0.60/box-hour. | [Primary pricing](https://boxes.dev/) |
| Teams | Account plan | Unpublished / sales; Custom seats/hour pools, resources/limits and deployment; contact sales. | [Primary pricing](https://boxes.dev/) |

## Gotchas

- Default 4 vCPU/8 GiB 100 GBdisk; larger machines burn weighted box-hours. About 1.39/2.39/2.78 multipliers are approximate.
- Single paidseat does not satisfy 50 awake devboxes. Multiple seats must be assigned to real users; do not buy fake seats solely to bypass limits.
- Template boxes consume box-hours while awake but do not occupy devbox slots; Team Template source maintenance wakes bill admin, ordinary devbox maintenance-onlywakes free.
- Included box-hours are per user, overage draws shared team prepaid balance; unequal usage per person can leave some included hours unused.
- Sleeping devboxes free; snapshot storage andegress rates not separately itemized; 100 GiBegress not assumed free.
- Monthly price not fee-as-credit: 19 includes 40 hours,99 includes 250 hours.
- Exact hypervisor type not established by reviewed docs.

## Required worked example

4 vCPU / 8 GiB, 50 concurrent × 8 h/day × 22 days = **8,800 instance-hours**, 30% CPU, 50 GiB retained snapshots and 100 GiB egress.

A single self-serve seat cannot meet 50 concurrency. **Conditional 5-person Pro scenario**, each legitimately owns 10 boxes and consumes 1,760 hours/month: fee 5×99=$495; usage 5×(1,760−250)×.60=$4,530; known subtotal **$5,025**. This is not guaranteed organization-pooled billing or an Enterprise quote. Excludes extra Template hours, models, egress and separately unpublished snapshot terms. At 30% CPU wall-time price unchanged; full total unknown.

## Feature evidence

- https://boxes.dev/help/plans-and-box-hours
- https://boxes.dev/help/billing-and-usage
- https://boxes.dev/help/sleep-wake-recover
- https://boxes.dev/help/template-box-snapshots
- https://boxes.dev/llms.txt