# CreateOS Sandbox (NodeOps)

Official pricing: https://createos.sh/products/sandbox  
Category: agent-sandbox · Isolation: firecracker

## Pricing regimes (raw)

- **Sandbox shapes, per-second at list rates (paid from plan credits / top-ups)** (sizes): s-0.25vcpu-512mb 0.25 vCPU/0.5 GiB $0.014836/h; s-0.5vcpu-1gb 0.5 vCPU/1 GiB $0.029672/h; s-1vcpu-256mb 1 vCPU/0.25 GiB $0.039061/h; s-1vcpu-1gb 1 vCPU/1 GiB $0.047754/h; s-1vcpu-2gb 1 vCPU/2 GiB $0.059344/h; s-2vcpu-2gb 2 vCPU/2 GiB $0.095508/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, your own Docker/OCI image, full VM (own kernel), Docker inside, root, browser, desktop GUI, computer-use API, browser + desktop control, SSH, HTTPS preview URLs, egress allowlist, open internet, private networking, self-hosting, BYOC, SSO, Python, Node.js, Go, Rust, wake on request, memory fork, webhooks, EU data residency, MCP server, automatic snapshots, snapshots on demand, fast boot (benchmarked), gVisor or VM (no shared kernel), inbound access rules, firewall inside (nftables), shared volumes

No: nested virtualization, systemd, code interpreter, anti-bot stealth, CAPTCHA solving, residential IPs, preinstalled agents, public IPv4, raw TCP inbound, static egress IP, open source, SOC 2, HIPAA, GPU, arm64, Windows, macOS, GPU desktop, HTTP method/path egress rules, live resize, live fork (no pause), agent harness API, hosted agent API (their own agent), secret proxy, secret proxy for any API, extra volumes

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

## Caveats

- USD value of a credit is not stated on the Sandbox pages; 1 credit = $0.01 is from the NodeOps Skills credits page and matches plan math ($10 = 1,000 credits, $75 = 7,500).
- Top-up multipliers (1.2x/1.5x/5x) are read as bonus credits per dollar. The 5x Enterprise multiplier implies an 80% effective discount on top-up-funded usage; unverified.
- Paused sandboxes keep billing RAM ($0.01159025/GiB-h) plus storage (product page + Limits doc). The SDK docs contradict this ('Compute billing stopped ... only storage costs apply'); the official Limits/product pages are used. Engine paused_ram_billed=true.
- Storage $0.0001584/GB-h (~$0.1156/GB-month): which GB are metered (allocated overlay disk vs used, memory snapshot) is not stated; default disk per shape (default_disk_mib) not published. snapshot_gib_month set to the storage rate for the disk part only.
- Egress is unmetered ($0) but each sandbox has a 50 GiB default bandwidth quota; the price of rechargeBandwidth top-ups is not published.
- Hard caps: concurrency 1/5/20/30 and creation caps 10/50/200/300 sandboxes per day (Free/Beginner/Pro/Enterprise). A 50-concurrent workload exceeds every published plan.
- Per-plan CPU/RAM caps on the pricing page (48 / 1,000 / 2,000 cores) are Deploy-platform caps; Sandbox caps come from the Limits doc.
- Billing granularity 1 s ('billed per second'); no minimum or creation fee published.
- Verify 2026-09-28: createos.sh/pricing/sandbox now says "No tiers, no plan gate, no minimums ... no annual lock-in", while the Limits doc, the Pricing doc table and the product-page FAQ still publish plan tiers with concurrency caps 1/5/20/30. The card keeps the documented tier caps (conservative); if tiers are truly retired, only the rates apply and 50-concurrent workloads may be allowed.
- Removed Beginner/Pro annual plans ($8/$60): the only source for "20% off annual" is createos.nodeops.network/pricing, which is the Deploy platform (Plus $49 / Pro $149 plans); the Sandbox pricing page says no annual lock-in and publishes no annual plan.
- The rendered createos.nodeops.network/pricing (the CreateOS app's own subscription page, whose sidebar includes Sandbox) DOES show CPU $0.00000095/vCPU-s, Memory $0.00000036/GB-s, Storage $0.00000005/GB-s and plans Free $0 / Beginner $10 / Pro $75 / Enterprise Custom with a Monthly/Annual '20% off' toggle and an 'AI Sandbox' row. The rate cards are not labelled per product; Sandbox pages all use $0.03616363/vCPU-h. The static (non-JS) HTML only contains the Deploy SEO block (Plus $49 / Pro $149), which is probably what the 2026-09-28 check read.
- Bandwidth: pricing page says egress is 'Unmetered, any volume $0.00', but each sandbox has a 50 GiB default quota; when exhausted 'Networking pauses ... until it's recharged', and 'Recharge consumes account credit' (price per GiB unpublished; max 100 GiB per recharge call). Egress-heavy sandboxes (>50 GiB each) cost an unknown extra and stop networking by default.
- Disk sizes are a fixed menu 10/20/30/40/50/60 GiB (grow online, never shrink), capped by plan max disk 10/30/50/60 GiB.
- Tier conflict re-checked 2026-09-29, unchanged: createos.sh/pricing/sandbox and createos.sh/pricing say 'No tiers, no plan gate, no minimums', while the Limits doc (last updated 09/28/2026) and product FAQ still publish concurrency 1/5/20/30 and 10/50/200/300 creations/day, 'a create that would exceed it fails rather than queueing', and the app pricing page still sells Free/Beginner $10/Pro $75/Enterprise. Keep the documented caps.
- Product status conflict: the Limits doc says "CreateOS Sandbox is in alpha ... not yet covered by an SLA"; the product-page FAQ says it is "in production and running real workloads today".

## How this provider charges


CreateOS Sandbox is a Firecracker microVM sandbox sold on a credit-based plan system shared with the NodeOps CreateOS
app platform. One per-second rate card (allocated vCPU + allocated RAM + storage) is paid from monthly plan credits
or topped-up credits. Top-ups earn bonus credits (1.2x / 1.5x / 5x), so the effective rate depends on plan.
Plans also gate **shape size, concurrency and daily creations**. The biggest trap: **paused sandboxes keep billing RAM**.

Base rates (product page + docs): vCPU $0.0000100455/s = **$0.03616363/vCPU-h**; RAM $0.0000032195/GB-s =
**$0.01159025/GiB-h**; storage $0.000000044/GB-s = **$0.0001584/GB-h** (~$0.1156/GB-month); egress **$0**.
4 vCPU / 8 GiB shape (`s-4vcpu-8gb`) = 0.14465 + 0.09272 = **$0.2374/h**.

## Regime table

| Regime | When it applies | How billed | Numbers | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Free | New accounts | One-time credits; top-ups allowed | 500 credits (~$5 at $0.01/credit); 1 concurrent; 10 sandboxes/day; largest shape 1 vCPU / 1 GB; 10 GiB disk; no disks/templates | https://createos.sh/docs/Sandbox/Limits, https://createos.sh/docs/Account-Billing/Pricing/ |
| Beginner | Need up to 4 vCPU / 4 GB or 5 concurrent | Monthly fee converted to credits (fee = credit) | $10–$50/mo slider = 1,000–5,000 credits; 5 concurrent; 50/day; 30 GiB disk; **largest shape 4/4** | same |
| Pro | Need 8 vCPU / 8 GB, 4/8 shape, or 20 concurrent | Fee = credit | $75–$200/mo = 7,500–20,000 credits; 20 concurrent; 200/day; 50 GiB disk; largest 8/8 | same |
| Enterprise | 8/16 shape, 30 concurrent, self-hosting | Contact sales; docs say "$200+" | 20,000+ credits; 30 concurrent; 300/day; 60 GiB disk; largest 8/16; self-hosted option | https://createos.sh/docs/Account-Billing/Pricing/, https://createos.sh/products/sandbox |
| Annual billing | (removed on verify 2026-09-28) | The "20% off annual" line is on the Deploy-platform page (Plus $49 / Pro $149), not Sandbox; the Sandbox pricing page says "no annual lock-in" | no Sandbox annual plan published | https://createos.nodeops.network/pricing, https://createos.sh/pricing/sandbox |
| Credit top-ups (bonus multiplier) | Usage beyond plan credits, or top-up-only use with no subscription | Buy credits; plan multiplies credits per $ | Free/Beginner 1.2x (≈ list/1.2), Pro 1.5x (≈ list/1.5), Enterprise **5x** (≈ list/5) | https://createos.sh/docs/Account-Billing/Pricing/ |
| Running | Sandbox state `running` | Per second on the **allocated shape** (vCPU + RAM), independent of utilisation, plus storage | $0.03616363/vCPU-h + $0.01159025/GiB-h + $0.0001584/GB-h | https://createos.sh/products/sandbox |
| Paused (memory + disk snapshot) | `pause()` or auto-pause (`auto_pause_after_seconds` 60–86,400 s; **off by default**) | vCPU stops; **RAM and storage keep billing**; retained indefinitely | Paused 4/8 = 8 × $0.01159 = $0.0927/h ≈ **$67.7/month** | https://createos.sh/docs/Sandbox/Limits |
| Destroyed | `destroy()` | Nothing | $0 | SDK docs |
| Fork | `fork()` of a paused sandbox | Child is a new sandbox billed separately | full rate per child | SDK llms-full.txt |
| Storage | Overlay disk (shape default or `disk_mib`) | Per GB-hour while it exists | $0.0001584/GB-h (~$0.1156/GB-mo) | product page |
| Disks (volumes) | BYO S3/R2/MinIO buckets mounted | Paid to your own object store | $0 from CreateOS | SDK docs |
| Egress / bandwidth | All traffic | Unmetered, but a **50 GiB per-sandbox bandwidth quota** (rechargeable; recharge price unpublished) | $0 | https://createos.sh/docs/Sandbox/Limits |
| Session length | Any | No max; runs until destroyed or paused | — | Limits doc |
| Deploy-platform plans (NOT sandbox) | createos.nodeops.network/pricing | Different product (app deploys) | Free / Plus $49 / Pro $149 / Enterprise; the ~10x cheaper per-second table seen earlier is no longer shown (2026-09-28) | https://createos.nodeops.network/pricing |

Dated changes: none found. The SDK repository and docs carry no changelog entries on pricing.

## Gotchas

1. **Paused sandboxes still pay RAM.** Unlike E2B, Daytona or Mosaic, pausing only removes the vCPU charge. An 8 GiB sandbox parked all month costs ~$68. Destroy it, or snapshot to a template, if you don't need warm memory. The SDK docs say "compute billing stopped ... only storage" but the Limits doc and product page say RAM keeps billing.
2. **Auto-pause is off by default and there is no max session length**, so a forgotten sandbox runs (and bills) forever.
3. **Shape caps per plan are much lower than the headline "Up to 48 / 1,000 cores"** on the pricing page. Those caps belong to the Deploy platform. For Sandbox, Beginner tops out at **4 vCPU / 4 GB** and a 4/8 box needs Pro.
4. **Hard concurrency ceiling of 30** even on Enterprise per the docs, plus daily creation caps (10/50/200/300). Burst-heavy agent fleets hit these first.
5. **Credits, not dollars.** 1 credit = $0.01 comes from the NodeOps Skills page, not the Sandbox docs. Top-up multipliers mean the same usage costs 17% (Beginner), 33% (Pro) or 80% (Enterprise 5x) less when paid by top-up. That makes the effective rate plan-dependent and hard to compare.
6. **Tier conflict**: the new Sandbox pricing page (createos.sh/pricing/sandbox) says "No tiers, no plan gate, no minimums", yet the Limits doc, Pricing doc and product-page FAQ still publish Free/Beginner/Pro/Enterprise with concurrency caps 1/5/20/30. The card keeps the documented caps. The Deploy-platform rate table (~10x cheaper) that used to appear on createos.nodeops.network/pricing is gone.
7. Bandwidth is "unmetered" but capped at 50 GiB per sandbox by default. Recharges are an API call, and their cost is unpublished.

Storage note (pricing page, 2026-09-28): default disk is 10 GB per sandbox (up to 60 GB) and "bills for the full month whether the sandbox runs or is paused"; the page examples ($2.33 / $172.05 / $116.37) reproduce exactly with 10 GB x 720 h x $0.0001584 = $1.14 per sandbox-month.

## Worked example

Workload: 4 vCPU / 8 GiB (`s-4vcpu-8gb`), 50 concurrent × 8 h/day × 22 days = **8,800 sandbox-hours**, 30% CPU,
50 GiB snapshots retained, 100 GiB egress.

Usage at list: 8,800 × $0.237377 = **$2,088.91** (CPU util irrelevant: allocated billing). Snapshots/disk: 50 × $0.115632 =
**$5.78**. Egress: $0 (2 GiB per sandbox, under the 50 GiB quota).

| Regime | Feasible? | Monthly total |
|---|---|---|
| Free / Beginner | No: shape 4/8 not allowed (max 1/1, 4/4) | n/a |
| Pro, list rates, destroy between shifts | **No**: 50 concurrent > 20 | would be $2,094.69 ($75 fee is credit) |
| Pro + top-ups at 1.5x | No (concurrency) | would be $75 + ($2,094.69 − $75)/1.5 = $1,421.46 |
| Enterprise, list rates | **No per published cap** (30 concurrent); custom limits via sales | ≥ $2,094.69 (fee "$200+" as credit) |
| Enterprise + 5x top-ups | Only if sales lifts concurrency | ≈ $200 + ($2,094.69 − $200)/5 = **$578.94** (if 5x = bonus credits) |
| Anti-pattern: pause instead of destroy between shifts | — | + 50 × 554 h × 8 GiB × $0.01159 = **+$2,568.40** (paused RAM) → $4,663.09 at list |
| Scaled down to 20 concurrent on Pro (same per-sandbox hours) | Yes | 3,520 h × $0.237377 + $5.78 = $841.35 (fee credited) |