# microsandbox

Official pricing: https://microsandbox.dev/pricing  
Category: agent-sandbox · Isolation: vm

## Pricing regimes (raw)

- **Cloud microVM (private beta), allocated resources** (resource): $0.05/vCPU-h, $0.0162/GiB-h [beta]

## Features

Yes: snapshots, 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, systemd, browser, SSH, egress allowlist, open internet, self-hosting, BYOC, open source, SSO, Python, Node.js, credential injection, audit logs, spend limits, MCP server, snapshots on demand, gVisor or VM (no shared kernel), inbound access rules, firewall inside (nftables), secret proxy, secret proxy for any API, extra volumes, shared volumes

No: memory snapshots, fork/clone, pause/resume, nested virtualization, desktop GUI, computer-use API, browser + desktop control, anti-bot stealth, CAPTCHA solving, residential IPs, preinstalled agents, public IPv4, HTTPS preview URLs, custom domains, raw TCP inbound, static egress IP, SOC 2, HIPAA, GPU, arm64, Windows, macOS, GPU desktop, HTTP method/path egress rules, wake on request, live resize, live fork (no pause), memory fork, EU data residency, automatic snapshots, agent harness API, hosted agent API (their own agent), fast boot (benchmarked)

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

## Caveats

- The whole cloud is private beta with access by request. Its pricing is labelled 'private beta pricing', and docs snippets say the rates 'need owner confirmation before promotion'. All modes and plans are flagged beta.
- Plan pools are per resource (vCPU-h, mem GiB-h, disk GiB-h, durable GiB), not dollars. included_usd is the list-price value of the vCPU + memory pools; the real value depends on workload shape (e.g. 4/8 on Builder is ~$41, not $57.40).
- The Free plan is a hard cap with no overage: work stops when the pool is exhausted. Each Free sandbox is limited to 1 vCPU / 512 MiB.
- The persistent-running cap is much lower than the ephemeral one (Builder 50 vs 1,000; Teams 500 vs 25,000). Plan concurrency holds the ephemeral cap.
- Writable disk is billed at $0.0001/GiB-h only while the sandbox runs (usage API). Stopped persistent sandboxes pay durable storage ($0.000205/GiB-h). Snapshot storage has its own per-org hard cap (max_snapshot_storage_gib); treating snapshots as durable-storage price (~$0.15/GiB-mo) is still an assumption.
- Egress billing is explicitly unanswered ('we are not making billing promises'); egress is null. The cloud offers no published ports or custom networking, so there is no inbound HTTPS preview; SSH works.
- Max sandbox size on paid plans, regions, billing minimum and start fees are unpublished.
- Isolation is libkrun microVMs (per the GitHub README), not Firecracker as earlier research recorded.
- Billing basis confirmed as allocation: the usage API meters vCPU-seconds as runtime x configured vCPUs and memory as runtime x configured MiB (docs API reference, 2026-09-29). Idle-timeout stop is a user policy; its default is unpublished.
- The local runtime (macOS Apple Silicon / Linux KVM / Windows WHP hosts) is free and open source (Apache-2.0); BYOC is by evaluation.
- Browser: headless Playwright and Browser Use agents run inside the microVM (documented examples, github.com/superradcompany/microsandbox, checked 2026-09-28); no desktop/VNC/computer-use API is documented for the cloud (only a community Omarchy desktop for the local Apple Silicon runtime).
- Egress re-checked 2026-09-28: pricing page lists "public egress with task-level policy" with no price; still unpublished (null).
- Plan schema has per-plan max_vcpus_per_sandbox, max_memory_mib_per_sandbox, max_uptime_minutes_per_sandbox and trial_duration_days fields; values for paid plans are not published (the public plans API needs an API key). Schema text also says durable storage 'is billed at a flat per-GB-month rate (no free allotment)', which conflicts with the pricing page's '50 gib durable storage' included on Builder.

## How this provider charges


microsandbox is an Apache-2.0 microVM runtime built on **libkrun** (KVM on Linux, Hypervisor.framework on macOS, WHP on Windows).
It runs free on your own machine, and a managed **cloud is in private beta**, with access by request.
Cloud pricing is published but labelled "private beta pricing". Search snippets of the docs say the rates "need owner confirmation before
promotion", so treat them as provisional. Each plan is a **fee that buys a monthly pool of resource-hours**, not dollars.
Usage beyond the pool is billed at a single rate card that is the same on every plan, prorated per second of runtime.
Verified live on 2026-09-28 at https://microsandbox.dev/pricing (raw: `raw/microsandbox_dev_pricing.txt`).

Rates: vCPU **$0.05/vCPU-h**, memory **$0.0162/GiB-h**, writable disk **$0.0001/GiB-h** (~$0.073/GiB-mo),
durable storage **$0.000205/GiB-h** (~$0.15/GiB-mo), persistent volumes **$0.15/GiB-month**.
A 4 vCPU / 8 GiB sandbox costs 0.20 + 0.1296 = **$0.3296/h**, plus writable disk.

## Regime table

| Regime | When it applies | How billed | Numbers | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Local / self-host runtime | Run on your own laptop or server (macOS Apple Silicon, Linux KVM, Windows WHP) | Free, open source | $0 (you pay for your own hardware) | https://github.com/superradcompany/microsandbox |
| BYOC | Run in your own cloud or on your own metal | Evaluated with sales | null | https://microsandbox.dev/platform/byoc |
| Free (cloud) | Private-beta access granted | **Hard-capped** monthly pool with **no overage**: usage stops at the cap | 5 vCPU-h, 20 memory GiB-h, 20 disk GiB-h per month; at most 3 sandboxes (3 ephemeral / 2 persistent running); each limited to **1 vCPU / 512 MiB / 8 GiB writable disk**; 1 GiB durable storage in total | https://microsandbox.dev/pricing |
| Builder | $49/mo | The fee buys a pool; usage beyond it bills at the published rates | 500 vCPU-h + 2,000 mem GiB-h + 2,000 disk GiB-h + 50 GiB durable storage, worth about $57.40 of compute+memory at list prices ($57.60 counting disk); **1,000 ephemeral / 50 persistent** sandboxes running at once | pricing page |
| Teams | $299/mo | Pool plus overage | 2,000 vCPU-h + 8,000 mem GiB-h + 8,000 disk GiB-h + 250 GiB durable storage (~$229.60 of compute+memory); **25,000 ephemeral / 500 persistent** running | pricing page |
| Enterprise | Custom agreement, committed or BYOC | The fee is not published, but the pool is | 4,000 vCPU-h + 16,000 mem GiB-h + 16,000 disk GiB-h + 500 GiB durable; running caps "set together" | pricing page |
| Running (ephemeral or persistent) | Sandbox running | Allocated vCPU + memory + writable disk, prorated per second while it runs ("billed for the time it actually runs") | $0.05 / $0.0162 / $0.0001 per unit-hour | pricing page |
| Stopped persistent sandbox | `stop` with persistent state, or idle-timeout graceful stop | Compute stops. Whether writable disk keeps billing while stopped is **not stated**. Durable storage bills per GiB-hour | $0.000205/GiB-h durable | https://docs.microsandbox.dev/cloud/overview, pricing page |
| Disk snapshots | Taken from stopped persistent sandboxes | Probably durable storage, but this is not stated | ~$0.15/GiB-mo (assumed) | cloud overview |
| Persistent managed volumes | Named volumes | Per GiB-month, **separate from the pools** | $0.15/GiB-month | pricing-page calculator footnote |
| Egress | — | Pricing FAQ: "is there egress billing?" is answered only with "we are not making billing promises on this page" | null | https://microsandbox.dev/platform/cloud |

No dated price changes were found; the whole price list is a private-beta draft.

## Gotchas

1. **The Free tier is tiny and hard-capped.** Each sandbox is limited to 1 vCPU / 512 MiB, so it can't run a 4/8 workload at all.
2. **Pools are per resource and do not substitute for each other.** Builder includes 500 vCPU-h but 2,000 memory GiB-h, a 1:4 ratio.
   A 4/8 workload (1:2 ratio) exhausts the vCPU pool after 125 h, while only 1,000 of the 2,000 GiB-h are used, so the pool is effectively worth
   ~$41 at that shape, not $57.40. The $49 fee is therefore not fully "credit" for CPU-heavy shapes.
3. **The persistent-running cap is much lower than the ephemeral cap**: 50 vs 1,000 on Builder, 500 vs 25,000 on Teams. A fleet of long-lived stateful
   sandboxes may need Teams just for the cap.
4. **The cloud has no published ports.** The cloud docs say published ports, custom DNS and TLS interception are unavailable, so there is no inbound HTTP preview.
   SSH works.
5. **Everything is private beta.** Rates may change, and egress billing is explicitly left open.
6. Earlier research recorded the isolation as Firecracker. The project actually uses **libkrun**.

## Worked example

Workload: 4 vCPU / 8 GiB, 50 concurrent × 8 h/day × 22 days = **8,800 sandbox-hours**, 30% CPU, 50 GiB snapshots, 100 GiB egress.
Assume a 10 GiB writable disk per sandbox. Billing is on allocation, so the 30% CPU figure does not matter.

Raw usage:
- vCPU: 35,200 vCPU-h × $0.05 = $1,760
- Memory: 70,400 GiB-h × $0.0162 = $1,140.48
- Writable disk: 88,000 GiB-h × $0.0001 = $8.80
- **Total: $2,909.28**

| Regime | Feasible? | Monthly total |
|---|---|---|
| Free | No: 1 vCPU / 512 MiB per sandbox, 3 sandboxes | n/a |
| Builder ($49) | Yes. 50 concurrent fits the ephemeral cap (1,000) and just fits the persistent cap (50) | $49 + (1,760 − 25) + (1,140.48 − 32.40) + (8.80 − 0.20) = **$2,900.68**. The 50 GiB of snapshots fit in the 50 GiB durable allowance (if snapshots count as durable storage). Egress unknown. |
| Teams ($299) | Yes | $299 + (1,760 − 100) + (1,140.48 − 129.60) + (8.80 − 0.80) = **$2,977.88** |
| Enterprise | Sales | fee unknown; pool worth $459.20 at list |
| Self-host (local runtime) | Yes, on your own KVM hosts | $0 license + your hardware |