# zipbox

Official pricing: https://zipbox.ai/pricing  
Category: agent-sandbox · Isolation: firecracker

## Pricing regimes (raw)

- **Per-second fixed VM sizes** (sizes): Tiny 1 vCPU/2 GiB $0.0068/h; Small 2 vCPU/4 GiB $0.0137/h; Medium 4 vCPU/8 GiB $0.0274/h; Large 6 vCPU/16 GiB $0.0548/h

## Features

Yes: snapshots, pause/resume, persistent disk, ≥24 h sessions, custom image (Docker or snapshot), start from your own snapshot, full VM (own kernel), Docker inside, root, browser, desktop GUI, computer-use API, browser + desktop control, preinstalled agents, SSH, HTTPS preview URLs, Python, Node.js, credential injection, live resize, snapshots on demand, gVisor or VM (no shared kernel), firewall inside (nftables), secret proxy, secret proxy for any API

No: memory snapshots, fork/clone, volumes, idle auto-stop, your own Docker/OCI image, nested virtualization, anti-bot stealth, CAPTCHA solving, residential IPs, public IPv4, egress allowlist, static egress IP, self-hosting, BYOC, open source, SOC 2, HIPAA, SSO, GPU, arm64, Windows, macOS, HTTP method/path egress rules, wake on request, live fork (no pause), memory fork, EU data residency, MCP server, automatic snapshots, agent harness API, hosted agent API (their own agent), inbound access rules, extra volumes, shared volumes

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

## Caveats

- Displayed $5/$10/$20/$40 monthly equivalents are not stated as billing caps or always-on discounts; use hourly rates.
- Pause saves disk; does not establish full running-memory snapshot retention.
- Concurrency unverified: no limit on concurrent boxes is published (null = unknown, not unlimited); max session length, egress charge and public IPv4 pricing are not published. SSH is IPv6-only.
- LLM/API calls using platform keys draw the same credit balance and are additional; own model subscriptions separate.
- Signup credit verified 2026-09-28: "$25 in credit once it proves it's human - one grant per person". Credits are prepaid and non-refundable.
- No independent runtime/account test or performance measurement performed.
- Idle auto-stop not documented: pause is manual (dashboard / status bar); the only automatic pause is 1 hour after the balance hits $0. auto_stop_idle left null (no idle discount applied).
- Features check 2026-09-28: desktop true -> null. Homepage only says "Full Chrome on the machine, not headless ... you watch every click" and the box is "streamed to your browser"; docs/access lists only the browser terminal and SSH, and no desktop/VNC/X view is documented. Fork/clone of a box and Docker-inside are undocumented (null). Firecracker ("Each sandbox is a Firecracker microVM", docs/security) => no /dev/kvm in guests (firecracker tests/integration_tests/security/test_nv.py).

## How this provider charges


As of 2026-09-28. Official USD list fixed VM sizes, metered per second while running. Show HN 2026-08-05 item 49187992. Monthly display is illustrative, not a verified cap.

## Regimes

| Regime | When it applies | How billed / numbers | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tiny | Native product usage | 1 vCPU/2 GB/20 GB at$0.0068/hour. | [Primary pricing](https://zipbox.ai/pricing) |
| Small | Native product usage | 2 vCPU/4 GB/80 GB at$0.0137/hour. | [Primary pricing](https://zipbox.ai/pricing) |
| Medium | Native product usage | 4 vCPU/8 GB/160 GB at$0.0274/hour. | [Primary pricing](https://zipbox.ai/pricing) |
| Large | Native product usage | 6 vCPU/16 GB/320 GB at$0.0548/hour. | [Primary pricing](https://zipbox.ai/pricing) |
| Paused | Native product usage | $0; disk saved; explicit free pause. | [Primary pricing](https://zipbox.ai/pricing) |
| Prepaid pay as you go | Account plan | $0/month; Positive balance to boot; card top-ups; optional/automatic saved-card top-up; no published monthly subscription fee. | [Primary pricing](https://zipbox.ai/pricing) |

## Gotchas

- Displayed $5/$10/$20/$40 monthly equivalents are not stated as billing caps or always-on discounts; use hourly rates.
- Pause saves disk; does not establish full running-memory snapshot retention.
- 50 concurrent capacity, max session length, egress charge and public IPv 4 pricing not published.
- LLM/API calls using platform keys draw the same credit balance and are additional; own model subscriptions separate.
- Credits prepaid/nonrefundable; signup 25 USD requires human verification.
- No independent runtime/account test or performance measurement performed.

## 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.

Known compute subtotal: `8,800 × $0.0274 = $241.12`. CPU 30% does not reduce wall-clock billing. Paused retained disk is advertisedfree;100 GiB egress and 50-concurrency capacity are unverified, so **complete workload total remains unknown**. No signup credit, model usage or taxes applied.

## Feature evidence

- https://zipbox.ai/
- https://zipbox.ai/docs/quick-start
- https://zipbox.ai/docs/pricing
- https://zipbox.ai/docs/how-things-work
- https://zipbox.ai/docs/access
- https://zipbox.ai/docs/security