Runtime costs 42% less than Northflank for an agent that waits on a model. 100,000 one-minute runs of a 2 vCPU, 4 GiB sandbox, each using 20 CPU-seconds, cost $63.89 a month on Runtime and $111.10 on Northflank. The more of its time an agent spends waiting, the more Runtime saves: half-hour sessions that use 180 CPU-seconds each cost 51% less. Rates checked 25 October 2026.
How Northflank bills
Northflank creates each sandbox as a service and bills the vCPUs and memory that service is allocated, for as long as it runs, whether the CPUs work or wait.
| Meter | Northflank, as published | For 2 vCPUs and 4 GB | Runtime |
|---|---|---|---|
| CPU | $0.01667 per vCPU-hour | $0.03334 an hour | $0.025 per vCPU-hour of CPU used |
| Memory | $0.00833 per GB-hour | $0.03332 an hour | $0.0075 per reserved GiB-hour |
So the shape costs $0.06666 an hour on Northflank, busy or idle. On Runtime it costs $0.03125 an hour while it waits, memory plus a CPU floor of a twentieth of a vCPU. Runtime's memory is also cheaper per unit, and a GiB is about 7% larger than a GB.
Example workloads
A month of each, CPU and memory only, from the calculator above.
| Workload | Runtime | Northflank |
|---|---|---|
| Agent runs: 2 vCPU, 4 GiB, 60 s, 20 CPU-seconds, 100,000 a month | $63.89 | $111.10 |
| Waiting agents: 2 vCPU, 4 GiB, 30 min, 180 CPU-seconds, 10,000 | $162.50 | $333.30 |
| Tool calls: 1 vCPU, 2 GiB, 2 min, 30 CPU-seconds, 50,000 | $35.42 | $55.55 |
| Every CPU busy: 2 vCPU, 4 GiB, 60 s, 120 CPU-seconds, 100,000 | $133.33 | $111.10 |
Agents that call a model and wait for the answer are where Runtime wins, by 36% to 51% in the first three rows.
When Northflank costs less
Work that keeps every CPU busy costs less on Northflank. Its allocated vCPU rate, $0.01667, is lower than Runtime's measured rate, $0.025. In the last row that is $111.10 against $133.33. At 2 vCPUs and 4 GiB in a one-minute run, the two meet at about 88 CPU-seconds of the 120 the vCPUs can do. Below that, Runtime costs less. The calculator above shows where your own workload falls.
To find your own figure, count CPU-seconds: one core busy for one second is one CPU-second, so a 60-second run on 2 vCPUs can use at most 120. An agent that waits on a model for most of the minute uses about 20, well below that line. Build steps and test suites run close to the full 120.
What the calculator leaves out
- Plan fees. Northflank publishes none for compute, and Runtime has none: prepaid credit from $10.
- Free start. Northflank includes 2 services, 2 jobs and 1 database free. Runtime gives 100 free hours of a 1 GB machine in the first 30 days, no card.
- Storage and network. Left out on both sides. A paused Runtime sandbox keeps its files, memory and running processes for $0.08 per GB a month, while you have credit.
Price your own runs exactly
After a few runs on Runtime, the CLI prices those same sandboxes at Northflank's published rates:
Terminalruntime compare --from northflankIt reads the last 30 days of settled sandboxes (--days up to 90), so it
shows whether your own work is busy or waiting, using your own numbers.
On Runtime a sandbox is one call, with no service, project or deployment plan to set up first. The full comparison is Runtime vs Northflank. Pause and resume a sandbox shows how waiting work stays cheap between runs, and the sandbox cost calculator prices every provider for your shape.
Sources
- Northflank pricing, checked 25 October 2026
- Northflank sandboxes
- Runtime pricing
Rival rates on this page were checked on 25 October 2026.