Runtime costs 88% less than Runloop 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 $532.56 on Runloop, $468.68 less. Runloop bills a devbox's CPUs for as long as it runs. Runtime bills the CPU your code uses, at 77% below Runloop's rate. Rates checked 25 October 2026.
How Runloop bills
Runloop meters three things for as long as a devbox runs: its CPUs, its
memory and its disk, all at the size the devbox was created with. The
MEDIUM devbox matches a 2 vCPU, 4 GiB sandbox: 2 CPUs, 4 GB and 8 GB of
disk.
| Meter | Runloop, as published | MEDIUM devbox, per hour |
Runtime, same shape |
|---|---|---|---|
| CPU | $0.108 per CPU-hour while running | $0.216 | $0.025 per vCPU-hour, measured |
| Memory | $0.0252 per GB-hour | $0.1008 | $0.0075 per reserved GiB-hour |
| Disk | $0.00034236 per GB-hour | $0.0027 for 8 GB | Included while the sandbox runs |
| Total | $0.3195 | $0.03125 waiting, $0.08 with both CPUs busy |
The calculator prices Runloop with the MEDIUM devbox's 8 GB of disk, so the
examples below all use that shape.
Example workloads
A month of each at 2 vCPUs and 4 GiB, from the calculator above. Runloop's figures include the disk.
| Workload | Runtime | Runloop |
|---|---|---|
| Agent runs: 2 vCPU, 4 GiB, 60 s, 20 CPU-seconds, 100,000 a month | $63.89 | $532.56 |
| Every CPU busy: 2 vCPU, 4 GiB, 60 s, 120 CPU-seconds, 100,000 | $133.33 | $532.56 |
| Benchmark tasks: 2 vCPU, 4 GiB, 30 min, 180 CPU-seconds, 10,000 | $162.50 | $1,597.69 |
| Quick checks: 2 vCPU, 4 GiB, 20 s, 20 CPU-seconds, 500,000 | $152.78 | $887.61 |
Runtime costs 75% to 90% less in every row. Half-hour tasks that mostly wait save the most, $1,435.19 a month, because Runloop bills both CPUs for the whole half hour.
A MEDIUM devbox left running between tasks costs $0.3195 an hour, or $7.67
a day, whatever it does. A paused Runtime sandbox holds no CPU or memory and
is billed only for its stored files and memory, at $0.08 per GB a month.
Where the money goes: of Runloop's $532.56 in the first row, $360.00 is CPU billed while the agent waits, $168.00 is memory and $4.56 is disk. Runtime's CPU for the same runs is $13.89.
What the calculator leaves out
- Plan fees. Runloop's Basic plan is free. Pro is $250 a month plus usage. Runtime has no plan: prepaid credit from $10.
- Free credit. Runloop gives $50 of credit, no card. Runtime gives 100 free hours of a 1 GB machine in the first 30 days, no card.
- Storage while suspended. A suspended Runloop devbox keeps its disk, and its processes must be restarted. A paused Runtime sandbox keeps its files, memory and running processes for $0.08 per GB a month, while you have credit.
Network and taxes are left out on both sides.
Price your own runs exactly
Once your agent has run on Runtime, price the same sandboxes at Runloop's published rates:
Terminalruntime compare --from runloopIt reads your settled sandboxes from the last 30 days, or up to 90 with
--days, and prints what you save a month.
For evaluation runs, agent evals and SWE-bench shows how to run a benchmark's tasks on Runtime in parallel. The rest of the comparison is Runtime vs Runloop, and the sandbox cost calculator prices every provider for your shape.
Sources
- Runloop pricing, checked 25 October 2026
- Devbox sizes
- Runtime pricing
Rival rates on this page were checked on 25 October 2026.