Runtime costs 70% less than Vercel Sandbox for an agent that waits on a model, and 77% less when it works at full load. 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 $212.44 on Vercel. Both bill active CPU and run Firecracker microVMs. Runtime's active CPU rate is 80% below Vercel's. Rates checked 25 October 2026.
How Vercel Sandbox bills
Vercel meters two things. CPU is billed only while it works, like Runtime.
Memory is billed on the size provisioned, for as long as the sandbox runs.
Rates differ by region. These are for iad1, Vercel's default.
| Meter | Vercel, iad1 |
Runtime |
|---|---|---|
| CPU | $0.128 per active CPU-hour | $0.025 per active vCPU-hour, floor 0.05 of a vCPU |
| Memory | $0.0212 per provisioned GB-hour | $0.0075 per reserved GiB-hour |
Vercel quotes memory in decimal GB. The calculator prices the number you enter as GB on Vercel and as GiB on Runtime, so Runtime's memory figure covers about 7% more. A sandbox with 2 vCPUs and 4 GB costs Vercel $0.0848 an hour for memory alone, before any CPU. Runtime charges $0.03125 an hour for the whole sandbox while it waits.
Because both bill active CPU, the gap grows as the work gets busier: Vercel's CPU rate is 5.12 times Runtime's.
Example workloads
A month of each, CPU and memory only, priced by the calculator above.
| Workload | Runtime | Vercel Sandbox |
|---|---|---|
| Agent runs: 2 vCPU, 4 GiB, 60 s, 20 CPU-seconds, 100,000 a month | $63.89 | $212.44 |
| Every CPU busy: 2 vCPU, 4 GiB, 60 s, 120 CPU-seconds, 100,000 | $133.33 | $568.00 |
| Tool calls: 1 vCPU, 2 GiB, 2 min, 30 CPU-seconds, 50,000 | $35.42 | $124.00 |
| Long sessions: 4 vCPU, 8 GiB, 30 min, 720 CPU-seconds, 10,000 | $350.00 | $1,104.00 |
The shapes above keep Vercel's 2 GB per vCPU. Every row saves 68% or more, and the busy row saves the most: $434.67 a month.
Vercel's Hobby allowance goes further on memory than on CPU. Each agent run in the first row uses 20 active CPU-seconds, so 5 active CPU-hours cover 900 runs a month, while 420 GB-hours of memory would cover 6,300. Past the allowance, the rates above apply on Pro.
What the calculator leaves out
- Plan. Vercel's Hobby plan includes 5 active CPU-hours and 420 GB-hours a month free. Usage beyond it needs Pro. Hobby sessions last up to 45 minutes, Pro up to 24 hours. Runtime has no plan and no time limit: a sandbox runs while it works, on prepaid credit from $10, after 100 free hours of a 1 GB machine in the first 30 days on the trial.
- Creations, network and storage. Vercel's per-creation and network charges, and storage on both sides, are left out.
- What a pause keeps. A stopped Vercel sandbox keeps its filesystem, and its processes start again. A paused Runtime sandbox keeps files, memory and running processes for $0.08 per GB a month.
Price your own runs exactly
Run your agent on Runtime for a few days, then price exactly those sandboxes at Vercel's published rates:
Terminalruntime compare --from vercelIt prints both costs and the monthly saving from up to 90 days of settled sandboxes. Credit you add within 30 days of signing up is matched, up to $1,000 in total (welcome match).
withruntime/vercel runs code written for Vercel Sandbox's SDK, in JavaScript
and Python, with no Vercel project or token. For the whole comparison, read
Runtime vs Vercel Sandbox. For Vercel
against its closest rivals, see E2B vs Vercel
Sandbox and Daytona vs Vercel
Sandbox.
Sources
- Vercel Sandbox pricing, checked 25 October 2026
- Understanding Vercel Sandboxes
- Runtime pricing
Rival rates on this page were checked on 25 October 2026.