# AWS Lambda MicroVMs vs Freestyle: VMs for agents, priced

Lambda MicroVMs bill a baseline by the second; Freestyle bills an allocation by the hour. The 2 vCPU, 4 GiB benchmark: $4.20 on Lambda, $2.25 on Freestyle.

**Runtime runs the benchmark for 85% less than Lambda and 72% less than
Freestyle.** 1,000 one-minute runs of a 2 vCPU, 4 GiB sandbox with 20
CPU-seconds of work each cost $4.20 on AWS Lambda MicroVMs, $2.25 on Freestyle
and $0.64 on Runtime, whose meter counts CPU time used rather than cores held.

## At a glance

|            | AWS Lambda MicroVMs                            | Freestyle                                | Runtime                                                  |
| ---------- | ---------------------------------------------- | ---------------------------------------- | -------------------------------------------------------- |
| Isolation  | Firecracker microVM                            | Full Linux virtual machines              | Firecracker microVM, own kernel                          |
| CPU        | $0.0000276944 per baseline vCPU-second         | $0.04032 per allocated vCPU-hour         | $0.025 per vCPU-hour of measured CPU, with a small floor |
| Memory     | $0.0000036667 per GB-second, 2 GB per vCPU     | $0.0129 per GiB-hour                     | $0.0075 per reserved GiB-hour                            |
| Largest    | A 4 vCPU, 8 GB baseline                        | 32 vCPUs and 64 GiB on Pro               | 16 vCPUs and 64 GiB, paid                                |
| How long   | State kept up to 8 hours                       | Runs until stopped                       | Leases extended as needed, or `persistent`               |
| Asleep     | Snapshot at $0.08 per GB-month, a week minimum | Storage only                             | $0.08 per GB-month, memory kept 1 to 365 days            |
| Free start | None for MicroVMs                              | 200 vCPU-hours and 400 GiB-hours a month | 100 sandbox hours, no card                               |

## Hours against weeks

The two sit at opposite ends of a sandbox's life. A MicroVM is built for
bursts: it suspends after five quiet minutes and its state lasts at most eight
hours. A Freestyle VM is built to stay: it runs until you stop it and
hibernates with its memory for weeks. Runtime spans both, with a lease you
extend or a persistent sandbox, and pauses kept for up to a year.

## Cost for the same job

The benchmark, 60 seconds a run (a 4 GB baseline on Lambda, a 32 GiB disk on
Freestyle):

```
Lambda    CPU    1,000 × 60 s × 2 × $0.0000276944              = $3.32
          Memory 1,000 × 60 s × 4 × $0.0000036667              = $0.88
          Total                                                  $4.20

Freestyle CPU    1,000 × 60 s / 3,600 × 2 × $0.04032           = $1.34
          Memory 1,000 × 60 s / 3,600 × 4 × $0.0129            = $0.86
          Disk   1,000 × 60 s / 3,600 × 32 × $0.000086         = $0.05
          Total                                                  $2.25

Runtime   CPU    1,000 × 20 s / 3,600 × $0.025                = $0.14
          Memory 1,000 × 60 s / 3,600 × 4 × $0.0075           = $0.50
          Total                                                  $0.64
```

For 100,000 runs a month: $420.33 on Lambda, $224.99 on Freestyle, $63.89 on
Runtime. The two rivals charge the same whether the CPUs idle or work, so with both CPUs busy for the whole minute it is still $4.20 on Lambda and $2.25 on Freestyle, against $1.33 on Runtime.

## Which one to pick

- **Lambda MicroVMs** for short bursts next to other AWS services.
- **Freestyle** for VMs that live for weeks and fork without pausing.
- **Runtime** for both patterns at the lowest price, and a sign-in an agent
  completes with one browser approval.

See [Runtime vs AWS Lambda MicroVMs](/docs/aws-lambda-microvms-alternative)
and [Runtime vs Freestyle](/docs/freestyle-alternative).

## Sources

Lambda and Freestyle rates checked 25 September 2026.

- [AWS Lambda pricing](https://aws.amazon.com/lambda/pricing/), [Lambda MicroVMs](https://aws.amazon.com/lambda/lambda-microvms/)
- [Freestyle pricing](https://www.freestyle.sh/pricing), [Freestyle VM pricing and limits](https://www.freestyle.sh/docs/vms/pricing-and-limits)
- Runtime [pricing](/docs/pricing)

Facts on this page were checked on 25 September 2026.