Blaxel vs AWS Lambda MicroVMs: standby against suspend
Blaxel charges only for memory, with CPU thrown in, while active; Lambda MicroVMs bill a baseline. The benchmark costs $2.76 on Blaxel and $4.20 on Lambda.
Runtime charges 77% less than Blaxel and 85% less than Lambda MicroVMs. For 1,000 one-minute runs of a 2 vCPU, 4 GiB sandbox using 20 CPU-seconds each, Blaxel is $2.76, AWS Lambda MicroVMs $4.20 and Runtime $0.64.
Estimated compute cost
77% less than Blaxel85% less than AWS Lambda MicroVMs
2 vCPUs · 4 GiB · 60 s a run · 20 CPU-seconds busy
Compute only, at list rates checked 23 September 2026 and 25 September 2026 (Blaxel pricing, AWS Lambda pricing). Plan fees, network, taxes and free credits are left out. The worked example below shows the arithmetic.
At a glance
| Blaxel | AWS Lambda MicroVMs | Runtime | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Isolation | Lightweight virtual machines | Firecracker microVM | Firecracker microVM, own kernel |
| CPU | Included with memory; 8 GB gets 4 cores | $0.0997 per baseline vCPU-hour | $0.025 per vCPU-hour of measured CPU, with a small floor |
| Memory | $0.0000115 per GB-second of active time | $0.0000036667 per GB-second | $0.0075 per reserved GiB-hour |
| Idle | Standby when connections close; resumes in ~25 ms | Suspends after 5 idle minutes | Pause, or idle pause, keeps memory 1 to 365 days |
| Kept asleep | $0.20 per GB-month snapshot | $0.08 per GB-month, a week minimum | $0.08 per GB-month |
| Free start | Up to $200 of credit | No free tier | 100 sandbox hours, no card |
How each stops the meter
Blaxel drops a sandbox to standby as soon as its connections close, and bills
nothing for compute there. Lambda waits five idle minutes before it suspends.
Runtime pauses on request, or after the idle time you set with
idlePauseSeconds, and wakes on the next command or visit.
Cost for the same job
The benchmark, 60 seconds a run (4 GB of active memory on Blaxel, a 4 GB baseline on Lambda):
TextBlaxel Memory 1,000 × 60 s × 4 × $0.0000115 = $2.76Lambda CPU 1,000 × 60 s × 2 × $0.0000276944 = $3.32 Memory 1,000 × 60 s × 4 × $0.0000036667 = $0.88 Total $4.20Runtime CPU 1,000 × 20 s / 3,600 × $0.025 = $0.14 Memory 1,000 × 60 s / 3,600 × 4 × $0.0075 = $0.50 Total $0.64Neither rival looks at CPU use, so with both CPUs busy for the whole minute it is still $2.76 on Blaxel and $4.20 on Lambda, against $1.33 on Runtime.
Which one to pick
- Blaxel for sandboxes that sit idle most of the time and must resume in milliseconds.
- Lambda MicroVMs for work tied to an AWS account.
- Runtime for the lowest running cost, CPU and memory chosen apart, and cheaper storage while paused.
See Runtime vs Blaxel and Runtime vs AWS Lambda MicroVMs.
Sources
Blaxel rates checked 23 September 2026; Lambda MicroVMs rates checked 25 September 2026.
Facts on this page were checked on 25 September 2026.