# 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.

## 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):

```
Blaxel   Memory 1,000 × 60 s × 4 × $0.0000115                 = $2.76

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

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
```

Neither 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](/docs/blaxel-alternative) and
[Runtime vs AWS Lambda MicroVMs](/docs/aws-lambda-microvms-alternative).

## Sources

Blaxel rates checked 23 September 2026; Lambda MicroVMs rates checked 25 September 2026.

- [Blaxel pricing](https://blaxel.ai/pricing), [Blaxel sandboxes](https://docs.blaxel.ai/Sandboxes/Overview)
- [AWS Lambda pricing](https://aws.amazon.com/lambda/pricing/), [Lambda MicroVMs](https://aws.amazon.com/lambda/lambda-microvms/)
- Runtime [pricing](/docs/pricing)

Facts on this page were checked on 25 September 2026.