# Blaxel vs Runloop: pricing, isolation and limits Blaxel bills memory only while a sandbox is active; Runloop bills a devbox's CPU, memory and disk while it runs: $2.76 against $5.33. **Runtime beats Blaxel by 77% and Runloop by 88% on the same job, and keeps memory and live processes whenever it pauses.** 1,000 one-minute runs of a 2 vCPU, 4 GiB sandbox cost $2.76 on Blaxel, $5.33 on Runloop and $0.64 on Runtime. Measured CPU on Runtime is $0.025 per vCPU-hour; Runloop charges $0.108 per CPU-hour whether the CPU works or not. Rates checked 23 September 2026. ## At a glance | | Blaxel | Runloop | Runtime | | --------------------- | --------------------------------------- | ---------------------------------------------------------- | -------------------------------------------------------- | | Isolation | Lightweight virtual machines | microVM, with a container inside | Firecracker microVM, own kernel, every sandbox | | CPU | Included with memory: 8 GB gets 4 cores | $0.108 per CPU-hour while the devbox runs | $0.025 per vCPU-hour of measured CPU, with a small floor | | Memory | $0.0000115 per GB-second of active time | $0.0252 per GB-hour | $0.0075 per reserved GiB-hour | | 2 vCPU, 4 GB, an hour | $0.1656 while active | $0.3195 for a `MEDIUM` devbox with 8 GB disk | $0.03125 waiting, $0.08 fully busy | | When idle | Standby keeps files and processes | Suspend keeps the disk; processes restart | Pause keeps files, memory and processes, 1 to 365 days | | Idle storage | $0.20 per GB-month of snapshot | Billed per GB-hour of storage | $0.08 per GB-month | | Plan fee | None; tiers grow with credit added | Basic free; Pro $250 a month plus usage, needed to suspend | None; prepaid credit from $10 | | Free start | Up to $200 of credit | $50 of credit, no card; 3 devboxes running at once | 50 sandbox hours, no card | ## Which one keeps a process running across a pause? This is where the two differ most for an agent that works in bursts. - **Blaxel** moves a sandbox to standby about 15 seconds after its last connection closes and keeps its files and processes there. It states a resume in under 25 ms, and charges no compute while on standby. - **Runloop** writes a suspended devbox to disk and nothing more. Whatever was running, a dev server, a REPL or a tool call halfway through, has to be started again after resume. Runloop lists suspend and resume under its Pro plan, $250 a month. Runtime keeps memory and running processes on every pause, with no plan needed, for 1 to 365 days on a paid account at $0.08 per GB-month. A request to a paused sandbox wakes it by itself, and a [fork](/glossary/sandbox-fork) copies a running sandbox with its memory, one to ten copies at once. ## Cost for the same job The job: 1,000 runs, 60 seconds each, 20 CPU-seconds of work, on 2 vCPU with 4 GiB. Blaxel sets CPU from memory, so it is sized at 4 GB. Runloop's `MEDIUM` devbox matches with 2 CPUs and 4 GB, and brings 8 GB of disk. ``` Blaxel Memory 1,000 × 60 s × 4 × $0.0000115 = $2.76 Runloop CPU 1,000 × 60 s / 3,600 × 2 × $0.108 = $3.60 Memory 1,000 × 60 s / 3,600 × 4 × $0.0252 = $1.68 Disk 1,000 × 60 s / 3,600 × 8 × $0.00034236 = $0.05 Total $5.33 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 ``` A month of 100,000 runs costs $276.00 on Blaxel, $532.56 on Runloop and $63.89 on Runtime. With both CPUs busy for the whole minute, it is $1.33 on Runtime, $2.76 on Blaxel and $5.33 on Runloop. Blaxel's number assumes each sandbox enters standby the moment its run ends. Plan fees, idle storage, network, taxes and free credit are not included. ## Which one to pick | What you are building | Best fit | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------- | -------- | | Bursty sandboxes that must resume in milliseconds, processes intact | Blaxel | | A fleet above 100,000 sandboxes at once (its top tier) | Blaxel | | Benchmark runs done for you, SWE-Bench or your own suites | Runloop | | Devboxes inside your own cloud, with SOC 2, HIPAA and GDPR readiness | Runloop | | A microVM per sandbox at the lowest price, pause with memory, no plan fee | Runtime | Runtime's price here is under a quarter of Blaxel's and under an eighth of Runloop's. It runs benchmarks too; see [agent evals and SWE-bench](/use-cases/agent-evals-and-swe-bench). ## Moving a paused workflow over No compatibility import exists for either SDK, so the port follows [map the calls](/docs/migrate#map-the-calls). From Blaxel, `SandboxInstance.create()` is `Sandbox.create()`, `delete()` is `stop()`, and standby is covered by automatic wake, which is on by default. From Runloop, suspend and resume are `pause()` and `wake()`, with the difference that the processes survive: ```ts check import { Sandbox } from "withruntime"; const sbx = await Sandbox.create({ timeoutSeconds: 600 }); await sbx.spawn("python3 -m http.server 8000", { cwd: "/workspace" }); await sbx.pause(); // memory and files are kept; compute billing stops const again = await Sandbox.connect(sbx.id); await again.wake({ timeoutSeconds: 1200 }); // the server is still running await again.stop(); ``` ```python check from withruntime import Sandbox sbx = Sandbox.create(timeout_seconds=600) sbx.spawn("python3 -m http.server 8000", cwd="/workspace") sbx.pause() # memory and files are kept; compute billing stops again = Sandbox.connect(sbx.id) again.wake(timeout_seconds=1200) # the server is still running again.stop() ``` Before changing anything, `npx withruntime compare --from runloop` or `--from blaxel` reprices your recent usage at Runtime's rates. A coding agent can then run the one [migration](/docs/migrate) instruction, which ports the project on a branch and tests it on the free trial. More: [Runtime vs Blaxel](/docs/blaxel-alternative), [Runtime vs Runloop](/docs/runloop-alternative). ## Sources Rates checked 23 September 2026. Both pricing pages, Blaxel's sandbox documentation and Runloop's devbox sizes reread 25 September 2026. - [Blaxel pricing](https://blaxel.ai/pricing), [Blaxel sandboxes](https://docs.blaxel.ai/Sandboxes/Overview) - [Runloop pricing](https://www.runloop.ai/pricing), [Devbox sizes](https://docs.runloop.ai/docs/devboxes/configuration/sizes), [Devbox lifecycle](https://docs.runloop.ai/docs/devboxes/lifecycle) - Runtime [pricing](/docs/pricing) and [JavaScript SDK](/docs/javascript#pause-wake-extend) Facts on this page were checked on 25 September 2026.