# Cloudflare Sandbox vs AWS Lambda MicroVMs: edge containers or Firecracker

Cloudflare bills active CPU for a container in its own VM; Lambda MicroVMs bill a Firecracker baseline. The 2 vCPU benchmark is $1.35 against $4.20.

**Runtime costs 53% less than Cloudflare and 85% less than Lambda MicroVMs.**
The benchmark, 1,000 runs of a minute on 2 vCPU and 4 GiB doing 20
CPU-seconds each, comes to $1.35 on Cloudflare Sandbox (priced at 6 GiB, its
minimum for two vCPUs), $4.20 on AWS Lambda MicroVMs and $0.64 on Runtime.

## At a glance

|             | Cloudflare Sandbox                                       | AWS Lambda MicroVMs                          | Runtime                                                  |
| ----------- | -------------------------------------------------------- | -------------------------------------------- | -------------------------------------------------------- |
| Isolation   | A container in its own VM                                | Firecracker microVM                          | Firecracker microVM, own kernel                          |
| CPU         | $0.072 per active vCPU-hour, 10 ms steps                 | $0.0997 per baseline vCPU-hour               | $0.025 per vCPU-hour of measured CPU, with a small floor |
| Memory      | $0.009 per provisioned GiB-hour, 3 GiB per vCPU at least | $0.0132 per GB-hour, 2 GB per vCPU           | $0.0075 per reserved GiB-hour                            |
| Sizes       | Up to 4 vCPUs, 12 GiB and 20 GB                          | A 4 vCPU, 8 GB baseline                      | 16 vCPUs and 64 GiB, paid                                |
| Idle        | Sleeps after 10 idle minutes; files are lost             | Suspends after 5 idle minutes, up to 8 hours | Pause keeps memory, 1 to 365 days                        |
| Driven from | A Cloudflare Worker                                      | The AWS API                                  | API, CLI, SDKs or MCP                                    |

## Two platforms' answers

Each is the sandbox of a larger cloud and fits best inside it: Cloudflare's
runs from a Worker, near users, and bills only active CPU; Lambda's lives with
IAM and VPCs, and bills its baseline. Both shape memory to CPU, at least
3 GiB per vCPU on Cloudflare and exactly 2 GB on Lambda. Runtime lets memory
and CPU be chosen apart.

## Cost for the same job

The benchmark, 60 seconds a run (6 GiB and a 12 GB disk on Cloudflare, a 4 GB
baseline on Lambda):

```
Cloudflare  CPU    1,000 × 20 s × $0.000020                     = $0.40
            Memory 1,000 × 60 s × 6 × $0.0000025                = $0.90
            Disk   1,000 × 60 s × 12 × $0.00000007              = $0.05
            Total                                                  $1.35

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
```

With both CPUs busy for the whole minute, the job costs $3.35 on Cloudflare, $4.20 on Lambda and $1.33 on Runtime.

## Which one to pick

- **Cloudflare Sandbox** for apps already on Workers that want sandboxes near
  their users.
- **Lambda MicroVMs** for work that must stay inside AWS.
- **Runtime** for the lowest bill whether the code waits or works, and files
  and memory that survive a pause.

See [Runtime vs Cloudflare Sandbox](/docs/cloudflare-sandbox-alternative) and
[Runtime vs AWS Lambda MicroVMs](/docs/aws-lambda-microvms-alternative).

## Sources

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

- [Cloudflare Containers pricing](https://developers.cloudflare.com/containers/pricing/), [Containers limits and instance types](https://developers.cloudflare.com/containers/platform/limits/)
- [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.