CodeSandbox vs Freestyle: VMs by size or by allocation

CodeSandbox sells fixed VM sizes by the minute; Freestyle bills vCPU, memory and disk by allocation. The 2-core benchmark: $2.48 against $2.25.

Runtime costs 74% less than CodeSandbox and 72% less than Freestyle on the same job. 1,000 runs of a minute on 2 cores and 4 GB, each with 20 CPU-seconds of work, are $2.48 on a CodeSandbox Nano VM, $2.25 on Freestyle and $0.64 on Runtime.

At a glance

	CodeSandbox SDK	Freestyle	Runtime
Isolation	Firecracker microVM	Full Linux virtual machines	Firecracker microVM, own kernel
Price	Nano (2 cores, 4 GB) $0.1486 an hour in credits	$0.1322 an hour for 2 vCPUs and 4 GiB, plus disk	Measured CPU and reserved memory
Billing	By the minute, rounded up	Metered on the allocation	By the second
Largest	64 cores and 128 GB	32 vCPUs and 64 GiB on Pro	16 vCPUs and 64 GiB, paid
At once	10 VMs free; 250 on Scale at $170 a month	10 free, 40 Hobby, 400 Pro	100 paid, no plan (50 the first week)

Plans set the ceiling

Both rivals tie concurrency to a plan. CodeSandbox's free Build plan runs ten VMs and Scale, at $170 a month, runs 250; Freestyle's free plan runs ten and Pro, at $500, runs 400. A paid Runtime account runs 100 sandboxes with no plan, 50 of them in its first week, and raises the limit on request.

Cost for the same job

2 cores and 4 GB, 60 seconds, 20 CPU-seconds, 1,000 runs; Freestyle with its 32 GiB default disk:

TextCodeSandbox  Size   1,000 × 60 s / 3,600 × $0.1486                = $2.48Freestyle    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                                                  $2.25Runtime      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

Kept busy for the whole minute on both CPUs, it stays $2.48 on CodeSandbox and $2.25 on Freestyle, and becomes $1.33 on Runtime.

Which one to pick

• CodeSandbox SDK for the largest VMs, up to 64 cores.
• Freestyle for VMs that fork live and hibernate.
• Runtime for the lowest bill and 100 sandboxes at once without a plan (50 in the first week).

See Runtime vs CodeSandbox and Runtime vs Freestyle.

Sources

CodeSandbox rates checked 23 September 2026; Freestyle rates checked 25 September 2026.

• Together Code Sandbox, CodeSandbox SDK pricing
• Freestyle pricing, Freestyle VM pricing and limits
• Runtime pricing

Facts on this page were checked on 25 September 2026.