# 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:

```
CodeSandbox  Size   1,000 × 60 s / 3,600 × $0.1486                = $2.48

Freestyle    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                                                  $2.25

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
```

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](/docs/codesandbox-alternative) and
[Runtime vs Freestyle](/docs/freestyle-alternative).

## Sources

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

- [Together Code Sandbox](https://docs.together.ai/docs/together-code-sandbox), [CodeSandbox SDK pricing](https://codesandbox.io/docs/sdk/pricing)
- [Freestyle pricing](https://www.freestyle.sh/pricing), [Freestyle VM pricing and limits](https://www.freestyle.sh/docs/vms/pricing-and-limits)
- Runtime [pricing](/docs/pricing)

Facts on this page were checked on 25 September 2026.