Daytona vs Blaxel: pricing, isolation and limits

Daytona and Blaxel cost the same for a one-minute job; Daytona bills CPU and memory, Blaxel memory only, with free standby when idle.

Runtime runs the same job for 77% less than either. 1,000 one-minute runs of a 2 vCPU, 4 GiB sandbox cost $2.76 on Daytona, $2.76 on Blaxel and $0.64 on Runtime, because Runtime bills the CPU your code uses and charges memory at under half of either rival's rate. Every Runtime sandbox is a Firecracker microVM with its own kernel. Rates checked 23 September 2026.

At a glance

	Daytona	Blaxel	Runtime
Isolation	Containers by default; VM sandboxes as a separate class	Lightweight virtual machines	Firecracker microVM, own kernel, every sandbox
CPU	$0.0504 per allocated vCPU-hour	Included with memory; 8 GB gets 4 cores	$0.025 per vCPU-hour of measured CPU, with a small floor
Memory	$0.0162 per GiB-hour	$0.0000115 per GB-second of active time ($0.0414/h)	$0.0075 per reserved GiB-hour
Billing unit	Per second	Per second of active time	Per second
Idle behaviour	Stops after 15 idle minutes by default	Standby about 15 seconds after connections close	Pause keeps files, memory and processes, 1 to 365 days
Keeping idle work	Disk past 5 GiB at $0.000108 per GiB-hour	Standby snapshot $0.20 per GB-month	Paused storage $0.08 per GB-month
Free start	$200 of compute	Up to $200 of credit; 10 sandboxes at once on Tier 0	50 sandbox hours, no card
Plan fee	None published	None; tiers grow with credit added ($20 for Tier 1)	None; prepaid credit from $10

Why do Daytona and Blaxel cost the same?

It is a coincidence of the rates at this size. Daytona charges two meters: two vCPUs at $0.0504 an hour and 4 GiB at $0.0162, $0.1656 an hour together. Blaxel charges one: 4 GB of memory at $0.0414 an hour, $0.1656 an hour, with the CPU set by the memory. Change the shape and they part. A sandbox that needs 4 cores pays for 8 GB on Blaxel to get them, even if it uses 4 GB; on Daytona, CPU and memory are separate meters.

The real difference is what an idle sandbox costs. Blaxel moves a sandbox to standby about 15 seconds after its last connection closes, charges nothing for compute there, and resumes it in about 25 ms. Daytona keeps billing a running sandbox until it is stopped, 15 idle minutes by default.

Runtime charges measured CPU, so the time an agent spends waiting on a model costs only a floor of a twentieth of a vCPU, and memory is chosen apart from vCPUs.

Cost for the same job

1,000 runs of a 2 vCPU, 4 GiB sandbox (4 GB on Blaxel). Each run lasts 60 seconds and keeps the CPU busy for 20 CPU-seconds: an agent that mostly waits for a model.

TextDaytona  CPU    1,000 × 60 s / 3,600 × 2 × $0.0504 = $1.68         Memory 1,000 × 60 s / 3,600 × 4 × $0.0162 = $1.08         Total                                        $2.76Blaxel   Memory 1,000 × 60 s × 4 × $0.0000115      = $2.76Runtime  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

At 100,000 runs a month that is $276.00 on Daytona, $276.00 on Blaxel and $63.89 on Runtime. With both CPUs busy for the whole minute, it is $1.33 on Runtime against $2.76 on Daytona and $2.76 on Blaxel, so Runtime is cheaper however busy the sandbox is. The Blaxel figure assumes each sandbox goes to standby the moment its run ends. Disk, snapshots, network and free credits are left out.

What happens between an agent's turns?

This decides the bill more than the rates do for an agent that works in bursts.

• Daytona: the sandbox runs, and bills, until it is stopped or has been idle for 15 minutes. On its VM class, stopping keeps files and memory.
• Blaxel: the sandbox drops to standby on its own and costs only snapshot storage, $0.20 per GB a month, until the next request.
• Runtime: set idlePauseSeconds and the sandbox pauses with its files, memory and running processes; the next request wakes it. Paused storage costs $0.08 per GB a month.

TypeScriptimport { Sandbox } from "withruntime";const sbx = await Sandbox.create({ idlePauseSeconds: 600 }); // ten idle minutesawait sbx.update({ idlePauseSeconds: 1800 }); // change it later; 0 turns it off

See how to pause and resume a sandbox.

Which one to pick

• Pick Daytona if you need GPU sandboxes or Windows machines, or want CPU and memory sized apart on a flat allocated rate.
• Pick Blaxel for sandboxes that go to standby by themselves and resume in milliseconds, or for very large fleets: its top tier runs over 100,000 at once.
• Pick Runtime for a microVM on every sandbox at under a quarter of either price, measured CPU with memory chosen separately, and pause that keeps memory and processes for up to a year.

Switch from either one

From Daytona, Runtime's SDK runs your code after one import change:

TypeScriptimport { Daytona } from "withruntime/daytona"; // was: from "@daytona/sdk"

Pythonfrom withruntime.daytona import Daytona  # was: from daytona import Daytona

From Blaxel, port the calls: create becomes Sandbox.create(), a process becomes exec, and Blaxel's standby maps to Runtime's automatic wake, which is on by default. The migration table lists each call.

TypeScriptimport { Sandbox } from "withruntime";const box = await Sandbox.create({ funding: "trial" });try {  console.log((await box.exec("python3 -c 'print(6 * 7)'", { check: true })).stdout);} finally {  await box.stop();}

Or give your coding agent the one instruction in migration: it switches the project on a branch, tests it on the free trial and reports the monthly saving. npx withruntime compare --from blaxel prices the sandboxes you ran at Blaxel's published rates. npx withruntime switch --from daytona before your first top-up matches that top-up with credit, up to $100. The full side-by-sides are Runtime vs Daytona and Runtime vs Blaxel.

Sources

Daytona and Blaxel pricing pages rechecked 25 September 2026; the rest checked 23 September 2026.

• Daytona pricing, Daytona sandboxes
• Blaxel pricing, Blaxel sandboxes
• Runtime pricing

Facts on this page were checked on 25 September 2026.