Which is better, E2B or Daytona?
It depends on how your agent spends its time. For agents that mostly wait on a model, Runtime has the lowest bill: $0.64 for the job below, against $2.76 on E2B or Daytona. Runtime bills the CPU the code uses, not the vCPUs it holds. Every sandbox is a microVM whose pause keeps memory and processes. Pick E2B to run its Apache-2.0 runtime on your own hardware. Pick Daytona for GPU sandboxes or Windows machines.
At a glance
| E2B | Daytona | Runtime | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Isolation | Firecracker microVM, own kernel | Containers by default; VM sandboxes as a separate class | Firecracker microVM, own kernel, every sandbox |
| CPU | $0.0504 per allocated vCPU-hour | $0.0504 per allocated vCPU-hour | $0.025 per vCPU-hour of measured CPU, with a small floor |
| Memory | $0.0162 per GiB-hour | $0.0162 per GiB-hour | $0.0075 per reserved GiB-hour |
| Disk | Included, no separate charge | First 5 GiB free, then $0.000108 per GiB-hour | Included while running; paused storage $0.08 per GB-month |
| Plan fee | Hobby $0; Pro $150 per month | None published | None; prepaid credit from $10 |
| Free start | $100 of usage credit | $200 of compute | 100 free hours of a 1 GB machine in the first 30 days, no card |
| Session length | 1 hour on Hobby, 24 hours on Pro | Stops after 15 idle minutes by default | No time limit: runs while it works, pauses itself after 300 seconds idle |
| Pause | Files, memory and processes | Files and memory on VM sandboxes | Files, memory and processes, every sandbox |
| Agent sign-in | API key | API key | Browser approval; no key in the agent's config |
If the rates match, what actually separates them?
Four things, none of them the per-hour price.
- The boundary around the code. Every E2B sandbox is a Firecracker microVM with its own kernel. Daytona provides containers unless you ask for its VM class, a separate kind of sandbox.
- How long a session may run. E2B's free Hobby tier caps a sandbox at one hour. 24 hours needs Pro at $150 per month. Daytona publishes no plan fee and instead stops a sandbox after 15 idle minutes unless you change it.
- What a pause keeps. E2B keeps files, memory and running processes. Daytona keeps files and memory, and only on its VM sandboxes.
- Disk. E2B includes disk in the price. Daytona gives 5 GiB free and meters the rest by the GiB-hour.
The free start also differs: $100 of credit on E2B against $200 of compute on Daytona.
Cost for the same job
The workload: 1,000 runs, each on a 2 vCPU, 4 GiB sandbox for 60 seconds, of which the code keeps a CPU busy for 20 CPU-seconds. That is the shape of an agent loop that spends most of its time waiting for model replies.
- CPU
- 1,000 × 60 s / 3,600 × 2 × $0.0504
- $1.68
- Memory
- 1,000 × 60 s / 3,600 × 4 × $0.0162
- $1.08
- CPU
- 1,000 × 60 s / 3,600 × 2 × $0.0504
- $1.68
- Memory
- 1,000 × 60 s / 3,600 × 4 × $0.0162
- $1.08
- CPU
- 1,000 × 20 s / 3,600 × $0.025
- $0.14
- Memory
- 1,000 × 60 s / 3,600 × 4 × $0.0075
- $0.50
The two rival entries are line for line identical, which is the point: moving between E2B and Daytona saves nothing on compute. At 100,000 runs a month, either one bills $276.00 and Runtime bills $63.89. Raise the load so both CPUs are busy for the whole minute, and the figures become $1.33 on Runtime, $2.76 on E2B, and $2.76 on Daytona. The two rival totals do not move, because they already charged for full use. Plan fees, disk, network and free credit are outside these sums.
Which one to pick
| You need | Best fit |
|---|---|
| A sandbox runtime you can host yourself | E2B |
| GPU sandboxes or Windows machines | Daytona |
| The biggest free start of the two | Daytona |
| E2B-grade isolation at 77% below the price | Runtime |
E2B's runtime is Apache-2.0, so a team can run it on its own hardware. Past an hour per session, it needs the Pro plan. Runtime keeps memory and processes on every pause with no plan fee. An agent signs in by browser approval instead of holding an API key.
Runtime Cloud
On price the two tie, and Runtime undercuts both by 77%. A batch of 1,000 one-minute runs on a 2 vCPU, 4 GiB sandbox comes to $2.76 on either of the two, and to $0.64 on Runtime. The gap comes from the billing basis. E2B and Daytona charge for both vCPUs for the whole minute, while Runtime charges for the CPU the code actually uses. Rates checked 25 October 2026.
To try it, sign in with npx withruntime login. 100 free hours of a 1 GB machine come
in the first 30 days, with no card. The next section shows the one-line switch from
either SDK.
Moving off E2B or Daytona
Both SDKs have a drop-in replacement on Runtime, so the first step is one import line:
TypeScriptimport { Sandbox } from "withruntime/e2b"; // was: from "e2b"import { Daytona } from "withruntime/daytona"; // was: from "@daytona/sdk"Pythonfrom withruntime.e2b import Sandbox # was: from e2b import Sandboxfrom withruntime.daytona import Daytona # was: from daytona import DaytonaIf you would rather not edit by hand, migration has a single instruction for a coding agent. The agent makes the swap on a branch, runs it on the free usage, and tells you the monthly difference. For every call and limit, read Runtime vs E2B or Runtime vs Daytona.
Sources
Checked 25 October 2026.