E2B vs Runloop: pricing, isolation and limits

Both run agent code in microVMs and bill for the whole run. Runloop's rates are higher: the same job costs $5.33 there, $2.76 on E2B.

Runtime runs the same job for 77% less than E2B and 88% less than Runloop. 1,000 one-minute runs of a 2 vCPU, 4 GiB sandbox cost $2.76 on E2B, $5.33 on a Runloop MEDIUM devbox and $0.64 on Runtime. Runtime bills the CPU your code uses, keeps memory on every pause, and has no plan fee. Rates checked 23 September 2026.

At a glance

	E2B	Runloop	Runtime
Isolation	Firecracker microVM, own kernel	microVM, with a container inside	Firecracker microVM, own kernel
CPU	$0.0504 per allocated vCPU-hour	$0.108 per CPU-hour while the devbox runs	$0.025 per vCPU-hour of measured CPU, with a small floor
Memory	$0.0162 per GiB-hour	$0.0252 per GB-hour	$0.0075 per reserved GiB-hour
Disk	Included: 10 GiB on Hobby, 20 GiB on Pro	$0.00034236 per GB-hour	Included while running
Plan fee	Hobby $0; Pro $150 a month	Basic free; Pro $250 a month plus usage	None; prepaid credit from $10
Free start	$100 of usage credit, once	$50 of credit, no card; 3 running devboxes on the trial	50 sandbox hours, no card; 8 running at once
Pause	Files, memory and processes	Suspend keeps the disk, processes restart; a Pro feature	Files, memory and processes, kept 1 to 365 days
Built for	Sandboxes for agents	Devboxes, plus SWE-Bench and custom benchmarks	Sandboxes for agents

Why is Runloop more expensive than E2B?

Its rates are higher on every meter. Runloop's CPU costs $0.108 per CPU-hour, a little over twice E2B's $0.0504, and its memory $0.0252 per GB-hour against E2B's $0.0162 per GiB-hour. Runloop also bills disk while a devbox runs: 8 GB on a MEDIUM, about $0.003 an hour. A 2 CPU, 4 GB devbox comes to about $0.32 an hour, against $0.1656 on E2B.

Both bill for as long as the machine runs, so neither gets cheaper when the agent waits on a model. The difference is in what comes with it. Runloop runs public benchmarks such as SWE-Bench Verified on every plan, builds custom benchmarks on Pro, and deploys into your own VPC on Enterprise. E2B is a sandbox API with a code interpreter and a runtime you can self-host.

What happens when a sandbox is paused?

A paused E2B sandbox keeps its files, memory and running processes, and is kept with no expiry. A suspended Runloop devbox accrues no compute or memory charge and keeps its disk, but its processes must be started again, and suspend and resume come with the Pro plan.

A paused Runtime sandbox keeps files, memory and running processes on every sandbox, for the retention you set on a paid account, 1 to 365 days, and wakes on the next request:

Pythonfrom withruntime import Sandboxsbx = Sandbox.create(timeout_seconds=600)sbx.exec("echo state > /workspace/state.txt")sbx.pause()  # memory and files are kept; compute billing stopsagain = Sandbox.connect(sbx.id)again.wake(timeout_seconds=1200)again.extend(600)again.stop()

Cost for the same job

1,000 runs of a 2 vCPU, 4 GiB sandbox. On Runloop that is the MEDIUM devbox: 2 CPUs, 4 GB and 8 GB of disk. Each run lasts 60 seconds and keeps the CPU busy for 20 CPU-seconds: an agent that mostly waits for a model.

TextE2B      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                                             $2.76Runloop  CPU    1,000 × 60 s / 3,600 × 2 × $0.108       = $3.60         Memory 1,000 × 60 s / 3,600 × 4 × $0.0252      = $1.68         Disk   1,000 × 60 s / 3,600 × 8 × $0.00034236 = $0.05         Total                                             $5.33Runtime  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 E2B, $532.56 on Runloop and $63.89 on Runtime. With both CPUs busy for the whole minute, it is $1.33 on Runtime against $2.76 on E2B and $5.33 on Runloop, so Runtime is cheaper however busy the sandbox is. Plan fees, storage while suspended, network and free credits are left out.

Which one to pick

• Pick E2B for a general agent sandbox at about half of Runloop's rates, pause that keeps memory, or a runtime you can self-host under Apache-2.0.
• Pick Runloop if you evaluate agents on SWE-Bench or custom benchmarks and want that tooling from the same vendor, or need deployment into your own VPC with SOC 2, HIPAA and GDPR readiness stated.
• Pick Runtime for under a quarter of E2B's price and about an eighth of Runloop's on an agent that waits, pause and forks that keep memory and processes on every sandbox, and no plan fee.

Switch from either one

From E2B, Runtime's SDK runs your code after one import change:

TypeScriptimport { Sandbox } from "withruntime/e2b"; // was: from "e2b"

Pythonfrom withruntime.e2b import Sandbox  # was: from e2b import Sandbox

From Runloop, a devbox becomes a sandbox: create it with Sandbox.create(), run commands with exec, move files with files.write and files.read, suspend and resume with pause() and wake(), and shut it down with stop(). A blueprint you build once becomes a custom image.

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. The full side-by-sides are Runtime vs E2B and Runtime vs Runloop. Running benchmarks on Runtime is covered in agent evals and SWE-bench.

Sources

E2B and Runloop pricing pages rechecked 25 September 2026; the rest checked 23 September 2026.

• E2B pricing, E2B sandbox persistence
• Runloop pricing, Devbox sizes, Devbox lifecycle, Runloop
• Runtime pricing and custom images

Facts on this page were checked on 25 September 2026.