# Fly Machines vs Freestyle: VM pricing for agents

A Fly Machine is billed by size while started; Freestyle bills each vCPU, GiB and disk allocated. The 2 vCPU, 4 GB benchmark: $1.44 against $2.25.

**Runtime is cheaper than both, by 55% against Fly Machines and 72% against
Freestyle.** One thousand one-minute runs of a 2 vCPU, 4 GiB sandbox using 20
CPU-seconds each cost $1.44 on a `performance-2x` Fly Machine, $2.25 on
Freestyle and $0.64 on Runtime.

## At a glance

|           | Fly Machines                                       | Freestyle                             | Runtime                              |
| --------- | -------------------------------------------------- | ------------------------------------- | ------------------------------------ |
| Isolation | Firecracker microVM                                | Full Linux virtual machines           | Firecracker microVM, own kernel      |
| Price     | `performance-2x` with 4 GB, $0.0861 an hour, `iad` | $0.1322 an hour for 2 vCPUs and 4 GiB | $0.03125 an hour waiting, $0.08 busy |
| Disk      | Temporary root disk; volumes keep files            | 32 GiB by default, billed             | Included while it runs               |
| Idle      | Suspend at 2 GB of memory or less                  | Hibernates with memory                | Pause keeps memory, 1 to 365 days    |
| Regions   | 18                                                 | Not stated                            | One US region                        |

## Whole cores or hibernation

Fly's performance vCPUs are whole cores, and the Machine is still the cheaper
of the two rivals. What Freestyle offers in return is state: VMs that
hibernate with memory at any size and fork while running. A Fly Machine
suspends with memory only at 2 GB or less, and its root disk does not
outlive it.

## Cost for the same job

2 vCPU and 4 GB, 60 seconds, 20 CPU-seconds, 1,000 runs; Freestyle's default
32 GiB disk counted:

```
Machines   Size   1,000 × 60 s / 3,600 × $0.0861                = $1.44

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
```

Both rivals bill by allocation, so keeping both CPUs busy for the whole minute leaves them at $1.44 on Machines and $2.25 on Freestyle; the same job is
$1.33 on Runtime.

## Which one to pick

- **Fly Machines** for apps across 18 regions with Fly's volumes and Postgres.
- **Freestyle** for agent VMs that keep memory and fork live.
- **Runtime** for the lowest cost, with memory kept across pauses at any
  size up to 64 GiB.

See [Runtime vs Fly.io](/docs/fly-alternative) and
[Runtime vs Freestyle](/docs/freestyle-alternative).

## Sources

Fly Machines rates checked 23 September 2026; Freestyle rates checked 25 September 2026.

- [Fly.io pricing](https://fly.io/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.