Which is better, Modal or Morph?
It depends on whether you need GPUs or branching at scale. Agents that idle between model calls cost the least on Runtime: $0.64 for 1,000 one-minute runs, against $1.67 on Morph and $3.97 on Modal. Runtime bills measured CPU. It also forks a running sandbox with its memory. Pick Modal if your sandboxes need GPUs, or if you already run Modal functions and scheduled jobs. Pick Morph if your agent branches one running machine into hundreds of replicas.
At a glance
| Modal Sandboxes | Morph Cloud | Runtime | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Isolation | gVisor, a user-space kernel that intercepts system calls | Full virtual machines | Firecracker microVM, own kernel |
| CPU | $0.1419 per physical core-hour (2 vCPUs), request or use | $0.05 per MCU-hour; one MCU is 1 vCPU, 4 GB or 16 GB disk | $0.025 per vCPU-hour of measured CPU, with a small floor |
| Memory | $0.0240 per GiB-hour, request or use | Inside the MCU; a machine pays for whichever it needs most | $0.0075 per reserved GiB-hour |
| Plan fee | Starter $0 with $30 a month of compute; Team $250 a month | Developer free with no credit; Team $40, Scale $250 a month | None; prepaid credit from $10 |
| Free start | $30 of compute a month on Starter | 1,000 MCUs with the $40 Team plan | 100 free hours of a 1 GB machine in the first 30 days, no card |
| Copying a sandbox | Memory snapshots in alpha: kept 7 days, and taking one ends the sandbox | Infinibranch: a running machine to hundreds of replicas | Forks: 1 to 100 running copies with memory and processes |
| GPUs | Yes | Not stated on its pricing page | CPUs only |
Which one can copy a running sandbox?
Morph built its product around it. Infinibranch branches a running machine, memory and disk included, into hundreds of parallel replicas. Morph Devboxes keep their memory when they scale to zero.
Modal has three kinds of snapshot. A filesystem snapshot copies the root filesystem, and a directory snapshot copies one directory. Both are kept for 30 days by default. A memory snapshot copies the whole state, memory and filesystem. Modal lists it as alpha with known limits: it expires after 7 days, cannot be used with GPUs, and taking one currently terminates the sandbox.
A Runtime fork copies a running sandbox, with its files, memory and running processes, into 1 to 100 new sandboxes. The source is paused for the capture, then woken before the call returns, so it keeps running. A snapshot you keep to start copies later is held while you have credit.
Pythonfrom withruntime import Sandboxwith Sandbox.create() as base: base.exec("pip install --quiet requests", check=True) forks = base.fork(count=2) # both running, memory included for fork in forks: print(fork.exec("python3 -c 'import requests; print(requests.__name__)'").stdout) fork.stop()Why is Morph cheaper than Modal here?
Both charge for the size a sandbox holds, busy or idle, so the rate decides. A 2 vCPU, 4 GB machine is 2 MCUs on Morph, $0.10 an hour. On Modal, the same sandbox is one physical core at $0.1419 an hour, plus 4 GiB at $0.0240 each, about $0.24 an hour, over twice as much. Neither figure changes with how busy the code is, so Morph stays cheaper at every level of use.
Cost for the same job
1,000 runs of a 2 vCPU sandbox (one physical core on Modal, 2 MCUs on Morph) with 4 GiB. Each run lasts 60 seconds and keeps the CPU busy for 20 CPU-seconds: an agent that mostly waits for a model.
- CPU
- 1,000 × 60 s × 1 core × $0.00003942
- $2.37
- Memory
- 1,000 × 60 s × 4 × $0.00000667
- $1.60
- Size
- 1,000 × 60 s / 3,600 × 2 MCU × $0.05
- $1.67
- CPU
- 1,000 × 20 s / 3,600 × $0.025
- $0.14
- Memory
- 1,000 × 60 s / 3,600 × 4 × $0.0075
- $0.50
At 100,000 runs a month, the cost is $396.60 on Modal, $166.67 on Morph, and $63.89 on Runtime. With both CPUs busy for the whole minute, the cost is $1.33 on Runtime, against $3.97 on Modal and $1.67 on Morph. Runtime is cheaper however busy the sandbox is. Plan fees, included credit, snapshot storage, network and free allowances are left out.
Which one to pick
- Pick Modal if your sandboxes need GPUs, or you already run Modal functions and scheduled jobs and want sandboxes in the same SDK.
- Pick Morph if your agent branches one running machine into hundreds of replicas.
- Pick Runtime to pay for measured CPU instead of a held size, fork a running sandbox with its memory today rather than in alpha, and keep snapshots for as long as you have credit. It costs 62% less than Morph.
Runtime Cloud
Runtime runs the same job for 84% less than Modal and 62% less than Morph. 1,000 one-minute runs of a 2 vCPU, 4 GiB sandbox cost $3.97 on Modal, $1.67 on Morph, and $0.64 on Runtime. Both rivals bill the size a sandbox holds for as long as it runs. Runtime bills the CPU the code uses, in a Firecracker microVM with its own kernel, and forks a running sandbox with its memory. Rates were checked 25 October 2026.
Start on the free usage with npx withruntime login, and use the migration guide to move Modal or Morph code.
Switch from either one
From Modal, each call has a direct counterpart. modal.Sandbox.create(app=...)
becomes Sandbox.create() with no App, sb.exec(*args) becomes exec,
Sandbox.from_name becomes Sandbox.getOrCreate(name), and sb.terminate()
becomes stop(). From Morph, map its create, exec, file and stop calls with
the table in migration. A Morph snapshot or
branch becomes snapshot() or fork().
Or give your coding agent the instruction in migration. It switches the project on a branch, tests it on the free usage, and reports the monthly saving. From Modal, credit you add within 30 days of signing up is matched, up to $1,000 in total. The full side-by-sides are Runtime vs Modal and Runtime vs Morph.
Sources
Modal snapshots and Morph pricing pages were rechecked 25 October 2026. The rest were checked 25 October 2026.
- Modal pricing, Modal resources and billing, Modal sandbox snapshots, Modal security
- Morph Cloud pricing, Morph Devboxes
- Runtime pricing
Facts on this page were checked on 26 October 2026.