Runloop vs AWS Lambda MicroVMs: the two dearest sandboxes compared

Runloop and Lambda MicroVMs are the two most expensive rows in the benchmark: $5.33 and $4.20 for 1,000 one-minute runs of a 2 vCPU sandbox.

Runtime runs the benchmark for 88% less than Runloop and 85% less than Lambda MicroVMs. A 2 vCPU, 4 GiB sandbox, 60 seconds a run, 20 CPU-seconds of work, 1,000 times: $5.33 on Runloop (a MEDIUM devbox), $4.20 on AWS Lambda MicroVMs, $0.64 on Runtime.

At a glance

	Runloop	AWS Lambda MicroVMs	Runtime
Isolation	microVM, with a container inside	Firecracker microVM	Firecracker microVM, own kernel
CPU	$0.108 per CPU-hour while the devbox runs	$0.0997 per baseline vCPU-hour	$0.025 per vCPU-hour of measured CPU, with a small floor
Memory	$0.0252 per GB-hour	$0.0132 per GB-hour	$0.0075 per reserved GiB-hour
Suspend	Keeps the disk; processes restart	Keeps memory and disk, up to 8 hours	Keeps memory and processes, 1 to 365 days
Extras	SWE-Bench and custom benchmarks built in	IAM, VPC access, AWS regions	Harbor and Inspect eval integrations
Plan	Basic free; Pro $250 a month plus usage	None	None; prepaid credit from $10

What the premium buys

Their CPU rates are close, about ten cents a vCPU-hour, and both bill it for every second. Runloop adds benchmark tooling and deploys into your cloud; Lambda adds AWS's identity and networking. For an agent that mostly waits, both premiums are paid on idle cores.

Cost for the same job

The benchmark, 60 seconds a run (a MEDIUM devbox with 8 GB of disk on Runloop, a 4 GB baseline on Lambda):

TextRunloop  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                                                  $5.33Lambda   CPU    1,000 × 60 s × 2 × $0.0000276944              = $3.32         Memory 1,000 × 60 s × 4 × $0.0000036667              = $0.88         Total                                                  $4.20Runtime  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 charge the same with both CPUs busy for the whole minute, $5.33 on Runloop and $4.20 on Lambda, against $1.33 on Runtime.

Which one to pick

• Runloop for ready-made agent benchmarks and stated compliance readiness.
• Lambda MicroVMs for sandboxes that belong inside AWS.
• Runtime for evals and agents at a fraction of either: agent evals and SWE-bench.

See Runtime vs Runloop and Runtime vs AWS Lambda MicroVMs.

Sources

Runloop rates checked 23 September 2026; Lambda MicroVMs rates checked 25 September 2026.

• Runloop pricing, Devbox sizes
• AWS Lambda pricing, Lambda MicroVMs
• Runtime pricing

Facts on this page were checked on 25 September 2026.