Which is better, Vercel Sandbox or Freestyle?
It depends on whether you need reach or large VMs. Whether your agents wait or work, Runtime has the lowest bill: $0.64 on the benchmark, against $2.12 on Vercel and $2.25 on Freestyle. It keeps memory across pauses and takes Vercel SDK code with one import. Pick Vercel Sandbox for apps on Vercel, 19 regions and very high concurrency on Pro. Pick Freestyle for VMs of up to 32 vCPUs on Pro, or forks that leave the source running.
At a glance
| Vercel Sandbox | Freestyle | Runtime | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Isolation | Firecracker microVM, own kernel | Full Linux virtual machines | Firecracker microVM, own kernel |
| CPU | $0.128 per active CPU-hour, iad1 |
$0.04032 per allocated vCPU-hour | $0.025 per vCPU-hour of measured CPU, with a small floor |
| Memory | $0.0212 per provisioned GB-hour | $0.0129 per GiB-hour | $0.0075 per reserved GiB-hour |
| State | Stop keeps the filesystem; snapshots of the disk | Hibernate with memory; live forks | Pause and forks keep memory and processes |
| Plan | Hobby allowance free; usage beyond it needs Pro | Free, Hobby $50, Pro $500 a month | None; prepaid credit from $10 |
| At once | Up to 10,000 on Pro | 10 free, 40 Hobby, 400 Pro | 100 on a paid account |
Memory is where they part
A Vercel sandbox that stops keeps its files, and its processes start again on the next run. Freestyle hibernates a VM with its memory in place and brings it back weeks later. That is the same promise a Runtime pause makes while you have credit. For an agent that holds a long-running dev server or a warm interpreter, keeping memory saves the rebuild on every return.
Cost for the same job
The benchmark, 60 seconds a run, with Freestyle's default 32 GiB disk:
- CPU
- 1,000 × 20 s / 3,600 × $0.128
- $0.71
- Memory
- 1,000 × 60 s / 3,600 × 4 × $0.0212
- $1.41
- 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
- CPU
- 1,000 × 20 s / 3,600 × $0.025
- $0.14
- Memory
- 1,000 × 60 s / 3,600 × 4 × $0.0075
- $0.50
A 100,000-run month costs $212.44 on Vercel, $224.99 on Freestyle, and $63.89 on Runtime. If the runs kept both CPUs busy for the whole minute, the job would cost $5.68 on Vercel, $2.25 on Freestyle and $1.33 on Runtime.
Which one to pick
- Vercel Sandbox for Vercel-hosted apps, 19 regions and very high concurrency on Pro.
- Freestyle for VMs of up to 32 vCPUs on Pro, and forks that leave the source running.
- Runtime for the lowest bill whether the agent waits or works, memory
kept across pauses, and a one-import move from Vercel's SDK
(
withruntime/vercel).
More: Runtime vs Vercel Sandbox, Runtime vs Freestyle.
Runtime Cloud
On Runtime the same benchmark costs $0.64, 70% below Vercel and 72% below Freestyle. It is 1,000 runs of a minute on 2 vCPU and 4 GiB with 20 CPU-seconds of work in each. Vercel wins it narrowly among the rivals because it skips idle CPU. Runtime skips idle CPU too, at 80% below Vercel's rate.
Start with npx withruntime login and the free monthly usage. The migration
guide moves Vercel Sandbox or Freestyle code.
Sources
Vercel rates checked 25 October 2026; Freestyle rates checked 25 October 2026.
- Vercel Sandbox pricing, Understanding Vercel Sandboxes
- Freestyle pricing, Freestyle VM pricing and limits
- Runtime pricing
Facts on this page were checked on 26 October 2026.