# Vercel Sandbox vs Morph: pricing, snapshots and branching Vercel bills active CPU plus memory in Firecracker microVMs; Morph bills full VMs by size in MCUs and branches running machines with memory. **Runtime forks a live sandbox with its memory, as Morph does, and bills by use, as Vercel does, for 62% and 70% less.** 1,000 one-minute runs of a 2 vCPU, 4 GiB sandbox cost $2.12 on Vercel, $1.67 on Morph and $0.64 on Runtime. Runtime's measured CPU is about a fifth of Vercel's rate. Rates checked 23 September 2026. ## At a glance Vercel's column uses its default `iad1` region rates. | | Vercel Sandbox | Morph Cloud | Runtime | | --------------------------- | --------------------------------------------------------------------- | ----------------------------------------------------- | -------------------------------------------------------- | | Isolation | Firecracker microVM, own kernel | Full virtual machines | Firecracker microVM, own kernel | | CPU | $0.128 per active CPU-hour | $0.05 per MCU-hour for the machine's size | $0.025 per vCPU-hour of measured CPU, with a small floor | | Memory | $0.0212 per provisioned GB-hour; 2 GB per vCPU | Inside the MCU: 4 GB per MCU | $0.0075 per reserved GiB-hour | | Plan fee | Hobby allowance free; Pro usage draws on its $20 monthly credit first | Free with no credit; Developer $40, Team $250 a month | None; prepaid credit from $10 | | Free start | 5 active CPU-hours and 420 GB-hours a month on Hobby | 1,000 MCUs with the $40 Developer plan | 50 sandbox hours, no card | | Snapshots | The filesystem; expire 30 days after last use by default | Memory and disk | Files, memory and processes; kept 1 to 365 days | | Copies of a running sandbox | A fork of the filesystem; processes start again | Infinibranch, to hundreds of replicas | Forks: 1 to 10 running copies, memory included | | Snapshot storage | $0.08 per GB-month | Inside the MCU: 5 TB snapshot-hours per MCU | $0.08 per GB-month; a fork's own snapshot is free | ## What does a snapshot keep on each? The question matters for agents that set up an environment once and try several things from it. - **Vercel** snapshots and forks capture the filesystem. A sandbox started from one has the files but starts its processes again, so a dev server or a loaded model has to boot a second time. Snapshots expire 30 days after their last use unless you change the retention. - **Morph** snapshots keep memory and disk. Infinibranch branches a running machine, memory included, into hundreds of parallel replicas, which is what Morph is built around. - **Runtime** forks keep files, memory and running processes, from 1 to 10 running copies per call. The source pauses for about a second on a fresh sandbox and then carries on. A kept snapshot starts copies later, for 1 to 365 days. ```ts check import { Sandbox } from "withruntime"; await using base = await Sandbox.create({ funding: "trial" }); await base.spawn("python3 -m http.server 8000"); // a process the copies inherit const [a, b] = await base.fork({ count: 2 }); // both running, server included for (const copy of [a!, b!]) { const probe = "import urllib.request; print(urllib.request.urlopen('http://localhost:8000').status)"; console.log((await copy.exec(["python3", "-c", probe])).stdout); // 200 in each copy await copy.stop(); } ``` See [what a sandbox fork is](/glossary/sandbox-fork) and [what a snapshot keeps](/glossary/sandbox-snapshot). ## Why is Morph cheaper than Vercel for this job? Because of memory. Vercel bills 4 GB at $0.0212 a GB-hour, $0.0848 an hour, before any CPU. Morph's 2 MCUs, $0.10 an hour, cover 2 vCPUs and 4 GB together, busy or idle. Vercel's CPU charge then decides it: Vercel is cheaper only while a one-minute run uses less than about 7 CPU-seconds, and with both CPUs busy the whole minute it costs more than three times as much. ## Cost for the same job The sums use 1,000 runs, 60 seconds long, each spending 20 CPU-seconds on 2 vCPU with 4 GiB; that is 4 GB on Vercel and 2 MCUs on Morph. ``` Vercel CPU 1,000 × 20 s / 3,600 × $0.128 = $0.71 Memory 1,000 × 60 s / 3,600 × 4 × $0.0212 = $1.41 Total $2.12 Morph Size 1,000 × 60 s / 3,600 × 2 MCU × $0.05 = $1.67 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 ``` At 100,000 runs a month: $212.44 on Vercel, $166.67 on Morph, $63.89 on Runtime. With both CPUs busy for the whole minute, it is $1.33 on Runtime, $5.68 on Vercel and $1.67 on Morph. Plan fees, included credit, creation charges, snapshot storage, network and free allowances are not part of these figures. ## Which one to pick - **Vercel Sandbox** suits an app hosted on Vercel, or a need for sandboxes in many places: 19 regions, with up to 10,000 at once on Pro. - **Morph** suits fan-out from one running machine to hundreds of replicas, and shared devboxes for people that hold their memory while idle. - **Runtime** suits agents that fork and snapshot with memory kept, at 62% below Morph and 70% below Vercel, with no plan fee. ## Moving to Runtime Vercel Sandbox code runs after an import change. As on Vercel, `stop()` keeps the disk, which on Runtime means a pause, and `delete()` removes the sandbox: ```ts no-run import { Sandbox } from "withruntime/vercel"; // was: from "@vercel/sandbox" ``` ```python no-run from withruntime.vercel import sandbox # was: from vercel import sandbox ``` Morph code is ported with [map the calls](/docs/migrate#map-the-calls): starting an instance, commands, files and stopping each have one call; a Morph snapshot is `snapshot()`, and a branch is `fork({ count })`. The [migration](/docs/migrate) guide's single instruction lets a coding agent make the port on a branch and test it on the free trial. Coming from Vercel, `npx withruntime switch --from vercel` before the first top-up matches it with up to $100 of credit. Full comparisons: [Runtime vs Vercel Sandbox](/docs/vercel-sandbox-alternative), [Runtime vs Morph](/docs/morph-alternative). ## Sources Vercel Sandbox and Morph Cloud pricing rechecked 25 September 2026; the rest checked 23 September 2026. - [Vercel Sandbox pricing](https://vercel.com/docs/sandbox/pricing), [Understanding Vercel Sandboxes](https://vercel.com/docs/sandbox/concepts) - [Morph Cloud pricing](https://cloud.morph.so/web/pricing), [Morph Devboxes](https://cloud.morph.so/web/product/devboxes), [Morph snapshots](https://cloud.morph.so/docs/documentation/instances/creating-snapshot) - Runtime [pricing](/docs/pricing) Facts on this page were checked on 25 September 2026.