CreateOS Sandbox vs AWS AgentCore
Pick AWS AgentCore if your agents live on AWS and need to reach private AWS resources under IAM, VPC and CloudTrail, with thousands of concurrent sessions. Pick CreateOS Sandbox if a task needs more than 2 vCPU / 8 GB, has to run past the 8-hour default lifetime, or should be paused with its memory and forked into copies. AgentCore scales wider; CreateOS gives each sandbox more room and more lifecycle control.
Pricing at a Glance
CreateOS rates verified 17 October 2026. AWS AgentCore pricing as published on 17 October 2026. Rates billed per GB rather than per GiB, or as bundled sizes, are quoted as published rather than converted.
CreateOS Sandbox
Lower compute rate- Compute
- $0.0362 /vCPU-hr
- Memory
- $0.0116 /GiB-hr
AWS AgentCore
- Compute
- $0.0895 /vCPU-hr
- Memory
- See below
Runtime v1, Browser and Code Interpreter cost $0.0895 per vCPU-hour and $0.00945 per GB-hour, and Runtime v2 $0.1276 per vCPU-hour and $0.0169 per GB-hour, billed per second, as of 17 October 2026.
Where CreateOS Sandbox Fits Better
What CreateOS Sandbox brings to this matchup, with a plain note on where AWS AgentCore has the edge.
Sandboxes up to 8 vCPU / 8 GB on Pro and 8 vCPU / 16 GB on Enterprise, where AgentCore fixes Runtime and Code Interpreter sessions at 2 vCPU / 8 GB.
No lifetime cap: a sandbox runs until you destroy or pause it, against AgentCore's 15-minute idle timeout and 8-hour default maximum.
Pause keeps memory and CPU state and fork turns it into new sandboxes; AgentCore session storage keeps only a /mnt directory of up to 1 GB.
A lower vCPU rate, $0.03616363 per hour against $0.0895 on Runtime v1 (AgentCore memory is cheaper per GB-hour).
Where AWS AgentCore is strong
Deep AWS integration: per-session microVM isolation with IAM, VPC, CloudTrail and CloudWatch, plus managed memory, identity and gateway services in the same family, so agents reach private AWS resources without extra plumbing.
Which to Pick
Pick CreateOS Sandbox if
- A task needs 4 to 8 vCPU or up to 16 GB in one sandbox
- Sessions must run for days, or pause overnight with memory intact
- You want to expose a dev server on a public HTTPS URL instead of invoking it through AWS APIs
Pick AWS AgentCore if
- Your agents must call private AWS resources inside your VPC with IAM roles
- You need far more than 30 concurrent sessions; Runtime allows 5,000 per account in us-east-1 and us-west-2
- You want managed memory, identity and gateway services from the same AWS family
Head-to-Head Comparison
Every dimension side by side, checked on 17 October 2026 against each vendor's own docs and pricing pages. "Not published" means we could not find it on the vendor's pages, not that the feature is missing.
| Dimension | CreateOS Sandbox | AWS AgentCore |
|---|---|---|
| Isolation | Firecracker micro-VM with its own guest kernel | microVM per session (Runtime); Code Interpreter in a containerized, sandboxed environment |
| Pause and resume | Yes: disk, memory and CPU state saved; vCPU stops billing, memory and storage still bill | No memory snapshot; optional session storage (preview) keeps a /mnt directory up to 1 GB across stop/resume |
| Fork | Yes, from a paused sandbox; each child gets its own id, IP and bandwidth ledger | Not published |
| Outbound network default | Open with no rules; deny-by-default once any host, IP, CIDR or wildcard rule exists, enforced on the host outside the VM | Chosen at creation: Sandbox (isolated) or Public for Code Interpreter; Runtime on public network or in your VPC. Domain allowlists not described |
| Inbound access | Closed by default; opt-in public HTTPS URL, plus API-authenticated shell and port tunnels | Invoked through AWS APIs, WebSocket and shell streams with IAM or OAuth; no arbitrary public ports |
| Largest size | 8 vCPU / 16 GB on Enterprise; 8 / 8 on Pro | 2 vCPU / 8 GB per Runtime or Code Interpreter session (not adjustable); Browser 1 vCPU / 4 GB |
| Concurrency | 1 / 5 / 20 / 30 concurrent sandboxes on Free / Beginner / Pro / Enterprise; paused sandboxes count | Runtime 5,000 active sessions per account in us-east-1 and us-west-2, 2,500 elsewhere; Code Interpreter and Browser 1,000 (all adjustable) |
| Session length | No cap; optional idle auto-pause from 60 s to 24 h, off by default | 15-minute idle timeout and 8-hour maximum by default (configurable); 14 days on the Instances compute type |
| Billing | Per second while running: $0.03616363 per vCPU-hour, $0.01159025 per GiB-hour | Per second, 1-second minimum, memory billed at peak; includes system overhead |
| SDKs and interfaces | TypeScript, Go, Python, Rust, C#, Java (all but TypeScript pre-1.0), CLI, REST and an MCP server with create, exec and destroy tools | AWS SDKs and CLI, bedrock-agentcore Python SDK; Runtime supports MCP, A2A, HTTP and AG-UI |
Common Questions
What is the maximum session size on AWS AgentCore?
AgentCore Runtime and Code Interpreter sessions are fixed at 2 vCPU and 8 GB, and AWS lists that limit as not adjustable. Browser sessions get 1 vCPU and 4 GB. CreateOS Sandbox goes to 8 vCPU / 8 GB on the Pro plan and 8 vCPU / 16 GB on Enterprise.
How long can an AgentCore session run compared with a CreateOS sandbox?
By default an AgentCore session stops after 15 minutes idle or 8 hours in total, both configurable, and the Instances compute type allows 14 days. A CreateOS sandbox has no lifetime cap; it runs until you destroy or pause it, and idle auto-pause stays off unless you set it.
Does AWS AgentCore support more concurrent sessions than CreateOS?
Yes, by a wide margin. AgentCore Runtime allows 5,000 active sessions per account in us-east-1 and us-west-2 and 2,500 elsewhere, adjustable. CreateOS caps concurrent sandboxes at 1, 5, 20 or 30 by plan, counts paused sandboxes, and returns 429 when you create over the cap.
Can I keep files between AWS AgentCore sessions?
Partly. Session storage, in preview, keeps a directory under /mnt across stop and resume, up to 1 GB per session, and clears it after 14 days without invocation. CreateOS pause keeps the whole disk plus memory and CPU state, on a 10 GiB default disk.
Sources
Checked 17 October 2026.
See CreateOS Sandbox for yourself
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