CreateOS Sandbox vs Boxes.Dev
boxes.dev is the faster route if your goal is running many Claude Code or Codex tasks in parallel from Slack, Linear or a phone. CreateOS Sandbox fits when you are building the execution layer yourself and need raw sandboxes, outbound rules and a chosen region.
Pricing at a Glance
CreateOS rates verified 17 October 2026. boxes.dev pricing as published on 26 October 2026. Rates billed per GB rather than per GiB, or as bundled sizes, are quoted as published rather than converted.
CreateOS Sandbox
- Compute
- $0.0362 /vCPU-hr
- Memory
- $0.0116 /GiB-hr
boxes.dev
boxes.dev plans are Trial (free, 20 box-hours) and Starter $19, Pro $99 and Max $249 per paid seat per month with 50, 250 and 600 box-hours, plus extra time at $0.60 per box-hour, as of 26 October 2026.
Where CreateOS Sandbox Fits Better
What CreateOS Sandbox brings to this matchup, with a plain note on where boxes.dev has the edge.
Raw sandboxes by API: exec, files, processes and tunnels, rather than an API that starts an agent thread.
Host-enforced outbound allowlist; boxes.dev does not publish egress controls.
Published regions (eu and us) and a published isolation boundary; boxes.dev publishes neither.
Where boxes.dev is strong
boxes.dev turns one snapshot of a real, working dev environment into a fresh full machine per agent task, with native Claude Code and Codex harnesses and control from Slack, Linear, desktop, terminal and mobile apps. Sleeping devboxes keep files and memory and use no box-hours.
Which to Pick
Pick CreateOS Sandbox if
- Your own product needs to create and control sandboxes directly.
- You need outbound traffic restricted for untrusted code.
- You must pick an EU or US region.
Pick boxes.dev if
- You want to fan out Claude Code or Codex tasks from Slack or Linear on copies of your own setup.
- You want to steer agent tasks from iOS or Android.
- You prefer a per-seat plan with included box-hours.
Head-to-Head Comparison
Every dimension side by side, checked on 26 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 | boxes.dev |
|---|---|---|
| Isolation | Firecracker micro-VM with its own guest kernel | Not published; vendor calls each devbox 'a full, isolated copy' of your machine |
| What persists | Disk stays until you destroy the sandbox; pause also saves memory and CPU state | Template saved as a filesystem and memory snapshot (vendor-stated); idle devboxes sleep keeping files and memory |
| Create by API | Yes: REST API, six SDKs (TypeScript, Go, Python, Rust, C#, Java), CLI and MCP server | REST API starts an agent thread on a fresh devbox; Slack, Linear, desktop, mobile and terminal apps |
| Outbound network | Open with no rules; deny-by-default once any host, IP, CIDR or wildcard rule exists, enforced on the host outside the VM | Not published |
| Largest size | 8 vCPU / 16 GB on Enterprise; 8 / 8 on Pro, 4 / 4 on Beginner, 1 / 1 on Free | Default 4 vCPU / 8 GiB; larger machines available, maximum not published |
| Billing | Per second: $0.03616363 per vCPU-hour, $0.01159025 per GiB-hour, storage $0.0001584 per GB-hour | Per paid seat: Starter $19/month with 50 box-hours, Pro $99 with 250, Max $249 with 600; extra $0.60/box-hour |
| Self-host | Enterprise only, onboarded by our team | Not published (hosted only) |
| Built for | Sandboxes created by API for agent and untrusted code | Running many Claude Code or Codex tasks in parallel on copies of your dev setup |
Common Questions
Does the boxes.dev API give me a raw sandbox?
No. The boxes.dev API (POST /v1/threads) starts an agent on a fresh devbox rather than exposing a sandbox you exec into directly. CreateOS gives you the sandbox itself, with REST endpoints for exec, files, managed processes, egress, pause, resume and fork.
How many boxes.dev devboxes can be awake at once?
boxes.dev allows up to four awake devboxes on Starter and up to ten on Pro, and sleeping devboxes use no box-hours. CreateOS allows 1, 5, 20 or 30 concurrent sandboxes by plan, and paused ones still count toward the cap.
Can I run Claude Code on CreateOS like on boxes.dev?
Yes, with your own harness. The CreateOS devbox:1 image ships Claude Code, Codex, OpenCode, Cursor CLI and Pi on PATH, but it is a sandbox, not a managed agent runner; boxes.dev adds the Slack, Linear and mobile controls around the agent for you.
Sources
Checked 26 October 2026.
See CreateOS Sandbox for yourself
Book a demo, or explore the Sandbox and its pricing.