CreateOS Sandbox vs Celesto Cloud
Celesto is the pick if you want an open-source microVM runtime you can run on your own Linux or macOS machine, with a cheap managed cloud from $0.015 per hour. CreateOS Sandbox fits hosted fleets that need destination-level egress rules, memory-preserving pause, and more than 10 sandboxes running at once. Celesto's cloud offers only open or no internet.
Pricing at a Glance
CreateOS rates verified 17 October 2026. Celesto Cloud 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
- Compute
- $0.0362 /vCPU-hr
- Memory
- $0.0116 /GiB-hr
Celesto Cloud
Celesto charges hourly per size from prepaid credit, for running time only: Micro (1 shared vCPU / 2 GB / 20 GB) $0.015/h up to XL (8 shared vCPU / 32 GB / 100 GB) $0.160/h, with no monthly fee, as of 17 October 2026.
Where CreateOS Sandbox Fits Better
What CreateOS Sandbox brings to this matchup, with a plain note on where Celesto Cloud has the edge.
Destination-level egress in the hosted service: allow hosts, IPs, CIDRs or wildcards and deny the rest. Celesto Cloud offers open or off only.
Pause keeps memory and CPU state; Celesto's cloud lifecycle docs cover stop and start with files kept.
Up to 20 concurrent sandboxes on Pro and 30 on Enterprise; Celesto's paid plan runs up to 10.
Where Celesto Cloud is strong
Celesto's microVM runtime is open source under Apache-2.0, with the same CLI and SDK locally and in the cloud, very low hourly prices per size, and command-level hooks that can log, veto or hold risky commands for human approval.
Which to Pick
Pick CreateOS Sandbox if
- Hosted agents must reach only approved destinations.
- You need more than 10 sandboxes running at once.
- Paused agents must keep their running processes.
Pick Celesto Cloud if
- You want to run the same microVM runtime on your own laptop or server.
- You want hooks that hold risky commands for human approval.
- You want a managed computer for $0.015 an hour.
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 | Celesto Cloud |
|---|---|---|
| Isolation | Firecracker micro-VM with its own guest kernel | MicroVM; open-source runtime uses Firecracker on Linux; cloud backend not stated |
| Pause and resume | Saves disk, memory and CPU state; vCPU billing stops while paused, memory and storage still bill | Cloud documents stop and start with files kept; homepage advertises pause/resume |
| Fork | Fork a paused sandbox into many independent copies | Advertised on homepage; not documented in cloud SDK pages |
| 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 | Open by default; cloud offers open or off only, fixed at creation |
| Inbound access | Closed by default; opt-in HTTPS URL | Private by default; up to four ports published as HTTPS URLs; SSH via CLI |
| Largest size | 8 vCPU / 16 GB on Enterprise; 8 / 8 on Pro, 4 / 4 on Beginner, 1 / 1 on Free | XL: 8 shared vCPU, 32 GB RAM, 100 GB disk |
| Concurrency | 1 / 5 / 20 / 30 by plan (Free to Enterprise); paused sandboxes count | Paid up to 10 running, subject to host capacity |
| Billing | Per second: $0.03616363 per vCPU-hour, $0.01159025 per GiB-hour, storage $0.0001584 per GB-hour; no egress fees (50 GiB bandwidth budget per sandbox) | Hourly per size, $0.015/h Micro to $0.160/h XL |
| SDKs and interfaces | TypeScript, Go, Python, Rust, C#, Java (all but TypeScript pre-1.0), CLI, MCP, REST | Python and TypeScript SDKs, celesto CLI, OpenAI Agents SDK integration |
| Self-host or BYOC | Enterprise only, onboarded by our team | Open-source runtime (Apache-2.0) on your own Linux or macOS machine |
Common Questions
Can Celesto Cloud limit outbound traffic to specific domains?
Not in the cloud today. Celesto Cloud computers are either open or have no internet, fixed at creation; destination allowlists exist only for local Linux sandboxes in the open-source runtime. CreateOS supports host, IP, CIDR and wildcard rules on hosted sandboxes.
How many Celesto sandboxes can run at once?
Up to 10 running sandboxes on the paid plan, subject to host capacity, and one retained Micro sandbox on the trial. CreateOS allows 1 on Free, 5 on Beginner, 20 on Pro and 30 on Enterprise, with paused sandboxes counting toward the cap.
Can I run Celesto on my own machine?
Yes. Celesto's microVM runtime is open source under Apache-2.0 and runs on Linux with Firecracker or on macOS with QEMU. CreateOS has no open-source runtime; self-hosting is for enterprise customers only and is onboarded by our team.
Sources
Checked 17 October 2026.
See CreateOS Sandbox for yourself
Book a demo, or explore the Sandbox and its pricing.