CreateOS Sandbox vs Cloudflare Browser Run
If your code already lives on Cloudflare Workers and you need screenshots, PDFs or crawling, Browser Run is the shortest path: a Worker opens a browser without a second vendor. If your agent needs a shell to run programs, CreateOS Sandbox is the better fit, with a full Linux micro-VM and no lifetime cap.
Cloudflare now calls this product Browser Run; it was formerly named Browser Rendering.
Pricing at a Glance
CreateOS rates verified 17 October 2026. Cloudflare Browser Run 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
Cloudflare Browser Run
On Workers Paid, 10 browser hours per month are included then $0.09 per hour, and 10 concurrent browsers are included then $2.00 per extra browser (monthly average of daily peak); Workers Free gets 10 minutes per day, as of 17 October 2026.
Where CreateOS Sandbox Fits Better
What CreateOS Sandbox brings to this matchup, with a plain note on where Cloudflare Browser Run has the edge.
A shell and general compute for agent code; Browser Run is a browser service.
Idle sandboxes stay up until you decide otherwise; Browser Run closes idle sessions after 60 s by default and 20 minutes at most.
Published egress controls by host, IP, CIDR or wildcard; Browser Run's outbound behaviour is not published.
Where Cloudflare Browser Run is strong
Browsers live inside the Workers platform, so a Worker can open one with no extra vendor, and billing averages concurrency over the month so short spikes cost little.
Which to Pick
Pick CreateOS Sandbox if
- The agent needs to install packages and run its own programs.
- Sessions sit idle for more than 20 minutes between steps.
- You want to fork a paused environment into copies.
Pick Cloudflare Browser Run if
- You already build on Cloudflare Workers.
- You need screenshots, PDFs or crawls through quick HTTP actions.
- Your traffic is spiky and monthly-average concurrency billing suits it.
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 | Cloudflare Browser Run |
|---|---|---|
| What you get (browser vs full Linux machine) | Full Linux micro-VM; the desktop:1 image adds an XFCE desktop, Google Chrome and a computer-use API | Headless browsers via Quick Actions HTTP endpoints or CDP sessions |
| Isolation | Firecracker micro-VM with its own guest kernel, root filesystem and network identity | Not published |
| Session length | No lifetime cap; optional idle auto-pause from 60 s to 24 h, off by default | 60 s inactivity timeout by default; keep_alive up to 20 minutes; no fixed maximum while active |
| Run arbitrary code | Yes: exec, shell, files and managed processes; devbox:1 ships Python 3.12, Node.js 24, Go, Rust and Docker | Browser service driven from Workers or any CDP client; no shell or general compute |
| 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 |
| Billing | Per second: $0.03616363/vCPU-hr, $0.01159025/GiB-hr, storage $0.0001584/GB-hr; no per-GB egress price, 50 GiB bandwidth budget per sandbox | Workers Paid: 10 hours/month included, then $0.09/hour; 10 concurrent browsers included, then $2.00 each (monthly average) |
| Pause and resume | Pause saves disk, memory and CPU state; vCPU stops billing, memory and storage still bill | Sessions can be reused across requests; Durable Objects can hold sessions to avoid spin-up |
| Interfaces | SDKs in TypeScript, Go, Python, Rust, C# and Java (all but TypeScript pre-1.0), CLI, MCP server, REST API | Puppeteer, Playwright, CDP, Stagehand, Playwright MCP, Quick Actions HTTP, Workers |
Common Questions
Is Cloudflare Browser Run the same as Browser Rendering?
Yes. Browser Run is the current name for the product Cloudflare previously called Browser Rendering, and its docs still live under the browser-rendering path. It provides headless browsers for Workers and for any CDP client.
How does Browser Run count concurrent browsers for billing?
It takes the monthly average of your daily peak concurrent browsers: 10 are included on Workers Paid, then $2.00 per extra browser, plus $0.09 per hour after 10 included hours. CreateOS bills each sandbox per second for vCPU, memory and storage.
Can I keep a Browser Run session idle for an hour?
No. Sessions close after 60 seconds of inactivity by default, and keep_alive extends that to 20 minutes at most. CreateOS sandboxes stay up while idle unless you enable auto-pause, which you can set from 60 seconds to 24 hours.
Sources
Checked 17 October 2026.
See CreateOS Sandbox for yourself
Book a demo, or explore the Sandbox and its pricing.