CreateOS Sandbox vs Contabo
Contabo is the cheaper choice for a server that stays on all month: EUR 4.40 a month buys 4 vCPU and 8 GB on a long term. CreateOS Sandbox fits when agent tasks need machines by the second, created and destroyed by API, with pause, fork and outbound allowlists. If the box never turns off, Contabo wins on price.
Pricing at a Glance
CreateOS rates verified 17 October 2026. Contabo 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
Contabo
Cloud VPS plans list from EUR 4.40 per month (4 vCPU, 8 GB) to EUR 39.20 per month (18 vCPU, 96 GB) for the first 24 months, down from EUR 5.50 and EUR 49.00; the page switches between prices with and without VAT, as of 26 October 2026.
Where CreateOS Sandbox Fits Better
What CreateOS Sandbox brings to this matchup, with a plain note on where Contabo has the edge.
Per-second billing with no contract, where every Contabo plan carries at least a 1-month term.
Sandboxes are created and destroyed per task from six SDKs or the CLI, instead of ordering a server on a term.
Snapshots on pause include memory, while Contabo's cover the disk only (1 to 3 per Cloud VPS plan, kept 30 days).
Deny-by-default outbound once you add a rule, enforced on the host so code in the sandbox cannot change it.
Where Contabo is strong
Very low monthly price per vCPU and GB of RAM for always-on servers, with outgoing traffic unmetered under a fair-usage policy.
Which to Pick
Pick CreateOS Sandbox if
- Agent tasks last minutes and you want to pay only for those seconds
- You want a clean machine per task that is gone when the task ends
- You need outbound traffic limited to a list of hosts
Pick Contabo if
- You need an always-on server for hosting, a game server or a node
- You want 4 vCPU and 8 GB for EUR 4.40 a month on a server that never turns off
- You want up to 96 GB of RAM on a single VPS
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 | Contabo |
|---|---|---|
| Isolation | Firecracker micro-VM with its own guest kernel | Full VM (KVM) |
| Create and destroy by API | Yes: REST API, CLI, SDKs for TypeScript, Go, Python, Rust, C# and Java (all but TypeScript pre-1.0), and an MCP server with create, exec and destroy tools | REST API (OAuth2) and cntb CLI; plans bought on monthly terms |
| Memory snapshot (pause and resume) | Yes: pause saves disk, memory and CPU state; vCPU stops billing while paused, memory and storage still bill | No; disk snapshots only (1 to 3 per Cloud VPS plan, kept 30 days) |
| Fork | Yes: fork a paused sandbox into new, independent sandboxes | Not published |
| Outbound network controls | 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; full internet access, outgoing traffic unlimited under fair use |
| Billing granularity | Per second while running, no minimums: $0.03616363 per vCPU-hour, $0.01159025 per GiB-hour | Monthly subscription, minimum 1-month term; no hourly billing found |
| Largest size | 8 vCPU / 16 GB on Enterprise (8 / 8 Pro, 4 / 4 Beginner, 1 / 1 Free) | Cloud VPS 18: 18 vCPU, 96 GB; larger VDS and dedicated servers sold separately |
| GPU | No GPU shapes | Yes, Cloud GPU VPS product listed |
Common Questions
Can I pay for Contabo by the hour for short agent jobs?
No hourly billing was found on Contabo's pages; Cloud VPS plans are monthly subscriptions with a 1-month minimum term. CreateOS Sandbox bills per second while a sandbox runs, at $0.03616363 per vCPU-hour and $0.01159025 per GiB-hour, with no minimum or commitment.
Is Contabo cheaper than CreateOS Sandbox for an always-on server?
Yes. Contabo's Cloud VPS 4 is EUR 4.40 per month for 4 vCPU and 8 GB for the first 24 months. CreateOS lists an always-on 1 vCPU / 1 GB sandbox at $35.52 per month over 720 hours. Per-second pricing suits short runs better than month-long hosting.
Do Contabo snapshots save a server's running memory?
No memory snapshot appears in Contabo's docs; its snapshots capture the disk, with 1 to 3 per Cloud VPS plan, kept for 30 days. CreateOS pause saves disk, memory and CPU registers, and you can fork the paused sandbox into new copies.
Sources
Checked 26 October 2026.
See CreateOS Sandbox for yourself
Book a demo, or explore the Sandbox and its pricing.