CreateOS Sandbox vs Depot
Depot is the better pick if slow Docker builds or CI are your bottleneck, or if you want Claude Code sessions to run in the cloud with their context kept between sessions. CreateOS Sandbox is the better pick for a general sandbox API today: any agent, six SDK languages, pause and fork, and egress allowlists enforced outside the VM. Depot's microVM Sandbox SDK is still in private beta and TypeScript-only.
Depot's microVM Sandbox SDK is in private beta; its remote agent sandboxes, which support Claude Code only, are available now.
Pricing at a Glance
CreateOS rates verified 17 October 2026. Depot 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
Depot
- Compute
- $0.1800 /vCPU-hr
- Memory
- See below
Depot plans are Developer $20/month and Startup $200/month; agent sandboxes cost $0.01/min with no included usage, Depot CI costs $0.00005 per vCPU-second, and Docker builds $0.04/min past the included minutes, as of 17 October 2026.
Where CreateOS Sandbox Fits Better
What CreateOS Sandbox brings to this matchup, with a plain note on where Depot has the edge.
Works with any agent: devbox:1 has OpenCode, Claude Code, Pi, Cursor CLI and Codex on PATH. Depot agent sandboxes support Claude Code only.
Documented egress: open until you add a rule, then deny-by-default, enforced on the host. Depot does not publish egress controls.
Snapshots now: pause keeps disk, memory and CPU state, and fork copies it. Depot lists snapshots for its Sandbox SDK as coming.
SDKs in TypeScript, Go, Python, Rust, C# and Java (all but TypeScript pre-1.0); Depot's Sandbox SDK is TypeScript-only.
Where Depot is strong
Very fast builds with persistent caching and a per-second, per-vCPU CI price that is easy to predict. It already runs persistent, resumable Claude Code sandboxes that keep files and conversation context.
Which to Pick
Pick CreateOS Sandbox if
- You run agents other than Claude Code, or your own agent
- You need egress allowlists on every sandbox
- You want SDKs in Python, Go, Rust, C# or Java
Pick Depot if
- Slow Docker builds or CI are your main problem
- You use Claude Code and want sessions in the cloud with context kept
- You want unlimited concurrency on every plan
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 | Depot |
|---|---|---|
| Isolation | Firecracker micro-VM with its own guest kernel | Agent sessions: isolated container per session. Sandbox SDK (private beta): microVMs with pinned CPU cores and dedicated RAM |
| Pause and resume | Yes. Saves disk, memory and CPU state; vCPU stops billing while paused, memory and storage still bill | Agent sandboxes: filesystem and conversation context persist and can be resumed. Sandbox SDK snapshots listed as coming |
| Fork | Yes, from a paused sandbox into many independent copies | Agent sessions can start from an existing sandbox (--resume with --session-id); details not documented |
| Outbound network default | Open with no rules; deny-by-default once any rule exists (host, IP, CIDR, wildcard), enforced on the host outside the VM | Not published |
| Inbound access | Closed by default; opt-in public HTTPS URL | Sandbox SDK example returns a URL for a service in the sandbox; mechanism not documented |
| Largest size | 8 vCPU / 16 GB on Enterprise (8 / 8 on Pro, 4 / 4 on Beginner, 1 / 1 on Free) | Agent sandboxes default 2 vCPU / 4 GB; CI runners up to 64 vCPU / 256 GB |
| Concurrency | 1 / 5 / 20 / 30 by plan; paused sandboxes count | Unlimited on all plans |
| Session length | No cap; optional idle auto-pause from 60 s to 24 h, off by default | Sandbox SDK default timeout 2 hours, extendable; agent session limits not published |
| Billing | Per second: $0.03616363/vCPU-hr, $0.01159025/GiB-hr, storage $0.0001584/GB-hr; no egress fees (50 GiB bandwidth budget per sandbox by default) | Agent sandboxes $0.01/min; Depot CI $0.00005 per vCPU-second; plans from $20/month |
| SDKs and interfaces | TypeScript, Go, Python, Rust, C#, Java (all but TypeScript pre-1.0), CLI, MCP, REST | Depot CLI (depot claude), TypeScript Sandbox SDK (private beta), API, GitHub Actions runner labels |
Common Questions
Which coding agents can run in Depot's agent sandboxes?
Claude Code only, for now, launched with depot claude. CreateOS sandboxes are agent-neutral: the devbox:1 image puts OpenCode, Claude Code, Pi, Cursor CLI and Codex on PATH, and you can install other agents yourself.
Is Depot's Sandbox SDK generally available?
No. Depot describes the microVM Sandbox SDK as private beta and TypeScript-only, with a default 2-hour timeout and snapshots and persistent disks listed as coming. CreateOS Sandbox already offers pause, resume and fork through its REST API and CLI.
How do Depot and CreateOS price an agent session?
Depot agent sandboxes cost $0.01 per minute with no included usage, on top of a plan from $20 a month. A 1 vCPU / 1 GB CreateOS sandbox costs about $0.016 for 20 minutes, including 10 GB of storage, billed per second.
Does Depot offer GPUs?
Depot lists GPU builds on its Business plan but does not publish the specifics. CreateOS Sandbox offers no GPU shapes at all, so neither is a GPU sandbox you can size from public docs.
Sources
Checked 17 October 2026.
See CreateOS Sandbox for yourself
Book a demo, or explore the Sandbox and its pricing.