CreateOS Sandbox vs Expo
Expo is the right choice for React Native teams: cloud builds with managed signing, over-the-air updates and store submission from one CLI. CreateOS Sandbox is the right choice for running arbitrary commands from an agent in a Linux micro-VM, priced per second. EAS Build runs mobile builds only, so the overlap is small.
Pricing at a Glance
CreateOS rates verified 17 October 2026. Expo 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
Expo
Expo Free covers up to 15 Android and 15 iOS builds; Starter is $19/month and Production $199/month plus usage, builds cost $1 to $2 on Android and $2 to $4 on iOS, and EAS Hosting charges $2 per million requests past the included amount, as of 17 October 2026.
Where CreateOS Sandbox Fits Better
What CreateOS Sandbox brings to this matchup, with a plain note on where Expo has the edge.
Runs any command you send, not only a mobile build; EAS Build has no API for arbitrary commands.
Interactive and persistent: a sandbox can stay up well past 2 hours, pause and resume.
Where Expo is strong
End-to-end React Native delivery: cloud builds with managed signing, over-the-air updates and store submission, all from one CLI.
Which to Pick
Pick CreateOS Sandbox if
- Your agent runs general shell commands or tests
- You want per-second billing instead of per build
- You need an interactive environment with a shell
Pick Expo if
- You build React Native or Expo apps
- You want over-the-air updates and store submission
- You need iOS builds on macOS VMs
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 | Expo |
|---|---|---|
| Built for | API-created sandboxes for agent-written and untrusted code | Building, updating and hosting React Native apps (EAS) |
| Isolation | Firecracker micro-VM with its own guest kernel | Full VM per build: Android on Google Cloud, iOS on fresh macOS VMs on Mac mini hosts |
| Trigger model | API, SDK, CLI or MCP call, on demand | EAS CLI and eas.json; GraphQL API |
| Session length | No cap; optional idle auto-pause from 60 s to 24 h, off by default | 45 minutes (Free), 2 hours (paid plans) |
| Pause and resume | Yes. Saves disk, memory and CPU state; vCPU stops billing while paused, memory and storage still bill | Not published; each build gets a fresh VM |
| Outbound network | Open with no rules; deny-by-default once any rule exists (host, IP, CIDR, wildcard), enforced on the host outside the VM | Not published; build worker IPs 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) | Per build plus a monthly plan with build credit |
Common Questions
Can EAS Build run arbitrary commands?
Not as a general service. EAS Build runs mobile app builds, priced per build and capped at 2 hours on paid plans, with no API for arbitrary commands or interactive environments. A CreateOS sandbox accepts any exec call over REST, the CLI or an SDK.
Does Expo host web apps?
Yes. EAS Hosting serves deployed web apps and API routes, with 100,000 requests and 1,000,000 CPU-ms included, then $2 per million requests and $0.04 per million CPU-ms. CreateOS sandboxes can expose an opt-in HTTPS URL, but they are execution environments rather than a hosting product.
How many Expo builds can run at once?
Free and Starter allow 5 concurrent builds (1 and 2 on macOS), Production 15 (10 on macOS) and Enterprise 20 (15 on macOS); extra macOS concurrency is $50 each. CreateOS allows 1, 5, 20 or 30 concurrent sandboxes by plan.
Sources
Checked 17 October 2026.
See CreateOS Sandbox for yourself
Book a demo, or explore the Sandbox and its pricing.