CreateOS Sandbox vs IBM Cloud VPC
IBM Cloud VPC is built for enterprise, SAP and regulated workloads that need very large memory or current NVIDIA GPUs under IBM's support model. CreateOS Sandbox is built for agent and untrusted code in small micro-VMs that start per task, pause with memory and fork. If SAP HANA already keeps you on IBM Cloud, stay there for it; agent sandboxes are the narrower job CreateOS handles.
Pricing at a Glance
CreateOS rates verified 17 October 2026. IBM Cloud VPC 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
IBM Cloud VPC
IBM prices by profile with sustained-usage discounts and per-second metering; for example bx2-2x8 (2 vCPU, 8 GB) in us-south is about $0.1014 per hour on Linux before OS licensing, as of 17 October 2026.
Where CreateOS Sandbox Fits Better
What CreateOS Sandbox brings to this matchup, with a plain note on where IBM Cloud VPC has the edge.
Pause with memory, then fork into new sandboxes; IBM offers suspend billing for stopped instances but no memory snapshot was found.
Per-resource rates for every size, $0.03616363 per vCPU-hour and $0.01159025 per GiB-hour, instead of profile pricing.
An opt-in HTTPS URL per sandbox instead of floating IPs and security group rules.
Where IBM Cloud VPC is strong
Very large memory profiles up to 5,600 GiB and current NVIDIA GPU profiles, including H100, H200 and B300, in an enterprise cloud focused on SAP and regulated industries.
Which to Pick
Pick CreateOS Sandbox if
- You need a sandbox per agent run, not a long-lived profile
- You want paused environments you can fork
- You want a TypeScript or Python SDK built for sandbox create, exec and destroy
Pick IBM Cloud VPC if
- You run SAP HANA or need up to 5,600 GiB of memory
- You need GPUs such as L40S, H100, H200 or Intel Gaudi 3
- Your organisation already buys IBM Cloud and its support
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 | IBM Cloud VPC |
|---|---|---|
| Isolation | Firecracker micro-VM with its own guest kernel | Full VM |
| 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 | Yes: IBM Cloud CLI (vpc-infrastructure plugin), REST API, SDKs and Terraform; MCP not published |
| Memory snapshot (pause and resume) | Yes: pause saves disk, memory and CPU state; vCPU stops billing while paused, memory and storage still bill | No memory snapshot found; volumes persist and suspend billing is offered for stopped instances |
| Fork | Yes: fork a paused sandbox into new, independent sandboxes | No live fork published; volume snapshots and custom images seed new instances |
| 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 documented on the pages we read (see Sources) |
| Billing granularity | Per second while running, no minimums: $0.03616363 per vCPU-hour, $0.01159025 per GiB-hour | Hourly pricing with sustained-usage discounts, per-second metering |
| Largest size | 8 vCPU / 16 GB on Enterprise (8 / 8 Pro, 4 / 4 Beginner, 1 / 1 Free) | ux2d-200x5600: 200 vCPU, 5,600 GiB; gx4d GPU profile 232 vCPU, 3,840 GiB (select availability) |
| GPU | No GPU shapes | Yes: V100, L4, L40S, A100, H100, H200, Gaudi 3 and B300 (some select availability) |
Common Questions
What is the largest IBM Cloud VPC virtual server?
The Ultra High Memory profile ux2d-200x5600 has 200 vCPU and 5,600 GiB, and a select-availability GPU profile, gx4d-232x3840x8b300, has 232 vCPU and 3,840 GiB. CreateOS Sandbox tops out at 8 vCPU / 16 GB on Enterprise, so large-memory work belongs on IBM.
Does IBM Cloud VPC bill per second?
IBM's catalog lists hourly pricing with sustained-usage discounts and per-second metering. CreateOS bills per second while running, at the same rates on every plan, and pausing stops the vCPU charge while memory and storage keep billing.
Is IBM Cloud VPC a sandbox service for AI agent code?
Not as a product. It provides VMs with an API, and the pages checked show no sandbox SDK, memory snapshot or fork. CreateOS Sandbox wraps Firecracker micro-VMs in pause, fork, egress rules and six SDKs for that use.
Sources
Checked 26 October 2026.
See CreateOS Sandbox for yourself
Book a demo, or explore the Sandbox and its pricing.