CreateOS Sandbox vs InstaVM
Choose InstaVM if you want live clone of a running VM, shareable port URLs with custom domains, proxy secret injection and up to 100 concurrent VMs on Pro. Choose CreateOS Sandbox if you want full outbound internet or your own allowlist on every plan, published size ceilings and regions, and a lower per-vCPU rate. Both isolate code in Firecracker microVMs, so tooling and limits decide it.
Pricing at a Glance
CreateOS rates verified 17 October 2026. InstaVM 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
InstaVM
- Compute
- $0.0504 /vCPU-hr
- Memory
- See below
InstaVM charges $0.000014 per vCPU-second (about $0.05 per hour) and $0.0000045 per GB-second of RAM, with 10 GB of volumes included and then $0.0002 per GB-hour; Pro adds a $100 monthly base, as of 17 October 2026.
Where CreateOS Sandbox Fits Better
What CreateOS Sandbox brings to this matchup, with a plain note on where InstaVM has the edge.
Outbound policy is yours on every plan, Free included: leave it open or set host, IP, CIDR or wildcard rules. InstaVM's Free plan reaches only package managers and AI APIs, with allowlists from Pro.
Lower list rate for compute: $0.03616363 per vCPU-hour against InstaVM's $0.0504, and $0.01159025 per GiB-hour of RAM.
Published ceilings and regions: the largest shape is 8 vCPU / 16 GB on Enterprise, in managed regions eu and us.
Go, Rust, C# and Java SDKs next to TypeScript and Python, so non-JavaScript backends get a native client (non-TypeScript SDKs are pre-1.0).
Where InstaVM is strong
InstaVM packs a wide agent toolkit into one product: live clone of a running VM, persistent volumes that fan out read-only to many workers, proxy secret injection, public or token-protected port shares with custom domains, and a computer-use desktop, all scriptable over plain SSH.
Which to Pick
Pick CreateOS Sandbox if
- Your Free-tier agents need arbitrary outbound internet.
- You need a documented size ceiling and region before you commit.
- Your agent backend is written in Go, Rust, C# or Java.
Pick InstaVM if
- You want to clone a VM while it is running, without pausing it first.
- You need more than 30 concurrent VMs; InstaVM Pro allows 100.
- You want port shares with custom domains and access tokens built in.
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 | InstaVM |
|---|---|---|
| Isolation | Firecracker micro-VM with its own guest kernel | Firecracker microVM with a dedicated kernel, filesystem and network stack |
| Pause and resume | Saves disk, memory and CPU state; vCPU billing stops while paused, memory and storage still bill | VMs can be paused and snapshotted; session state is destroyed when the session ends |
| Fork | Fork a paused sandbox into many independent copies | Clones a running VM; OCI-built snapshots can boot many times for fan-out |
| Outbound network default | Open with no rules; deny-by-default once any host, IP, CIDR or wildcard rule exists, enforced on the host outside the VM | Deny-by-default per homepage FAQ; Free limited to package managers and AI APIs; Pro adds unrestricted or domain/CIDR allowlists |
| Inbound access | Closed by default; opt-in HTTPS URL | Port shares as public URLs or token-protected private URLs; custom domains |
| Largest size | 8 vCPU / 16 GB on Enterprise; 8 / 8 on Pro, 4 / 4 on Beginner, 1 / 1 on Free | Not published (examples show 4 vCPU / 8192 MB) |
| Concurrency | 1 / 5 / 20 / 30 by plan (Free to Enterprise); paused sandboxes count | Free 5, Pro 100, Enterprise custom |
| Session length | No cap; optional idle auto-pause from 60 s to 24 h, off by default | Lifetime set per VM at creation; default and maximum not published |
| Billing | Per second: $0.03616363 per vCPU-hour, $0.01159025 per GiB-hour, storage $0.0001584 per GB-hour; no egress fees (50 GiB bandwidth budget per sandbox) | Per second: about $0.05 per vCPU-hour, $0.0000045 per GB-second RAM; Pro $100/month base |
| SDKs and interfaces | TypeScript, Go, Python, Rust, C#, Java (all but TypeScript pre-1.0), CLI, MCP, REST | Python, TypeScript, CLI, SSH interface, REST API, webhooks |
Common Questions
Does InstaVM block outbound traffic by default?
It depends on the plan. InstaVM's homepage says egress is deny-by-default, its Free plan reaches only package managers and AI APIs, and Pro adds unrestricted egress or allowlists. Its llms.txt also mentions full network access, so confirm for your plan. CreateOS is open until you add a rule, then denies everything not listed.
Can InstaVM clone a running VM, and can CreateOS?
InstaVM can: vms.clone() copies a running VM. CreateOS forks from a paused sandbox, so you pause first and then fork the saved snapshot into independent copies, up to your plan's concurrency cap. The source sandbox stays paused and untouched.
Which costs less per vCPU-hour, InstaVM or CreateOS Sandbox?
CreateOS lists $0.03616363 per vCPU-hour; InstaVM lists $0.000014 per vCPU-second, about $0.0504 per hour. RAM is priced per GiB at CreateOS ($0.01159025 per hour) and per GB at InstaVM ($0.0000045 per second). InstaVM Pro also carries a $100 monthly base fee.
Do InstaVM and CreateOS both run on Firecracker?
Yes. InstaVM describes Firecracker microVMs with a dedicated kernel, filesystem and network stack. CreateOS runs each sandbox as a Firecracker micro-VM with its own guest kernel, root filesystem and network identity, so the isolation model is similar and other features decide the choice.
Sources
Checked 17 October 2026.
See CreateOS Sandbox for yourself
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