CreateOS Sandbox vs Lightpanda
For high-volume crawling where pages are read as DOM or text, Lightpanda is the leaner tool; the vendor reports 9x the speed and 16x less memory than Chrome on its own 933-page test. For visual or computer-use agents, or agents that run code, CreateOS Sandbox fits better, with Chrome on a desktop in its desktop:1 image.
Pricing at a Glance
CreateOS rates verified 17 October 2026. Lightpanda 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
Lightpanda
Explorer is $0 with 10 browser hours per month, and Builder is $19/month with 300 hours then $0.08 per hour, metered per second; Enterprise is contact sales, as of 17 October 2026.
Where CreateOS Sandbox Fits Better
What CreateOS Sandbox brings to this matchup, with a plain note on where Lightpanda has the edge.
desktop:1 provides an XFCE desktop, Google Chrome and a computer-use API for agents that need to see the page.
Sessions are not cut off at 15 minutes.
The code that processes crawl results can run in the same VM, with Python, Node.js, Go and Rust in devbox:1.
Where Lightpanda is strong
vendor-stated: 9x faster and 16x less memory than Chrome on a 933-page test (5 s vs 46 s, 123 MB vs 2 GB peak), so far more sessions fit on each machine, and the engine is open source under AGPL-3.0.
Which to Pick
Pick CreateOS Sandbox if
- Your agent needs screenshots or a visible desktop.
- Connections need to last longer than 15 minutes.
- The agent also runs code on what it fetches.
Pick Lightpanda if
- You crawl at high volume and read pages as DOM or text.
- Memory per session drives your costs.
- You want to self-host an open-source engine.
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 | Lightpanda |
|---|---|---|
| What you get (browser vs full Linux machine) | Full Linux micro-VM; the desktop:1 image adds an XFCE desktop, Google Chrome and a computer-use API | Headless engine with no graphical rendering, over CDP, WebDriver BiDi or MCP |
| Isolation | Firecracker micro-VM with its own guest kernel, root filesystem and network identity | Not published |
| Session length | No lifetime cap; optional idle auto-pause from 60 s to 24 h, off by default | CDP connection closes after 15 minutes; MCP session after 5 minutes without a request |
| Run arbitrary code | Yes: exec, shell, files and managed processes; devbox:1 ships Python 3.12, Node.js 24, Go, Rust and Docker | Browser engine; arbitrary code execution not published |
| Outbound network | Open with no rules; deny-by-default once any host, IP, CIDR or wildcard rule exists, enforced on the host outside the VM | Bring-your-own proxy on Explorer and Builder; allowlist controls not published |
| Billing | Per second: $0.03616363/vCPU-hr, $0.01159025/GiB-hr, storage $0.0001584/GB-hr; no per-GB egress price, 50 GiB bandwidth budget per sandbox | Explorer $0 (10 browser hours/month); Builder $19/mo (300 hours, then $0.08/hour), metered per second |
| Pause and resume | Pause saves disk, memory and CPU state; vCPU stops billing, memory and storage still bill | Not published |
| Interfaces | SDKs in TypeScript, Go, Python, Rust, C# and Java (all but TypeScript pre-1.0), CLI, MCP server, REST API | CDP (Puppeteer, Playwright, chromedp), WebDriver BiDi, MCP server, CLI, HTTP API |
Common Questions
Can Lightpanda take screenshots?
No. Lightpanda has no graphical rendering engine, which is how it keeps memory low, so visual and computer-use agents are not its target. CreateOS's desktop:1 image runs Google Chrome on an XFCE desktop with remote desktop and computer-use APIs.
Can I self-host Lightpanda?
Yes. The engine is open source under AGPL-3.0, installs with one line or Docker, and Enterprise adds on-prem or private cloud. CreateOS self-hosting is limited to Enterprise customers and set up by the CreateOS team.
How long does a Lightpanda cloud connection last?
A CDP connection closes after 15 minutes, and an MCP session closes after 5 minutes without a request. A CreateOS sandbox has no lifetime cap and stays up until you pause or destroy it.
Sources
Checked 17 October 2026.
See CreateOS Sandbox for yourself
Book a demo, or explore the Sandbox and its pricing.