CreateOS Sandbox vs UpCloud
UpCloud is the better fit for predictable European VMs with zero-cost egress and hourly billing capped at a monthly price. CreateOS Sandbox is the better fit when an agent needs a machine for a few minutes and you would rather not pay for the starting hour. Many UpCloud plans also bill while shut down, which matters for idle agent environments.
Pricing at a Glance
CreateOS rates verified 17 October 2026. UpCloud 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
UpCloud
UpCloud lists server prices on its pricing page (linked in Sources); we could not read a current figure on 26 October 2026, and its September 2024 changelog put Developer plans at EUR 3 to EUR 35 per month, billed by the starting hour and capped at the monthly price.
Where CreateOS Sandbox Fits Better
What CreateOS Sandbox brings to this matchup, with a plain note on where UpCloud has the edge.
Billing per second, where UpCloud bills by the starting hour.
Pausing stops vCPU billing, with memory and storage still billed; UpCloud Developer and General Purpose servers bill hourly whether on or shut down.
Pause with memory and fork into copies, neither of which UpCloud publishes.
Where UpCloud is strong
Zero-cost egress on every plan under a Fair Transfer Policy, and hourly billing capped at a monthly price, from a European provider.
Which to Pick
Pick CreateOS Sandbox if
- Agent runs last minutes, not hours
- You want idle environments paused without a vCPU charge
- You want a fresh micro-VM per run with egress rules applied live
Pick UpCloud if
- You run long-lived servers that send a lot of traffic out
- You want a small European server that stays on all month
- You need up to 80 CPU and 512 GB on one server
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 | UpCloud |
|---|---|---|
| Isolation | Firecracker micro-VM with its own guest kernel | Full VM (hypervisor not published) |
| 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 | REST API, CLI and Terraform provider (not re-verified) |
| Memory snapshot (pause and resume) | Yes: pause saves disk, memory and CPU state; vCPU stops billing while paused, memory and storage still bill | Not published; disk persists |
| Fork | Yes: fork a paused sandbox into new, independent sandboxes | Not published |
| 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 published |
| Billing granularity | Per second while running, no minimums: $0.03616363 per vCPU-hour, $0.01159025 per GiB-hour | Hourly by the starting hour, capped at the monthly price (monthly / 672 hours); some plans bill while shut down |
| Largest size | 8 vCPU / 16 GB on Enterprise (8 / 8 Pro, 4 / 4 Beginner, 1 / 1 Free) | General Purpose 80 CPU / 512 GB (discontinued for new customers); Premium also to 80 CPU |
| GPU | No GPU shapes | Yes, GPU servers listed (models not captured) |
Common Questions
Does UpCloud charge for egress?
No. UpCloud offers zero-cost egress on all plans, subject to its Fair Transfer Policy. CreateOS also charges no egress fees, but each sandbox has a 50 GiB outbound budget by default and traffic past it is dropped until you recharge with credit.
Do UpCloud servers bill while shut down?
Some do. Per UpCloud's FAQ, Developer and General Purpose servers bill hourly whether powered on or shut down, while Cloud Native plans bill only when powered on. A paused CreateOS sandbox stops vCPU billing and keeps billing memory and storage.
Is UpCloud cheaper than CreateOS for a small always-on server?
Likely, for a small server that stays on: UpCloud's September 2024 changelog put a 1 CPU / 1 GB Developer plan at EUR 3 per month, while a 1 vCPU / 1 GB CreateOS sandbox running 720 hours costs $35.52. The CreateOS rate pays off when sandboxes run for minutes at a time.
Sources
Checked 26 October 2026.
See CreateOS Sandbox for yourself
Book a demo, or explore the Sandbox and its pricing.