CreateOS Sandbox vs Upstash Box
Pick Upstash Box if you run many mostly-idle coding agents in the US and want to pay only for active CPU, with Claude Code, Codex, git-to-PR and a headless browser built in. Pick CreateOS Sandbox if you need micro-VM isolation, a pause that keeps running processes, an EU region or custom images.
Pricing at a Glance
CreateOS rates verified 17 October 2026. Upstash Box 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
Upstash Box
Upstash Box pay-as-you-go charges $0.10, $0.20 or $0.40 per active CPU hour for Small, Medium or Large boxes, with memory free and storage at $0.10 per GB-month, or $8 to $32 per box per month on Keep Alive, as of 17 October 2026.
Where CreateOS Sandbox Fits Better
What CreateOS Sandbox brings to this matchup, with a plain note on where Upstash Box has the edge.
Each sandbox is a Firecracker micro-VM with its own kernel; Upstash Box runs each box in an isolated container.
Pause keeps memory and running processes; Upstash boxes stop running processes when they pause.
Two regions, eu and us; Upstash Box runs in AWS us-east-1 only.
Custom images built from a Dockerfile through templates; Upstash lists custom Docker images as coming soon.
Where Upstash Box is strong
Upstash Box bills only for CPU a box actually uses and leaves memory free, so agents that mostly wait on a model cost very little. Coding agents, git-to-PR, a headless browser and schedules come built in, with integrations for the Vercel AI SDK, LangChain and others.
Which to Pick
Pick CreateOS Sandbox if
- You run untrusted code and want a separate kernel per sandbox.
- You need sandboxes running in the EU.
- You build your own image from a Dockerfile.
Pick Upstash Box if
- Your agents spend most of their time waiting on a model.
- You want Claude Code or Codex and git-to-PR workflows ready in every box.
- You want a fixed $8 to $32 monthly price for always-on boxes.
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 | Upstash Box |
|---|---|---|
| Isolation | Firecracker micro-VM with its own guest kernel | Isolated container with its own filesystem, process tree and network stack (vendor-stated) |
| Pause and resume | Saves disk, memory and CPU state; vCPU billing stops, memory and storage still bill | Auto-pause when idle; filesystem persists, running processes stop |
| Fork | Forks a paused sandbox into many independent copies | Snapshot a box, then start any number of boxes from it; memory not stated |
| 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 | Open; deny-all, or custom domain and CIDR rules; private ranges and metadata always blocked |
| Inbound access | Closed by default; opt-in HTTPS URL | Public URL per port, optional auth; not on ephemeral boxes |
| Largest size | 8 vCPU / 16 GB on Enterprise; 8 vCPU / 8 GB on Pro | 8 vCPU / 16 GB / 20 GB disk |
| Concurrency | 1 / 5 / 20 / 30 by plan (Free to Enterprise); paused sandboxes count | 10 on Free; 1,000 by default on paid plans |
| Session length | No cap; optional idle auto-pause from 60 s to 24 h, off by default | Idle pause after 1 hour on Free, 6 hours on pay-as-you-go; Keep Alive never pauses |
| Billing | Per second: $0.03616363/vCPU-hr, $0.01159025/GiB-hr, $0.0001584/GB-hr storage; no egress fees, 50 GiB bandwidth budget per sandbox | $0.10 / $0.20 / $0.40 per active CPU hour by size; memory free; or $8 to $32 per box per month |
| SDKs and interfaces | TypeScript, Go, Python, Rust, C#, Java (all but TypeScript pre-1.0), CLI, MCP, REST | TypeScript and Python SDK, Box CLI, remote MCP server |
Common Questions
Does Upstash Box charge for memory?
No. On pay-as-you-go, Upstash Box charges per active CPU hour by box size, from $0.10 for Small up to $0.40 for Large, and memory is free; storage is $0.10 per GB-month. CreateOS Sandbox bills memory at $0.01159025 per GiB-hour, including while paused.
What happens to running processes when an Upstash box pauses?
They stop. Upstash keeps the filesystem and environment and wakes the box on the next request. CreateOS Sandbox pause snapshots memory and CPU state too, so processes continue after resume, though external network connections should be reconnected.
Where does Upstash Box run?
In AWS us-east-1 only, with more regions planned according to Upstash. CreateOS Sandbox offers two managed regions, eu and us, picked at create time, which matters when users or data need to stay in Europe.
Is Upstash Box isolation a VM or a container?
A container. Upstash says each box is an isolated container with its own filesystem, process tree and network stack, and does not name the runtime. CreateOS Sandbox runs each sandbox in a Firecracker micro-VM with its own guest kernel.
Sources
Checked 17 October 2026.
See CreateOS Sandbox for yourself
Book a demo, or explore the Sandbox and its pricing.