Best BYOC sandbox platforms in 2026

Most teams start with a managed sandbox and hit the BYOC requirement later. The trigger is usually one of a few things: your agent needs to access an internal API that cannot be exposed to a third-party network, your security team flags that customer data is leaving the VPC, or a compliance audit surfaces that code execution is happening outside your infrastructure boundary. When that happens, a managed sandbox stops being an option. Most sandbox tools are managed-only by design, and among the handful that do support running execution inside customer infrastructure, the depth of support varies considerably. Some limit it to one cloud provider. Some require enterprise sales. Some make you operate the compute layer yourself.

Not all BYOC implementations are equal. These are the dimensions that matter when execution must run inside your own infrastructure.

• Deployment breadth. Does BYOC cover only one cloud provider or multiple? Single-cloud BYOC locks you into one vendor's infrastructure. Broader support across AWS, GCP, Azure, and on-premises gives you flexibility as your infrastructure evolves.
• Access model. Is BYOC gated behind enterprise sales, or can you set it up self-serve? Platforms that require a sales conversation to unlock BYOC add friction and delay, especially for teams that need to move quickly.
• Operational responsibility. Who manages what in BYOC mode? Some platforms hand you the full infrastructure layer to operate yourself. Others, like Northflank, handle orchestration, autoscaling, and microVM provisioning inside your infrastructure while you retain ownership of the compute. That distinction affects how much engineering time BYOC actually costs your team.
• Isolation model. Container-based isolation is weaker than microVM isolation regardless of where it runs. In BYOC mode you want the same isolation guarantees you would expect from a managed deployment: dedicated kernels per workload, no shared host kernel between tenants.
• Full-stack scope. A sandbox that runs inside your VPC but cannot run alongside your databases, APIs, or GPU workloads means you still need additional vendors. Platforms that handle the full stack in BYOC mode reduce operational surface area as your requirements grow.
• Compliance coverage. SOC 2, HIPAA, FedRAMP, and data residency requirements all influence which platforms are viable. Verify certifications and whether BYOC deployment satisfies your specific compliance framework before committing.

Northflank is a full-stack cloud platform with production-ready BYOC support across the broadest range of infrastructure targets available from any sandbox platform. You deploy into your own AWS, GCP, Azure, Oracle, CoreWeave, Civo, on-premises, or bare-metal environment, and Northflank manages orchestration, scheduling, autoscaling, and microVM provisioning while your data never leaves your VPC. BYOC is available self-serve with no enterprise sales process required.

What sets Northflank apart from every other option here is that BYOC is not a narrow feature. It is the same platform, running inside your infrastructure. Sandboxes run alongside databases, APIs, background workers, and GPU workloads in the same control plane. Isolation uses Kata Containers with Cloud Hypervisor, Firecracker, and gVisor applied per workload. Sessions run indefinitely with no platform-imposed time limits. Any OCI-compliant image from any registry works without modification.

Key features:

• Self-serve BYOC: Deploy into AWS, GCP, Azure, Oracle, CoreWeave, Civo, on-premises, or bare-metal. No enterprise sales required. Available to any team on the platform.
• Full orchestration inside your VPC: Northflank handles scheduling, autoscaling, bin-packing, and microVM lifecycle management. You own the compute; Northflank operates it.
• Isolation options: Kata Containers with Cloud Hypervisor, Firecracker, and gVisor applied per workload. Every sandbox runs in its own microVM with true multi-tenant isolation.
• No session limits: Sandboxes run for seconds or weeks with no platform-imposed cutoff. Ephemeral and persistent environments supported in the same control plane.
• Full-stack scope: Run databases (Postgres, MySQL, MongoDB, Redis), persistent volumes, S3-compatible storage, background jobs, and GPU workloads alongside your sandboxes.
• GitOps-compatible: Sandbox environment templates version-controlled and synced bidirectionally with a Git repository.
• SOC 2 Type 2 certified: Relevant for regulated industries and government deployments.

cto.new migrated their entire sandbox infrastructure to Northflank in two days after EC2 metal instances made scaling costs unpredictable, going from unworkable provisioning to thousands of daily deployments with linear, per-second billing.

Best for: Teams with compliance, data residency, or network boundary requirements. Enterprise teams building multi-tenant agent infrastructure inside their own VPC. Platform engineering teams that need BYOC without going through enterprise sales.

Pricing: $0.01667/vCPU-hour, $0.00833/GB-hour, H100 GPU at $2.74/hour all-inclusive. BYOC deployments bill against your own cloud account.

E2B offers a BYOC deployment option that runs sandboxes inside your own AWS VPC, with E2B managing the control plane. It is the only other platform on this list with any BYOC capability. Sandboxes use Firecracker microVM isolation with boot times under 200ms, and the Python and TypeScript SDKs integrate cleanly with LangChain, OpenAI, and Anthropic tooling.

The constraints are significant. BYOC is limited to AWS only and is available exclusively to enterprise customers. In BYOC mode, the customer manages the VPC, AWS account, and compute nodes, including orchestrators and edge controllers. E2B manages the control plane. That operational responsibility sits with your team, not the vendor.

Best for: Enterprise teams on AWS that need sandbox execution inside their VPC and are comfortable managing compute nodes themselves.

Pricing: Enterprise custom pricing for BYOC. Managed tiers: Hobby free with $100 credit and 20 concurrent sandboxes. Pro at $150/month with 100 concurrent sandboxes and 24-hour sessions.

Daytona supports customer-managed compute where sandboxes run on your own cloud or on-premises infrastructure, with Daytona providing the control plane. You create custom regions and runners in your environment, and Daytona connects them to its control plane via a provisioned token.

The tradeoff is operational responsibility. You own and operate the full infrastructure layer, including compute nodes, scaling, and networking. Daytona does not manage orchestration inside your environment the way Northflank does. Isolation defaults to Docker containers in all deployment modes, which is weaker than microVM isolation for genuinely untrusted code.

Best for: Teams that want sandbox execution inside their own infrastructure and have the engineering capacity to operate the compute layer themselves.

Pricing: Usage-based with $200 free credits.

If BYOC is the hard requirement, the decision is between Northflank and E2B. Northflank is self-serve, covers eight infrastructure targets, and runs the full stack inside your VPC. E2B is AWS only, enterprise only, and puts compute management on your team. Daytona is an option if you have the engineering capacity to operate the infrastructure yourself, but the operational model is closer to self-hosting than managed BYOC.

BYOC means the execution plane runs inside infrastructure you control, such as your own cloud account or VPC, while the platform handles orchestration, lifecycle management, and APIs. Your code runs on your compute, not the vendor's.

Self-hosting means you operate the full runtime stack yourself, including the control plane. BYOC separates responsibilities: execution runs in your infrastructure while the vendor manages orchestration. Northflank extends this to on-premises and air-gapped environments, which is relevant for regulated industries and government deployments.

Building a BYOC execution model is significantly more complex than a single managed cloud offering. It requires the vendor to support multiple cloud providers, manage orchestration across customer-controlled infrastructure, and handle networking configurations they do not control. Most sandbox platforms prioritize a simpler managed offering and add BYOC only for enterprise customers, if at all.

AWS, GCP, Azure, Oracle Cloud, CoreWeave, Civo, on-premises, and bare-metal. It is available self-serve to any team on the platform, with no enterprise sales process required.

No. E2B's BYOC option is limited to AWS and is only available to enterprise customers. In BYOC mode, the customer manages the VPC, compute nodes, and AWS account. E2B manages the control plane.

Yes. Northflank runs databases including Postgres, MySQL, MongoDB, and Redis in the same control plane as your sandboxes, whether on managed infrastructure or inside your own VPC via BYOC.

BYOC is not a feature most teams need on day one. It becomes the requirement when your agent workloads interact with private systems, when compliance surfaces as a constraint, or when the economics of managed sandboxing break down at scale. The earlier you understand which platforms actually support it, the less painful that transition becomes.

Northflank is the only platform here with production-ready, self-serve BYOC that covers multiple cloud providers, handles orchestration inside your infrastructure, and runs the full stack alongside your sandboxes. E2B is the only other option, limited to AWS enterprise customers. Daytona is an option if you can operate the infrastructure yourself.

If you want to go deeper on the topics covered in this guide, these articles are a good next step.

• Self-hosted AI sandboxes: guide to secure code execution: Covers how self-hosted and BYOC sandbox approaches differ operationally, and when each makes sense for regulated or compliance-sensitive workloads.
• How to sandbox AI agents: microVMs, gVisor, and isolation strategies: Technical deep-dive into isolation technologies including Firecracker, Kata Containers, and gVisor, and how to choose between them based on your threat model.