E2B vs Vercel Sandbox: comparing AI sandbox environments in 2026

If you are evaluating E2B and Vercel Sandbox for AI agent workloads, the differences in session length, runtime flexibility, region availability, and BYOC support matter more than they might initially appear.

This article breaks down both platforms on the dimensions that tend to drive infrastructure decisions at scale.

E2B is an open-source sandbox platform built for running AI-generated code in isolated environments. Each sandbox runs inside a Firecracker microVM, giving workloads VM-level isolation with low overhead. E2B is LLM-agnostic and works with OpenAI, Anthropic, Mistral, Llama, and others via Python and JavaScript/TypeScript SDKs.

The platform targets a broad set of AI use cases: coding agents, data analysis, reinforcement learning, computer use agents, and vibe coding workflows. E2B also provides an MCP gateway, letting agents interact with external services from inside the sandbox. Custom sandbox templates let you pre-install packages and configure environments for specific workloads.

Vercel Sandbox is a compute primitive designed to run untrusted or user-generated code in isolated, ephemeral Linux VMs. Like E2B, it uses Firecracker microVMs for isolation. Sandboxes run on Amazon Linux 2023 with Node.js (node24, node22) and Python (python3.13) runtimes available by default.

Vercel Sandbox is built to sit inside the Vercel ecosystem. Authentication uses Vercel OIDC tokens by default, which are generated automatically for Vercel-hosted projects. The SDK supports TypeScript and Python. Persistent sandboxes are available as a beta feature. The platform is currently limited to the iad1 (US East) region.

The table below compares E2B and Vercel Sandbox across isolation, session limits, BYOC, GPU support, and pricing, with Northflank included as an option for teams whose requirements extend beyond what either platform covers.

E2B and Northflank both bill per second of a running sandbox. Vercel Sandbox bills on active CPU time only (time spent waiting on I/O such as network requests, database calls, and model API responses does not count toward CPU billing), though memory is billed as provisioned regardless.

To make the per-unit pricing difference concrete, here is what 200 sandboxes costs across providers under the same conditions.

Based on 200 sandboxes, plan: nf-compute-100-4, infra node: m7i.2xlarge. Pricing as of April 2026.

*Through Northflank's BYOC plans, there is a default overcommit (request modifier) that allows you to run more sandboxes on the same hardware. A request modifier of 0.2 means each sandbox requests 20% of its plan's resources as a guaranteed minimum but can burst to the full plan limit if capacity is available. Instead of fitting 8 sandboxes per node, you could fit 40, reducing both infrastructure cost and the Northflank management fee.

Verify current rates on each platform's pricing page before making cost decisions.

Both platforms share the same underlying isolation primitive (Firecracker microVMs) but diverge quickly on configuration, runtime support, and what sits around the sandbox itself.

Both E2B and Vercel Sandbox run workloads inside Firecracker microVMs. Firecracker is an open-source VMM developed by AWS that boots lightweight VMs with a minimal device model, reducing attack surface compared to traditional VMs. Each sandbox gets its own kernel, which limits the impact of container escape vulnerabilities to that individual workload rather than the host or neighbouring tenants.

Northflank supports Firecracker alongside Kata Containers and gVisor, applied per workload depending on isolation requirements. See these guides on what is AWS Firecracker and Firecracker vs gVisor for how Firecracker compares to other isolation primitives in detail.

E2B supports sandbox sessions of up to 1 hour on the Hobby plan and up to 24 hours on the Pro plan. Concurrency runs from 20 on Hobby up to 1,100 on Pro with an add-on purchase. Sandboxes can pause and resume, with state preserved indefinitely via snapshots.

Vercel Sandbox caps sessions at 45 minutes on Hobby and 5 hours on Pro and Enterprise plans. Concurrency is 10 on Hobby and up to 2,000 on Pro and Enterprise. Persistent sandboxes (which auto-save state on stop and resume where they left off) are available in beta.

Session length is worth factoring in early if your workload involves long-running agents, multi-step pipelines, or background tasks. Northflank sandboxes have no platform-imposed session time limit. For more on how session lifecycle affects agent architecture, see ephemeral execution environments for AI agents.

E2B supports any language that runs on Linux. You can build custom sandbox templates to pre-install specific packages, runtimes, or system libraries. This makes it flexible for Python-heavy data workflows, JavaScript runtimes, or more unusual stacks like Ruby or C++.

Vercel Sandbox ships with a fixed set of runtimes: node24, node22, and python3.13, running on Amazon Linux 2023. You can install additional packages at runtime, but the base OS and available runtimes are more constrained than E2B's template system.

BYOC (deploying sandbox infrastructure inside your own cloud account or VPC) is relevant for teams with data residency requirements, security policies, or existing cloud spend they want to use.

E2B offers BYOC for enterprise customers on AWS and GCP only. It is not self-serve and requires contacting the E2B team to onboard. Pricing is not publicly disclosed.

Vercel Sandbox has no BYOC option. Sandboxes run on Vercel's managed infrastructure in the iad1 region only.

Northflank supports bring-your-own-cloud (BYOC) on a self-serve basis across AWS, GCP, Azure, Oracle, CoreWeave, Civo, bare-metal, and on-premises. Pricing is listed on the pricing page: CPU at $0.01389/vCPU-hr and memory at $0.00139/GB-hr, on top of your existing cloud bill.

Northflank also supports a request modifier (overcommit) on BYOC plans. A modifier of 0.2 means each sandbox requests 20% of its plan's resources as a guaranteed minimum but can burst to the full plan limit if capacity is available on the node. See the deploy sandboxes in your cloud documentation for setup details.

Neither E2B nor Vercel Sandbox provides GPU compute. If your AI workloads require inference, training, or compute-intensive agent tasks alongside sandboxed code execution, you would need to manage GPU infrastructure separately.

Northflank supports on-demand GPUs without quota requests: NVIDIA L4 at $0.80/hr, A100 40GB at $1.42/hr, A100 80GB at $1.76/hr, H100 at $2.74/hr, and H200 at $3.14/hr. GPU workloads run on the same platform as sandboxes, APIs, workers, and databases.

E2B operates across multiple regions. Vercel Sandbox currently runs in iad1 (US East) only. This is a meaningful constraint if your users or your agent infrastructure are based in Europe or Asia. Latency for sandbox interactions from outside the US will reflect that single-region deployment.

Northflank's managed cloud covers US West, US Central, US East, EU West, and Asia East. BYOC extends this to 600 BYOC regions via supported cloud providers and bare-metal deployments.

E2B provides Python and JavaScript/TypeScript SDKs, a CLI, SSH access, and an MCP gateway for connecting sandboxes to external services. The codebase is open-source, which is relevant for teams that want to audit, fork, or contribute to the platform.

Vercel Sandbox provides TypeScript and Python SDKs alongside a CLI. Authentication integrates with Vercel's OIDC token system, which is generated automatically for Vercel-hosted projects. For external environments, access tokens are available as an alternative.

Northflank provides API, CLI, SSH, and UI access, with GitOps support for infrastructure-as-code workflows. The create sandbox with SDK documentation covers programmatic sandbox provisioning and lifecycle management.

E2B supports LLM-agnostic, open-source workflows and sessions of up to 24 hours on the Pro plan. If your stack goes beyond Node.js and Python, the custom template system lets you pre-install packages and configure the base environment for your specific runtime. The MCP gateway supports agent workflows that need to interact with external services from inside the sandbox.

See also: best alternatives to E2B for running untrusted code and the Daytona vs E2B comparison.

Vercel Sandbox is a fit for teams already on the Vercel platform whose workloads run within the supported runtimes (node24, node22, python3.13) and the 5-hour session limit. Authentication via Vercel OIDC tokens works automatically for Vercel-hosted projects. The active CPU billing model means idle I/O time is not billed.

The single-region constraint (iad1) and the absence of bring-your-own-cloud (BYOC) are the trade-offs to factor in. See top Vercel Sandbox alternatives for a broader comparison.

Northflank covers sandbox execution as part of a broader workload platform that also runs APIs, background workers, databases, GPU inference, and CI/CD pipelines.

Key differences from E2B and Vercel Sandbox:

• Isolation stack: Northflank supports Kata Containers, Firecracker, and gVisor applied per workload. See Kata Containers vs Firecracker vs gVisor for a technical breakdown of the trade-offs.
• Bring-your-own-cloud (BYOC): Self-serve across AWS, GCP, Azure, Oracle, Civo, CoreWeave, and bare-metal. See self-hosted AI sandboxes and top BYOC AI sandboxes for more on deployment models.
• Session limits: Northflank sandboxes have no platform-imposed session time limit. Sandboxes can be ephemeral or persistent.
• GPU support: On-demand GPUs, including L4, A100, H100, and H200, and more, running on the same platform as sandboxes.

Both use Firecracker microVMs for sandbox isolation. E2B is LLM-agnostic and open-source, with broader language support via custom templates and sessions of up to 24 hours on the Pro plan. Vercel Sandbox supports Node.js and Python runtimes, sessions of up to 5 hours on Pro, and is currently available in the iad1 region only. Northflank supports a broader isolation stack (Kata Containers, Firecracker, and gVisor), self-serve BYOC, GPU workloads, and no platform-imposed session time limit.

Vercel Sandbox runs on Vercel's managed infrastructure in the iad1 region only and does not currently offer a BYOC deployment option.

No. E2B does not provide GPU compute. However, Northflank supports on-demand GPU workloads including L4, A100, H100, and H200 on the same platform as sandboxes.

Vercel Sandbox bills on active CPU time (time spent on I/O does not count), provisioned memory, network egress, sandbox creations, and snapshot storage. The Pro plan includes a $20/month credit, after which usage is billed at list rates: $0.128/vCPU-hr for active CPU and $0.0212/GB-hr for provisioned memory.

E2B supports sessions of up to 24 hours on the Pro plan. Vercel Sandbox supports sessions of up to 5 hours on Pro and Enterprise plans. Northflank sandboxes have no platform-imposed session time limit.

E2B offers bring-your-own-cloud (BYOC) for enterprise customers on AWS and GCP only. It is not self-serve and requires contacting the E2B team.