Sanbox vs Daytona (2026)

Daytona is a broad sandbox platform: Linux containers by default, plus Linux VM, Windows, macOS and GPU sandboxes, five SDKs, per-second pricing and US or EU regions. Sanbox is narrower. It gives each agent a persistent Computer, a Firecracker microVM that stays on until you stop it, with an agent or Docker already set up, run in EU data centres for a flat monthly fee. Choose Daytona for GPUs, Windows, macOS, many SDK languages or large fleets of short-lived sandboxes. Choose Sanbox for long-lived agents with deny-by-default egress and an EU contract.

How do Daytona and Sanbox compare?

Daytona facts were checked on daytona.io and its docs on 2026-11-06.

What happens when a sandbox goes idle?

Daytona sandboxes persist by default: stopping one keeps its identity, filesystem and configuration. Container and GPU sandboxes default to auto-stop after 15 minutes of inactivity, and Linux VM sandboxes default to auto-pause after 60 minutes. A pause keeps memory, so processes pick up where they left off. Stopped container sandboxes move to object storage after 7 days, which frees disk quota. Stopped, paused and archived sandboxes are kept until you delete them. You can also mark a sandbox ephemeral so it is deleted when it stops. GPU sandboxes are deleted on stop.

Sanbox doesn't stop a Computer for being idle. OpenCode and Hermes Computers stay active until you stop them, so a dev server, a watcher or a long build keeps running. When you do stop one, Sanbox saves the disk (/workspace and installed packages) and drops RAM and processes. Resume boots fresh with that disk.

If you want an agent that wakes with its memory intact, Daytona's VM pause does that and Sanbox doesn't. If you want an agent that never went to sleep, Sanbox does that without tuning intervals.

How do snapshots, forks and warm pools compare?

Both platforms have all three, with different scope.

• Daytona snapshots are templates built from an OCI image, a Dockerfile or an existing sandbox. VM sandboxes can take hot snapshots that include memory. Forks copy a VM sandbox's filesystem and memory into a new sandbox. Warm pools keep pre-created sandboxes ready.
• Sanbox snapshots are named copies of a stopped Computer. A fork copies a stopped OpenCode, Hermes or Docker Computer into an independent run that keeps /workspace and installed packages but boots fresh. Warm pools keep up to 5 ready runs, and snapshot templates start every run as a copy of one snapshot, so you can promote or roll back.

sanbox snapshots create --run <stopped-run-id> --name base-env
sanbox pools create --snapshot base-env --name base-pool --size 2
sanbox run --snapshot base-env --json

How do network controls compare?

Daytona ties network access to account tiers. Tier 1 and 2 organisations have restricted access that can't be changed per sandbox, though essential services such as GitHub, npm and PyPI stay reachable. Tier 3 and 4 have full internet by default. You can set a CIDR allow list of up to 10 entries, a domain allow list of up to 100, or block all outbound traffic.

Sanbox denies egress on every template until you allow destinations by host and port, and a blocked request names the host. Secret Proxies attach stored credentials to matching HTTPS requests outside the Computer, so the agent never sees them. Inbound access is off by default. Port connections reach HTTP and SSE services through an authenticated URL, and nothing becomes public.

Can I run Daytona on my own infrastructure?

Daytona's pricing page lists bring-your-own-cloud under Enterprise, and its regions page offers custom regions on compute you provide. Ask Daytona about self-hosting options.

Where Daytona is stronger

• GPUs, Windows and macOS. Daytona offers GPU sandboxes (preemptible from about $0.57 an hour), Windows VMs and macOS sandboxes on Apple silicon. Sanbox has none of these.
• Memory-preserving pause and fork on Linux VM and Windows sandboxes.
• Five SDK languages, an MCP server, VNC access and guides for OpenCode and other agents.
• Per-second pricing with the first 5 GiB of storage free, plus $200 of free compute and a startup programme. Sanbox has no free tier.
• Archiving idle containers to object storage frees quota for large fleets.
• Region choice, including dedicated regions and custom regions on your own machines.

Where Sanbox is stronger

• Always-on by default. No auto-stop interval to tune for agents that should keep running.
• Ready-made agent Computers: OpenCode as a private server, a Browser Computer with live view and takeover, Hermes with email and Telegram, and Docker Engine with Compose.
• Deny-by-default egress on every plan, plus Secret Proxies for keys the agent never sees.
• An EU company and EU data centres, with an Article 28 DPA under German law.
• A flat monthly price for agents that run all day.

When not to use Sanbox

• You need GPUs, Windows or macOS.
• You need memory and processes to survive a pause.
• You want SDKs in Ruby, Go or Java.
• You run large numbers of short sandboxes and want per-second billing.
• You need static egress IPs, a VPN, or WebSockets into the machine.
• You need large disks self-serve. Computers take 1 to 8 GB, and larger disks are enabled on request.

For a business use case, talk to us. Our forward-deployed engineers can build it with you.

Related

• Sanbox vs E2B
• Best EU-hosted sandboxes for AI agents in 2026
• Container, microVM or VM: which isolation for coding agents?
• How do I make agent computers start instantly?
• How do I restrict which domains an AI agent can reach?

Sources

• Daytona, Sandboxes (types, defaults, lifecycle, feature table) and Persistence (auto-stop, auto-pause, archive, retention), checked 2026-11-06
• Daytona, Snapshots, Network limits and Regions, checked 2026-11-06
• Daytona, Documentation home (SDK languages, CLI, web terminal, SSH, VNC) and OpenCode guides, checked 2026-11-06
• Daytona, Pricing (compute, storage, GPU and Windows rates, free credit, BYOC), checked 2026-11-06
• Daytona, Terms of service and DPA, checked 2026-11-06