Sandbox guide

Provider · checked 2026-10-28

Blaxel

MicroVM sandboxes billed by allocated RAM, now part of Baseten.

blaxel.ai12 providersSources linked

Blaxel runs sandboxes as microVMs for agent workloads, alongside agent hosting, MCP servers, batch jobs and a model gateway.

Baseten acquired Blaxel on 10 September 2026. The announcement says the product continues and features keep shipping, and Baseten sign-in now connects to a Blaxel workspace.

At a glance

Who it is forTeams building agent platforms that want instant sandboxes, a built-in MCP surface and optional agent hosting.
IsolationMicroVM boundary per sandbox, root by default with an optional unprivileged user. The default kernel refuses module loading and kernel tracing to every process, including root; iptables requires enabling at creation.
SizesMemory drives CPU: 8 GB gets 4 cores and 16 GB gets 6. Custom deployments advertise up to 256 GB of RAM. Regions: Oregon, North Virginia, London and Frankfurt.

How it bills

ModelPay-as-you-go against a wallet, with quota tiers set by top-up.
Meter$0.0000115 per GB of allocated RAM per second while active; CPU is included in that rate. Snapshot storage $0.20 per GB-month and volumes $0.12 per GB-month.
While stoppedStandby stops memory charges but keeps billing snapshot and volume storage.
Plan feeNo subscription: tiers are wallet top-ups ($0, $20, $50) that raise quotas.
MinimumNo published minimum billed duration. Up to $200 in promotional credits is advertised; the actual grant is not published.

How Blaxel lets you try before paying is on Trials and free tiers.

Where it stands out

  • Standby preserves memory and processes, with a sub-25 ms resume claim.
  • Every sandbox exposes an MCP server for files, processes, ports and previews.
  • A secret proxy injects credentials into outbound HTTPS requests.
  • Agent Drive offers a shared filesystem across sandboxes.
  • Snapshots can outlive the sandbox and be forked.

Using it without writing code

DashboardA console creates a sandbox by choosing an image, resources, TTL and region, with a browser terminal.
Without codeThe console can create and inspect a sandbox, but useful work still needs commands or a developer.
SignupBaseten or Blaxel sign-in. Card requirement and credit expiry are not published.
Docs and supportDocumentation covers sandboxes, snapshots, volumes, MCP and SSO. A status page is linked from the site. Support is Discord community plus paid tiers.

Caveats and contradictions

Shown as the research found them. A contradiction means the provider's own pages disagree; an open question means the answer is not published.

  1. 01

    Idle timing is stated two ways Contradiction

    The docs say a sandbox goes to standby after 15 minutes of idle WebSocket/TCP activity; the pricing FAQ says it scales to zero after about 5 seconds.

  2. 02

    Snapshots and archive are private previews Open question

    The snapshot docs say the feature is in private preview and not recommended for production; archive is also preview.

  3. 03

    Ownership changed in September 2026 Open question

    Baseten acquired Blaxel on 10 September 2026. The product continues, but a permanent standalone guarantee is not published.

  4. 04

    Low tiers delete sandboxes on a timer Open question

    Tier 0 and Tier 1 enforce expiration dates of up to 7 and 30 days; activity is counted at resume or suspend, not in between.

  5. 05

    Volume and shared-filesystem semantics differ Open question

    A volume attaches to one sandbox at a time; Agent Drive is the multi-mount shared filesystem, and the two are separate products.

Sources

The three shared workloads

List-price illustrations, not quotes

A · 1,000 short tasks

$27.60

2 vCPU / 4 GiB, deleted after each task

  • Active compute4 GB × 600,000 s × $0.0000115$27.60
  • Assumes immediate deletion, so no snapshot or volume storage.
  • The 4 GB / 2 vCPU mapping is from a secondary source; CPU scales with memory.

B · One always-on box

$247.78

4 vCPU / 8 GiB, 50 GB volume, 730 h

  • Active compute8 GB × 2,628,000 s × $0.0000115$241.78
  • Volume50 GB × $0.12$6.00
  • A 50 GB volume is assumed because the local writable filesystem uses RAM.
  • Images and retained snapshots are extra.

C · Three hours a day

$17.30 plus snapshot storage

4 vCPU / 8 GiB, 20 GB volume, 90 active hours, 630 standby

  • Active compute4 GB × 324,000 s × $0.0000115$14.90
  • Volume20 GB × $0.12$2.40
  • Standby snapshot storage adds S × $0.20 × 630/730, where S is billable GB and is not published.
  • Retaining a sandbox for the month needs a tier above free, which enforces a TTL.