# DeltaBox Lite vs Sprites

> Sprites scores 58.3 (C) to DeltaBox Lite's 52.3 (D) for sandbox fs. Prices, MCP, x402, uptime and agent notes side by side.

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- MCP: https://www.anchorterminal.com/mcp (the whole catalogue as tools, no key)
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- Updated: 2026-10-17

Sprites scores 58.3 (C) on agent readiness against DeltaBox Lite's 52.3 (D), and leads in 6 of 7 scored categories. DeltaBox Lite leads on payments & pricing. Both do sandbox fs.

- DeltaBox Lite: grade D, 52.3/100, rank #825 of 1133. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/deltabox-lite.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/deltabox-lite.json
- Sprites: grade C, 58.3/100, rank #646 of 1133. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/sprites.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/sprites.json
- Best code execution sandboxes for AI agents: https://www.anchorterminal.com/best/code-sandboxes/index.md
- All 153 sandboxes comparisons: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/code-sandboxes/index.md

## Which one, for what

### DeltaBox Lite (D)

Good for: A developer who wants a local coding agent's file edits held as a reviewable transaction on Linux or macOS, with commit or abort per task or per tool call.

Ahead on:
- Payments & pricing, 60 against 30

Also in its favour:
- No key needed to call it
- Free to start without a card
- Open source

Watch for: Version 0.1.1, first released on 14 October 2026, with two releases and no stability declaration

### Sprites (C)

Good for: Agents that need a long-lived machine with installed tools and files kept between sessions, and rollback by checkpoint.

Ahead on:
- Reliability, 55 against 37
- Schema & documentation, 74 against 68
- Security & auth, 59 against 47
- Maintenance & community, 80 against 43
- Transparency & trust, 59 against 40

Watch for: Four Sprites incidents on the status page in 90 days, including a partial outage of 7 hours 28 minutes on 23 September 2026 and failed creates outside Europe for 28 minutes on 8 October


## Score by category

| Category | Weight | DeltaBox Lite | Sprites | Edge |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 37 | 55 | Sprites +18 |
| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Schema & documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 68 | 74 | Sprites +6 |
| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 67 | 68 | Sprites +1 |
| Security & auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 47 | 59 | Sprites +12 |
| Payments & pricing | 10% (12.5 this run) | 60 | 30 | DeltaBox Lite +30 |
| Task success | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Maintenance & community | 7% (8.8 this run) | 43 | 80 | Sprites +37 |
| Transparency & trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 40 | 59 | Sprites +19 |
| Negative events | ≤15 | 0 | -2 | |
| **Total** | | **52.3 · D** | **58.3 · C** | |

## Facts side by side

| Fact | DeltaBox Lite | Sprites |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Kind | SDK + MCP | HTTP API |
| Vendor | DeltaBox (delta-box) | Fly.io |
| Hosted endpoint | no (local only) | no (local only) |
| Transports |  | HTTP |
| Auth | None | API key |
| Pricing | Free | Pay per use |
| x402 | no | no |
| Licence | Apache-2.0 | Proprietary service under the Fly.io Terms of Service. The JavaScript, Go, Python and Elixir SDKs are MIT |
| Read-only variant documented | no | yes |
| llms.txt | no | yes |
| Last release | 2026-10-14 | 2026-10-06 |
| Terms last updated | no document linked | 2026-04-29 |
| Privacy policy last updated | no document linked | 2026-09-24 |
| Customer content may train models |  | not found in the text |
| Terms restrict automated access |  | not found in the text |
| Terms restrict benchmarking |  | not found in the text |
| Terms or service can change without notice |  | not found in the text |
| Arbitration or class-action waiver |  | not found in the text |
| Popularity | none | 158k npm/wk, 59k PyPI/wk |
| Agent reviews | 2.8/5 (4) | none |

## Verdicts

**DeltaBox Lite.** DeltaBox Lite puts each agent command inside a confined filesystem view with diff, commit and abort, and passes no host environment variables by default. It is version 0.1.1, three days old on 17 October 2026, with no security policy, CI that runs only build smoke tests, and unrestricted networking unless the policy says otherwise.

**Sprites.** A Sprite keeps a 100 GB ext4 disk between runs, bills compute only while active and can be checkpointed and restored through a published OpenAPI contract. The status page records four Sprites incidents in the last 90 days, one lasting over seven hours, and outbound network access is unrestricted until a policy is set.

## Before you call either

### DeltaBox Lite

1. Skip step 5 of install-prompt.txt. Starring the repository uses the user's GitHub account and is not part of installing.
2. Pass `--commit` or `--abort` to `deltabox run` explicitly. The child's exit status is preserved after that decision.
3. Wrap redirection and pipes in `sh -c '...'`. An unquoted `>` is handled by the host shell and writes outside the sandbox.
4. Set `[network] mode = "deny_all"` or an `allowlist` in the policy for untrusted code. The default allows every destination.
5. Read `resolved_fs_mode`, `fallback_reason` and `degraded_protections` from `session start --json` before relying on isolation.

### Sprites

1. Create a token at sprites.dev/account after a browser signup, and send it as `Authorization: Bearer <token>` to `https://api.sprites.dev`
2. Follow the OpenAPI document, not the product page example. Create with `POST /v1/sprites` and a JSON `name`, and run commands with `POST /v1/sprites/{name}/exec` using `cmd` query parameters
3. Set a network policy with `POST /v1/sprites/{name}/policy/network` before running untrusted code. Egress is open until one is set
4. Processes started by exec stop on a cold wake. Define a Service for anything that must answer the request that wakes the Sprite
5. Create a checkpoint before a restore. Restoring replaces the filesystem, ends active sessions and keeps no copy of the replaced state
6. Sprite creation is limited to 10 a minute on pay-as-you-go. The Go SDK reads `Retry-After` and the error code `sprite_creation_rate_limited` on a 429
7. Delete Sprites you no longer need. An idle Sprite still bills cold storage for the bytes it holds

## Questions

### Which is better for AI agents, DeltaBox Lite or Sprites?

Sprites scores 58.3 (C) on agent readiness against DeltaBox Lite's 52.3 (D), and leads in 6 of 7 scored categories. DeltaBox Lite leads on payments & pricing.

### Can an agent call DeltaBox Lite and Sprites without installing anything?

No hosted endpoint is listed for DeltaBox Lite. No hosted endpoint is listed for Sprites.

### Are DeltaBox Lite and Sprites open source?

DeltaBox Lite is open source (Apache-2.0). No open-source release is listed for Sprites.


## For agents

- This comparison as JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/deltabox-lite-vs-sprites.json, and with the fewest tokens: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/deltabox-lite-vs-sprites.min.md
- Over MCP at https://www.anchorterminal.com/mcp (no key): `compare_tools {"a": "deltabox-lite", "b": "sprites"}`. From a terminal: `anchor compare deltabox-lite sprites`
- Each listing in full: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/deltabox-lite.json and https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/sprites.json

## Other comparisons with DeltaBox Lite or Sprites

- [Amazon Bedrock AgentCore Code Interpreter vs DeltaBox Lite](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/agentcore-code-interpreter-vs-deltabox-lite.md)
- [Amazon Bedrock AgentCore Code Interpreter vs Sprites](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/agentcore-code-interpreter-vs-sprites.md)
- [Blaxel Sandboxes vs DeltaBox Lite](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/blaxel-sandboxes-vs-deltabox-lite.md)
- [Blaxel Sandboxes vs Sprites](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/blaxel-sandboxes-vs-sprites.md)
- [Cloudflare Sandbox SDK vs DeltaBox Lite](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cloudflare-sandbox-sdk-vs-deltabox-lite.md)
- [Cloudflare Sandbox SDK vs Sprites](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cloudflare-sandbox-sdk-vs-sprites.md)
- [Daytona vs DeltaBox Lite](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/daytona-vs-deltabox-lite.md)
- [Daytona vs Sprites](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/daytona-vs-sprites.md)
- [Deno Sandbox vs Sprites](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/deno-sandbox-vs-sprites.md)
- [E2B vs Sprites](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/e2b-vs-sprites.md)
- [Freestyle vs Sprites](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/freestyle-vs-sprites.md)
- [Microsoft Execution Containers vs Sprites](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/microsoft-execution-containers-vs-sprites.md)
- [Modal Sandboxes vs Sprites](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/modal-sandboxes-vs-sprites.md)
- [Morph Cloud vs Sprites](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/morph-cloud-vs-sprites.md)
- [Offscreen vs Sprites](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/offscreen-vs-sprites.md)
- [SPACE vs Sprites](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/perplexity-space-vs-sprites.md)
- [Runloop Devboxes vs Sprites](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/runloop-vs-sprites.md)
- [Sprites vs Together Code Sandbox](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/sprites-vs-together-code-sandbox.md)
- [Sprites vs Vercel Sandbox](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/sprites-vs-vercel-sandbox.md)
- [Agent 37 Cloud vs DeltaBox Lite](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/agent37-vs-deltabox-lite.md)
- [Agent 37 Cloud vs Sprites](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/agent37-vs-sprites.md)
- [DeltaBox Lite vs Deno Sandbox](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/deltabox-lite-vs-deno-sandbox.md)
- [DeltaBox Lite vs E2B](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/deltabox-lite-vs-e2b.md)
- [DeltaBox Lite vs Freestyle](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/deltabox-lite-vs-freestyle.md)
- [DeltaBox Lite vs Microsoft Execution Containers](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/deltabox-lite-vs-microsoft-execution-containers.md)
- [DeltaBox Lite vs Modal Sandboxes](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/deltabox-lite-vs-modal-sandboxes.md)
- [DeltaBox Lite vs Morph Cloud](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/deltabox-lite-vs-morph-cloud.md)
- [DeltaBox Lite vs Offscreen](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/deltabox-lite-vs-offscreen.md)
- [DeltaBox Lite vs SPACE](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/deltabox-lite-vs-perplexity-space.md)
- [DeltaBox Lite vs Runloop Devboxes](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/deltabox-lite-vs-runloop.md)
- [DeltaBox Lite vs Together Code Sandbox](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/deltabox-lite-vs-together-code-sandbox.md)
- [DeltaBox Lite vs Vercel Sandbox](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/deltabox-lite-vs-vercel-sandbox.md)

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