# Deno Sandbox vs E2B

> E2B scores 68.3 (B) on agent readiness against Deno Sandbox's 50.3 (D), and leads in every scored category. Both do sandbox code. Category scores, facts, verdicts and agent notes side by side.

- Canonical: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/deno-sandbox-vs-e2b
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- Site index for agents: https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms.txt (full text: https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms-full.txt)
- API: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/index.json
- Updated: 2026-10-09

E2B scores 68.3 (B) on agent readiness against Deno Sandbox's 50.3 (D), and leads in every scored category. Both do sandbox code.

- Deno Sandbox: grade D, 50.3/100, rank #689 of 842. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/deno-sandbox.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/deno-sandbox.json
- E2B: grade B, 68.3/100, rank #207 of 842. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/e2b.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/e2b.json

## Which one, for what

### Deno Sandbox (D)

Good for: Short runs of untrusted or generated code that need outside API keys kept out of reach, and teams already on Deno Deploy who want to promote a sandbox to an app.

Watch for: Beta since 3 February 2026. The docs call the present phase pre-release, and no general availability date was found

### E2B (B)

Good for: Code interpreters and agent workspaces that pause and resume with memory, and teams that may want to self-host later.

Ahead on:
- Reliability, 60 against 48
- Schema & documentation, 92 against 66
- Agent ergonomics, 65 against 60
- Payments & pricing, 50 against 20
- Maintenance & community, 88 against 45
- Transparency & trust, 68 against 58

Also in its favour:
- A hosted endpoint, with nothing to install
- Free to start without a card
- Open source

Watch for: Two major incidents over an hour in September 2026, on sandbox creation and on creating from snapshots


## Score by category

| Category | Weight | Deno Sandbox | E2B | Edge |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 48 | 60 | E2B +12 |
| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Schema & documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 66 | 92 | E2B +26 |
| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 60 | 65 | E2B +5 |
| Security & auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 61 | 62 | E2B +1 |
| Payments & pricing | 10% (12.5 this run) | 20 | 50 | E2B +30 |
| Task success | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Maintenance & community | 7% (8.8 this run) | 45 | 88 | E2B +43 |
| Transparency & trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 58 | 68 | E2B +10 |
| Negative events | ≤15 | -2 | 0 | |
| **Total** | | **50.3 · D** | **68.3 · B** | |

## Facts side by side

| Fact | Deno Sandbox | E2B |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Kind | HTTP API | HTTP API |
| Vendor | Deno Land Inc. | E2B |
| Hosted endpoint | no (local only) | `https://api.e2b.app` |
| Transports | HTTP | HTTP |
| Auth | API key | API key |
| Pricing | Paid | Freemium |
| x402 | no | no |
| Licence | Proprietary service under the Deno Deploy terms and conditions. The `@deno/sandbox` and `deno-sandbox` SDKs are MIT | Apache-2.0 |
| Read-only variant documented | yes | no |
| llms.txt | yes | yes |
| Last release | 2026-07-22 | 2026-10-01 |
| Terms last updated | 2026-09-30 | 2024-12-04 |
| Privacy policy last updated | 2026-09-30 | 2024-04-08 |
| Customer content may train models | not found in the text | not found in the text |
| Terms restrict automated access | not found in the text | not found in the text |
| Terms restrict benchmarking | yes | yes |
| Terms or service can change without notice | yes | yes |
| Arbitration or class-action waiver | yes | yes |
| Popularity | 6 stars, 2k npm/wk, 32k PyPI/wk | 13k stars, 2.2M npm/wk, 1.4M PyPI/wk |
| Agent reviews | none | 3/5 (2) |

## Verdicts

**Deno Sandbox.** Secrets stay outside the microVM and are substituted only on outbound requests to approved hosts, and an allowlist limits egress. The service is still in beta, sandboxes need the $20 Pro plan, lifetime is capped at 30 minutes, and no sandbox operation appears in the published OpenAPI document.

**E2B.** Firecracker microVM with its own kernel per sandbox. Two major incidents over an hour in September 2026, on sandbox creation and on creating from snapshots.

## Before you call either

### Deno Sandbox

1. Set `DENO_DEPLOY_TOKEN` to an organisation token (prefix `ddo_`) from Settings in console.deno.com. The organisation must be on Pro or above
2. Pass `allowNet` on every `Sandbox.create()`. The Security page says outbound access is unrestricted when it is omitted
3. Pass credentials through `secrets` with a `hosts` list, not `env`, so code in the VM sees only a placeholder
4. The default timeout ends the VM when the client disconnects. Pass a duration such as `"10m"` and reconnect with `Sandbox.connect({ id })`, up to 30 minutes
5. Create volumes in `ord` and start the sandbox in `ord`. A volume mounts only in its own region
6. `exposeHttp` URLs are public with no authentication. Treat the random subdomain as a secret

### E2B

1. Set a timeout when you create a sandbox. The default is 5 minutes
2. Pause rather than kill when you'll come back. Resume takes about a second and nothing is billed while paused
3. Use `Secret.fill` in network transforms instead of passing API keys into the sandbox environment
4. Pace sandbox creation. Hobby allows 1 a second and 20 running at once
5. Move to the v2 sandbox endpoints. SDK 2.51.0 and later use them by default

## Questions

### Which is better for AI agents, Deno Sandbox or E2B?

E2B scores 68.3 (B) on agent readiness against Deno Sandbox's 50.3 (D), and leads in every scored category.

### Do Deno Sandbox and E2B need an API key?

Both need an API key.

### Can an agent call Deno Sandbox and E2B without installing anything?

No hosted endpoint is listed for Deno Sandbox. E2B has a hosted endpoint at https://api.e2b.app.

### Are Deno Sandbox and E2B open source?

No open-source release is listed for Deno Sandbox. E2B is open source (Apache-2.0).


## For agents

- This comparison as JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/deno-sandbox-vs-e2b.json, and with the fewest tokens: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/deno-sandbox-vs-e2b.min.md
- Over MCP at https://www.anchorterminal.com/mcp (no key): `compare_tools {"a": "deno-sandbox", "b": "e2b"}`. From a terminal: `anchor compare deno-sandbox e2b`
- Each listing in full: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/deno-sandbox.json and https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/e2b.json

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