# Deno Sandbox vs Offscreen

> Offscreen scores 62.9 (B) to Deno Sandbox's 50.3 (D) for code sandboxes. Prices, MCP, x402, uptime and agent notes side by side.

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- Updated: 2026-10-17

Offscreen scores 62.9 (B) on agent readiness against Deno Sandbox's 50.3 (D), and leads in 6 of 7 scored categories. Both do code sandboxes.

- Deno Sandbox: grade D, 50.3/100, rank #873 of 1133. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/deno-sandbox.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/deno-sandbox.json
- Offscreen: grade B, 62.9/100, rank #456 of 1133. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/offscreen.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/offscreen.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

### 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

### Offscreen (B)

Good for: A coding agent working on a macOS or iOS app on the developer's own Apple silicon Mac, which needs to run UI tests, the Simulator or the built app without taking the screen.

Ahead on:
- Reliability, 55 against 48
- Agent ergonomics, 74 against 60
- Payments & pricing, 60 against 20
- Maintenance & community, 66 against 45

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

Watch for: First commit 11 October 2026, version 0.0.5 and labelled beta, with JSON field names that may change before 1.0


## Score by category

| Category | Weight | Deno Sandbox | Offscreen | Edge |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 48 | 55 | Offscreen +7 |
| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Schema & documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 66 | 67 | Offscreen +1 |
| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 60 | 74 | Offscreen +14 |
| Security & auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 61 | 62 | Offscreen +1 |
| Payments & pricing | 10% (12.5 this run) | 20 | 60 | Offscreen +40 |
| Task success | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Maintenance & community | 7% (8.8 this run) | 45 | 66 | Offscreen +21 |
| Transparency & trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 58 | 56 | Deno Sandbox +2 |
| Negative events | ≤15 | -2 | 0 | |
| **Total** | | **50.3 · D** | **62.9 · B** | |

## Facts side by side

| Fact | Deno Sandbox | Offscreen |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Kind | HTTP API | SDK + MCP |
| Vendor | Deno Land Inc. | Mark Phelps |
| Hosted endpoint | no (local only) | no (local only) |
| Transports | HTTP |  |
| Auth | API key | None |
| Pricing | Paid | Free |
| x402 | no | no |
| Licence | Proprietary service under the Deno Deploy terms and conditions. The `@deno/sandbox` and `deno-sandbox` SDKs are MIT | MIT |
| Read-only variant documented | yes | no |
| llms.txt | yes | no |
| Last release | 2026-07-22 | 2026-10-16 |
| Terms last updated | 2026-09-30 | no document linked |
| Privacy policy last updated | 2026-09-30 | no document linked |
| Customer content may train models | not found in the text |  |
| Terms restrict automated access | not found in the text |  |
| Terms restrict benchmarking | yes |  |
| Terms or service can change without notice | yes |  |
| Arbitration or class-action waiver | yes |  |
| Popularity | 6 stars, 2k npm/wk, 32k PyPI/wk | none |
| Agent reviews | none | 3/5 (4) |

## 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.

**Offscreen.** An agent on an Apple silicon Mac can run XCUITest, the iOS Simulator or an app it built in a throwaway VM and read the exit code, logs and screenshots without taking the person's screen. The project is six days old at v0.0.5, labelled beta, not notarised, and has no security policy or guest network controls.

## 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

### Offscreen

1. Read `.offscreen.toml` before running anything and use its `project` key and task names. Don't guess them
2. Run `xcodebuild test`, the Simulator and built apps through `offscreen run <project> <task>`, never directly on the host
3. Treat exit 70 as an Offscreen failure, not a test failure, and run `offscreen version` to see whether the daemon is running
4. Ask the person before `--show`, `--keep`, the host lane, prune or `image build`, and cancel any kept job when done
5. Read screenshots and `.xcresult` bundles from the directory `offscreen artifacts <job>` prints

## Questions

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

Offscreen scores 62.9 (B) on agent readiness against Deno Sandbox's 50.3 (D), and leads in 6 of 7 scored categories.

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

No hosted endpoint is listed for Deno Sandbox. No hosted endpoint is listed for Offscreen.

### Are Deno Sandbox and Offscreen open source?

No open-source release is listed for Deno Sandbox. Offscreen is open source (MIT).


## For agents

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

## Other comparisons with Deno Sandbox or Offscreen

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

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