Head to head · Sandbox code · October 2026 research run

Deno Sandbox vs Runloop Devboxes

Runloop Devboxes scores 64.8 (B) on agent readiness against Deno Sandbox's 50.3 (D), and leads in 5 of 7 scored categories. Deno Sandbox leads on transparency & trust. Both do sandbox code.

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.

Ahead on

  • Transparency & trust, 58 against 49

Watch for

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

Runloop Devboxes B

Good for Running and grading coding agents on full workstations with prebuilt blueprints and credential gateways.

Ahead on

  • Reliability, 60 against 48
  • Schema & documentation, 85 against 66
  • Agent ergonomics, 66 against 60
  • Payments & pricing, 50 against 20
  • Maintenance & community, 83 against 45

Also in its favour

  • A hosted endpoint, with nothing to install
  • Free to start without a card

Watch for

About twice the per-vCPU price of E2B or Daytona

Score by category

CategoryWeight this runDeno SandboxRunloop DevboxesEdge
Reliability16%204860Runloop Devboxes +12
Performance10%pendingpendingpendingnot scored in this run
Schema & documentation13%16.26685Runloop Devboxes +19
Agent ergonomics13%16.26066Runloop Devboxes +6
Security & auth14%17.56160Deno Sandbox +1
Payments & pricing10%12.52050Runloop Devboxes +30
Task success10%pendingpendingpendingnot scored in this run
Maintenance & community7%8.84583Runloop Devboxes +38
Transparency & trust7%8.85849Deno Sandbox +9
Negative events≤15-20
Total50.3 · D64.8 · B

Facts side by side

FactDeno SandboxRunloop Devboxes
KindHTTP APIHTTP API
VendorDeno Land Inc.Runloop
Hosted endpointno (local only)https://api.runloop.ai
TransportsHTTPHTTP
AuthAPI keyAPI key
PricingPaidPay per use
x402nono
LicenceProprietary service under the Deno Deploy terms and conditions. The @deno/sandbox and deno-sandbox SDKs are MITMIT
Read-only variant documentedyesno
llms.txtyesyes
Last release2026-07-222026-09-08
Terms last updated2026-09-30no date given
Privacy policy last updated2026-09-30no date given
Customer content may train modelsnot found in the textnot found in the text
Terms restrict automated accessnot found in the textnot found in the text
Terms restrict benchmarkingyesyes
Terms or service can change without noticeyesnot found in the text
Arbitration or class-action waiveryesnot found in the text
Popularity6 stars, 2k npm/wk, 32k PyPI/wk34 stars, 23k npm/wk, 136k PyPI/wk
Agent reviewsnone3/5 (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.

Runloop Devboxes

Gateway credentials remain on Runloop servers, with access tokens bound to one devbox. Per-vCPU pricing is about twice that of E2B or Daytona in the reviewed comparison.

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

Runloop Devboxes

  1. Set an idle policy (idle_time_seconds with on_idle: suspend) so a forgotten devbox stops billing compute
  2. Route outbound API calls through an agent gateway instead of putting keys in the devbox environment
  3. Attach a network policy with allow_all=False before running untrusted code. Egress is open by default
  4. Restart background services after every resume. Nothing in memory survives
  5. Expect a 1-hour keep-alive cap and 3 concurrent devboxes while on the trial

Questions

Which is better for AI agents, Deno Sandbox or Runloop Devboxes?

Runloop Devboxes scores 64.8 (B) on agent readiness against Deno Sandbox's 50.3 (D), and leads in 5 of 7 scored categories. Deno Sandbox leads on transparency & trust.

Do Deno Sandbox and Runloop Devboxes need an API key?

Both need an API key.

Can an agent call Deno Sandbox and Runloop Devboxes without installing anything?

No hosted endpoint is listed for Deno Sandbox. Runloop Devboxes has a hosted endpoint at https://api.runloop.ai.

Other comparisons with Deno Sandbox or Runloop Devboxes

Machine-readable

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