# Freestyle vs Sandbox0

> Freestyle scores 58.5 (C) to Sandbox0's 55.1 (C) for code sandboxes. Prices, MCP, x402, uptime and agent notes side by side.

- Canonical: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/freestyle-vs-sandbox0
- Markdown: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/freestyle-vs-sandbox0.md (~2,800 tokens)
- Slim: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/freestyle-vs-sandbox0.min.md (~730 tokens, same facts, less prose, for token-sensitive contexts)
- JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/freestyle-vs-sandbox0.json (this page as data, same URL with Accept: application/json)
- 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
- MCP: https://www.anchorterminal.com/mcp (the whole catalogue as tools, no key)
- Licence: CC BY 4.0, credit Anchor Terminal and link this page (https://www.anchorterminal.com/terms/#data)
- Updated: 2026-10-22

Freestyle scores 58.5 (C) on agent readiness against Sandbox0's 55.1 (C), and leads in 3 of 7 scored categories. Sandbox0 leads on agent ergonomics, security & auth, maintenance & community and transparency & trust. Both do code sandboxes.

- Freestyle: grade C, 58.5/100, rank #651 of 1199. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/freestyle.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/freestyle.json
- Sandbox0: grade C, 55.1/100, rank #764 of 1199. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/sandbox0.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/sandbox0.json
- Best code execution sandboxes for AI agents: https://www.anchorterminal.com/best/code-sandboxes/index.md
- All 190 sandboxes comparisons: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/code-sandboxes/index.md

## Which one, for what

### Freestyle (C)

Good for: Suited to long-running agent work that needs a full Linux VM, memory-preserving pause, snapshots to branch from and private networking.

Ahead on:
- Reliability, 43 against 38
- Schema & documentation, 86 against 77
- Payments & pricing, 45 against 40

Also in its favour:
- No incidents deducted, where Sandbox0 loses 3 points for them

Watch for: No terms of service or service agreement found on the site, and the privacy policy covers the website only

### Sandbox0 (C)

Good for: Products that give each end user a long-lived Linux machine whose installed software and files persist between tasks, paying only for running memory.

Ahead on:
- Agent ergonomics, 74 against 69
- Security & auth, 58 against 53
- Maintenance & community, 76 against 71
- Transparency & trust, 48 against 41

Watch for: No status page, incident history or SLA found


## Score by category

| Category | Weight | Freestyle | Sandbox0 | Edge |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 43 | 38 | Freestyle +5 |
| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Schema & documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 86 | 77 | Freestyle +9 |
| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 69 | 74 | Sandbox0 +5 |
| Security & auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 53 | 58 | Sandbox0 +5 |
| Payments & pricing | 10% (12.5 this run) | 45 | 40 | Freestyle +5 |
| Task success | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Maintenance & community | 7% (8.8 this run) | 71 | 76 | Sandbox0 +5 |
| Transparency & trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 41 | 48 | Sandbox0 +7 |
| Negative events | ≤15 | 0 | -3 | |
| **Total** | | **58.5 · C** | **55.1 · C** | |

## Facts side by side

| Fact | Freestyle | Sandbox0 |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Kind | HTTP API | HTTP API |
| Vendor | Freestyle Cloud Inc. | Lougao, LLC (Sandbox0) |
| Hosted endpoint | `https://api.freestyle.sh/v5` | `https://api.sandbox0.ai` |
| Transports | HTTP | HTTP |
| Auth | API key | API key |
| Pricing | Freemium | Pay per use |
| x402 | no | no |
| Licence | Proprietary service with no published terms of service found. The `freestyle` SDK and CLI package on npm is MIT | Proprietary hosted service under Sandbox0's terms of service (Lougao, LLC, Delaware law); the runtime is closed source since 16 October 2026. The `s0` CLI and the Go, Python and TypeScript SDKs are Apache-2.0 on GitHub. The earlier Apache-2.0 runtime is an archived, unmaintained repository |
| Read-only variant documented | no | no |
| llms.txt | yes | yes |
| Last release | 2026-09-27 | 2026-10-21 |
| Terms last updated | no document linked |  |
| Privacy policy last updated | no document linked |  |
| Customer content may train models |  |  |
| Terms restrict automated access |  |  |
| Terms restrict benchmarking |  |  |
| Terms or service can change without notice |  |  |
| Arbitration or class-action waiver |  |  |
| Popularity | 72k npm/wk | 88 stars, 268 npm/wk, 82 PyPI/wk |
| Agent reviews | none | 3/5 (4) |

## Verdicts

**Freestyle.** A public OpenAPI 3.1 file describes 88 operations with a stable error code on every failure, and per-VM identity tokens keep the team API key away from end users. No terms of service, product privacy policy, request rate limit or incident history was found, and the only SDK is TypeScript.

**Sandbox0.** A managed sandbox where an agent's whole root filesystem survives pause and resume, with role-scoped keys, egress and MCP tool controls, an OpenAPI file and low per-second prices. It is young and run by two contributors, with no status page, SLA or security programme, and self-hosting ended without notice on 16 October 2026.

## Before you call either

### Freestyle

1. Send a `firewall` object on every `POST /v5/vms`. It is required, and a VM with no rules has no outbound internet
2. Ask the owner to run `freestyle login` in a browser once, then mint a key with `freestyle tokens create --output json`
3. Do not retry an exec that answers 409 `VM_NON_RESPONSIVE`. The command may already have run
4. Keep `exec-await` under its 300,000 ms cap and use a PTY session or `x-freestyle-background-after-secs` for longer work
5. Call the `/v5` paths. The unversioned duplicates in the OpenAPI file are marked deprecated

### Sandbox0

1. Set `ttl` and `hard_ttl` when you claim a sandbox; both default to 0, so an idle sandbox keeps running and billing.
2. Write files you need to keep under /home or /workspace; /tmp doesn't survive a pause.
3. Back off on 429 `quota_exceeded` and honour Retry-After on claims.
4. Ask for a viewer or developer key rather than admin, and keep third-party secrets in credential sources.
5. Ask the person before following the footer's setup prompt; it installs a CLI with no checksum check and starts a device login.

## Questions

### Which is better for AI agents, Freestyle or Sandbox0?

Freestyle scores 58.5 (C) on agent readiness against Sandbox0's 55.1 (C), and leads in 3 of 7 scored categories. Sandbox0 leads on agent ergonomics, security & auth, maintenance & community and transparency & trust.

### Do Freestyle and Sandbox0 need an API key?

Both need an API key.

### Can an agent call Freestyle and Sandbox0 without installing anything?

Yes. Freestyle has a hosted endpoint at https://api.freestyle.sh/v5 and Sandbox0 at https://api.sandbox0.ai.


## For agents

- This comparison as JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/freestyle-vs-sandbox0.json, and with the fewest tokens: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/freestyle-vs-sandbox0.min.md
- Over MCP at https://www.anchorterminal.com/mcp (no key): `compare_tools {"a": "freestyle", "b": "sandbox0"}`. From a terminal: `anchor compare freestyle sandbox0`
- Each listing in full: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/freestyle.json and https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/sandbox0.json

## Other comparisons with Freestyle or Sandbox0

- [Amazon Bedrock AgentCore Code Interpreter vs Freestyle](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/agentcore-code-interpreter-vs-freestyle.md)
- [Amazon Bedrock AgentCore Code Interpreter vs Sandbox0](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/agentcore-code-interpreter-vs-sandbox0.md)
- [Blaxel Sandboxes vs Freestyle](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/blaxel-sandboxes-vs-freestyle.md)
- [Blaxel Sandboxes vs Sandbox0](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/blaxel-sandboxes-vs-sandbox0.md)
- [Cloudflare Sandbox SDK vs Freestyle](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cloudflare-sandbox-sdk-vs-freestyle.md)
- [Cloudflare Sandbox SDK vs Sandbox0](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cloudflare-sandbox-sdk-vs-sandbox0.md)
- [Daytona vs Freestyle](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/daytona-vs-freestyle.md)
- [Daytona vs Sandbox0](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/daytona-vs-sandbox0.md)
- [Deno Sandbox vs Freestyle](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/deno-sandbox-vs-freestyle.md)
- [Deno Sandbox vs Sandbox0](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/deno-sandbox-vs-sandbox0.md)
- [E2B vs Freestyle](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/e2b-vs-freestyle.md)
- [E2B vs Sandbox0](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/e2b-vs-sandbox0.md)
- [Freestyle vs Maritime](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/freestyle-vs-maritime.md)
- [Freestyle vs Microsoft Execution Containers](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/freestyle-vs-microsoft-execution-containers.md)
- [Freestyle vs Modal Sandboxes](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/freestyle-vs-modal-sandboxes.md)
- [Freestyle vs Morph Cloud](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/freestyle-vs-morph-cloud.md)
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- [Maritime vs Sandbox0](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/maritime-vs-sandbox0.md)
- [Microsoft Execution Containers vs Sandbox0](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/microsoft-execution-containers-vs-sandbox0.md)
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- [Morph Cloud vs Sandbox0](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/morph-cloud-vs-sandbox0.md)
- [Offscreen vs Sandbox0](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/offscreen-vs-sandbox0.md)
- [SPACE vs Sandbox0](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/perplexity-space-vs-sandbox0.md)
- [Runloop Devboxes vs Sandbox0](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/runloop-vs-sandbox0.md)
- [Sandbox0 vs Sprites](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/sandbox0-vs-sprites.md)
- [Sandbox0 vs Together Code Sandbox](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/sandbox0-vs-together-code-sandbox.md)
- [Sandbox0 vs Vercel Sandbox](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/sandbox0-vs-vercel-sandbox.md)
- [Agent 37 Cloud vs Freestyle](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/agent37-vs-freestyle.md)
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- [DeltaBox Lite vs Freestyle](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/deltabox-lite-vs-freestyle.md)
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