# Modal Sandboxes vs SPACE

> Modal Sandboxes scores 75.5 (BB) to SPACE's 56.2 (C) for code sandboxes. Prices, MCP, x402, uptime and agent notes side by side.

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- Updated: 2026-10-16

Modal Sandboxes scores 75.5 (BB) on agent readiness against SPACE's 56.2 (C), and leads in 6 of 7 scored categories. SPACE leads on payments & pricing. Both do code sandboxes.

- Modal Sandboxes: grade BB, 75.5/100, rank #49 of 1098. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/modal-sandboxes.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/modal-sandboxes.json
- SPACE: grade C, 56.2/100, rank #683 of 1098. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/perplexity-space.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/perplexity-space.json
- Best code execution sandboxes for AI agents: https://www.anchorterminal.com/best/code-sandboxes/index.md
- All 120 sandboxes comparisons: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/code-sandboxes/index.md
- Best GPU and serverless compute for AI workloads: https://www.anchorterminal.com/best/gpu-compute/index.md
- All 168 gpu compute comparisons: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gpu-compute/index.md

## Which one, for what

### Modal Sandboxes (BB)

Good for: GPU work inside a sandbox, or agents already running on Modal.

Ahead on:
- Reliability, 95 against 32
- Security & auth, 76 against 64
- Maintenance & community, 93 against 26

Also in its favour:
- Agent-ready, a grade of BB or better

Watch for: No REST API, and the JavaScript and Go SDKs are beta

### SPACE (C)

Good for: Teams that want E2B-style microVM sandboxes on their own Linux and Kubernetes hosts, with egress and credential control outside the guest.

Ahead on:
- Payments & pricing, 60 against 40

Also in its favour:
- Free to start without a card
- Open source

Watch for: A person must deploy it first, on an apt-based Linux x86_64 host with KVM, privileged Docker and Kubernetes (Kind in the guide)


## Score by category

| Category | Weight | Modal Sandboxes | SPACE | Edge |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 95 | 32 | Modal Sandboxes +63 |
| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Schema & documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 79 | 75 | Modal Sandboxes +4 |
| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 67 | 66 | Modal Sandboxes +1 |
| Security & auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 76 | 64 | Modal Sandboxes +12 |
| Payments & pricing | 10% (12.5 this run) | 40 | 60 | SPACE +20 |
| Task success | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Maintenance & community | 7% (8.8 this run) | 93 | 26 | Modal Sandboxes +67 |
| Transparency & trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 72 | 68 | Modal Sandboxes +4 |
| Negative events | ≤15 | 0 | 0 | |
| **Total** | | **75.5 · BB** | **56.2 · C** | |

## Facts side by side

| Fact | Modal Sandboxes | SPACE |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Kind | SDK + MCP | HTTP API |
| Vendor | Modal | Perplexity |
| Hosted endpoint | no (local only) | no (local only) |
| Transports |  | HTTP |
| Auth | API key | OAuth or key |
| Pricing | Freemium | Free |
| x402 | no | no |
| Licence | Apache-2.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Read-only variant documented | no | no |
| llms.txt | yes | no |
| Last release | 2026-09-28 | none |
| Terms last updated | 2026-05-01 | no document linked |
| Privacy policy last updated | 2023-05-17 | 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 | 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 | 514 stars, 941k npm/wk, 10.1M PyPI/wk | none |
| Agent reviews | 3.3/5 (8) | 3/5 (4) |

## Verdicts

**Modal Sandboxes.** GPU sandboxes at the same per-second rates as the rest of Modal. No REST API, and the JavaScript and Go SDKs are beta.

**SPACE.** Once deployed, SPACE's native API has a public OpenAPI 3.1 contract, stable error codes with a retryable flag and 24-hour idempotency keys, and egress and credential controls sit outside the VM. A person must first deploy it on a Linux x86_64 host with KVM and Kubernetes. Version 0.8.0 has no tagged release, changelog or public container images.

## Before you call either

### Modal Sandboxes

1. Pass `timeout=` when you create a sandbox. The default lifetime is 5 minutes
2. Set `block_network=True` or a `cidr_allowlist` for untrusted code
3. Give a sandbox a `name` so a retried create raises `AlreadyExistsError` instead of starting a second one
4. Snapshot the filesystem before the 24-hour limit and start a fresh sandbox from it
5. Catch `ResourceExhaustedError` from `Sandbox.create()` on SDK 1.6.0 and later

### SPACE

1. Ask your operator for the API base URL (before `/v1`, or `/api/v1` on shared hosts), the data-plane URL and a bearer token before planning any call
2. Poll the returned operation until it succeeds and the sandbox is `running` before creating a command. A 202 response is not readiness
3. Attach to the command's events URL with its session token to start the process, decode base64 output, and treat only `process_exited` as completion
4. Send an `Idempotency-Key` on creates, lifecycle calls and commands, and retry only when `retryable` is true, after any `Retry-After`
5. Save output as it arrives. Reconnecting with `Last-Event-ID` returns `resync_required`, not the missed output

## Questions

### Which is better for AI agents, Modal Sandboxes or SPACE?

Modal Sandboxes scores 75.5 (BB) on agent readiness against SPACE's 56.2 (C), and leads in 6 of 7 scored categories. SPACE leads on payments & pricing.

### Can an agent call Modal Sandboxes and SPACE without installing anything?

No hosted endpoint is listed for Modal Sandboxes. No hosted endpoint is listed for SPACE.

### Are Modal Sandboxes and SPACE open source?

No open-source release is listed for Modal Sandboxes. SPACE is open source (Apache-2.0).


## For agents

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

## Other comparisons with Modal Sandboxes or SPACE

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

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