# Modal Sandboxes vs Sandbox0

> Modal Sandboxes scores 65.9 (B) 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/modal-sandboxes-vs-sandbox0
- Markdown: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/modal-sandboxes-vs-sandbox0.md (~2,800 tokens)
- Slim: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/modal-sandboxes-vs-sandbox0.min.md (~780 tokens, same facts, less prose, for token-sensitive contexts)
- JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/modal-sandboxes-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

Modal Sandboxes scores 65.9 (B) on agent readiness against Sandbox0's 55.1 (C), and leads in 5 of 7 scored categories. Sandbox0 leads on agent ergonomics and payments & pricing. Both do code sandboxes.

- Modal Sandboxes: grade B, 65.9/100, rank #343 of 1199. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/modal-sandboxes.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/modal-sandboxes.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
- Best GPU and serverless compute for AI workloads: https://www.anchorterminal.com/best/gpu-compute/index.md
- All 172 gpu compute comparisons: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gpu-compute/index.md

## Which one, for what

### Modal Sandboxes (B)

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

Ahead on:
- Reliability, 55 against 38
- Security & auth, 79 against 58
- Maintenance & community, 93 against 76
- Transparency & trust, 77 against 48

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

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

### 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 67
- Payments & pricing, 40 against 20

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

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


## Score by category

| Category | Weight | Modal Sandboxes | Sandbox0 | Edge |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 55 | 38 | Modal Sandboxes +17 |
| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Schema & documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 79 | 77 | Modal Sandboxes +2 |
| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 67 | 74 | Sandbox0 +7 |
| Security & auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 79 | 58 | Modal Sandboxes +21 |
| Payments & pricing | 10% (12.5 this run) | 20 | 40 | Sandbox0 +20 |
| Task success | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Maintenance & community | 7% (8.8 this run) | 93 | 76 | Modal Sandboxes +17 |
| Transparency & trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 77 | 48 | Modal Sandboxes +29 |
| Negative events | ≤15 | 0 | -3 | |
| **Total** | | **65.9 · B** | **55.1 · C** | |

## Facts side by side

| Fact | Modal Sandboxes | Sandbox0 |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Kind | SDK + MCP | HTTP API |
| Vendor | Modal | Lougao, LLC (Sandbox0) |
| Hosted endpoint | no (local only) | `https://api.sandbox0.ai` |
| Transports |  | HTTP |
| Auth | API key | API key |
| Pricing | Freemium | Pay per use |
| x402 | no | no |
| Licence | Apache-2.0 | 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 | 2026-10-15 | 2026-10-21 |
| Terms last updated | 2026-05-01 |  |
| Privacy policy last updated | 2023-05-17 |  |
| 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 | 88 stars, 268 npm/wk, 82 PyPI/wk |
| 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.

**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

### Modal Sandboxes

1. Pass `timeout=` when you create a sandbox. The default lifetime is 5 minutes
2. Set `block_network=True` or an `outbound_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, since create now waits until scheduled

### 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, Modal Sandboxes or Sandbox0?

Modal Sandboxes scores 65.9 (B) on agent readiness against Sandbox0's 55.1 (C), and leads in 5 of 7 scored categories. Sandbox0 leads on agent ergonomics and payments & pricing.

### Can an agent call Modal Sandboxes and Sandbox0 without installing anything?

No hosted endpoint is listed for Modal Sandboxes. Sandbox0 has a hosted endpoint at https://api.sandbox0.ai.


## For agents

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

## Other comparisons with Modal Sandboxes or Sandbox0

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

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