{ "data": { "a": { "slug": "modal-sandboxes", "name": "Modal Sandboxes", "vendor": "Modal", "vendorUrl": "https://modal.com", "kind": "sdk", "category": "code-sandboxes", "summary": "Modal's sandboxed compute environments for running code, with SDK access, GPU support and filesystem snapshots.", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/modal-sandboxes", "markdownUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/modal-sandboxes.md", "slimMarkdownUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/modal-sandboxes.min.md", "jsonUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/modal-sandboxes.json", "repo": "https://github.com/modal-labs/modal-client", "license": "Apache-2.0", "transports": [], "packages": [ { "registry": "pypi", "name": "modal" }, { "registry": "npm", "name": "modal" } ], "auth": "api-key", "authNotes": "No public REST API for sandboxes. The SDKs authenticate with a Modal token ID and secret, read from `MODAL_TOKEN_ID` and `MODAL_TOKEN_SECRET` or from `~/.modal.toml` (written by `modal token set`). Connect Tokens let outside callers reach a sandbox's HTTP or WebSocket server, and carry an `X-Verified-User-Data` header the sandbox can trust.", "pricing": "freemium", "pricingNotes": "Sandboxes cost $0.00003942 a physical core-second (one core is 2 vCPU, minimum 0.125 cores) and $0.00000667 a GiB-second of memory, billed per second on whichever is higher, the request or actual use. GPUs bill at Modal's standard per-second GPU rates. Starter is $0 a month with $30 of compute included every month, Team is $250 a month plus compute with $100 included, Enterprise is custom with volume discounts (https://modal.com/pricing, https://modal.com/docs/guide/sandbox-resources.md).", "priceSummary": "$0.071 / vCPU-hr", "where": "local", "x402": { "level": "no", "endpoints": [] }, "toolCount": null, "popularity": { "githubStars": 514, "npmWeekly": 940973, "pypiWeekly": 10146778, "asOf": "2026-09-30" }, "docsUrl": "https://modal.com/docs/guide/sandboxes", "llmsTxt": "https://modal.com/llms.txt", "capabilities": [ "sandbox.code", "sandbox.fs", "sandbox.persist", "sandbox.gpu" ], "tags": [ "hosted", "freemium", "free-tier", "python", "typescript", "go", "llms-txt", "enterprise" ], "lastRelease": "2026-09-28", "graded": true, "anchor": { "graded": true, "score": 75.5, "grade": "BB", "agentReady": true, "rank": 45, "ranked": true, "rankOf": 842, "categoryRank": 2, "methodology": "0.4", "run": "2026-10-01", "scores": { "ergonomics": 67, "maintenance": 93, "payments": 40, "reliability": 95, "schema": 79, "security": 76, "transparency": 72 }, "pending": [ "performance", "tasks" ], "assessment": { "confidence": "medium", "date": "2026-10-01" }, "negative": 0, "verdict": "GPU sandboxes at the same per-second rates as the rest of Modal. No REST API, and the JavaScript and Go SDKs are beta.", "bestFor": "GPU work inside a sandbox, or agents already running on Modal.", "strengths": [ "GPU sandboxes at the same per-second rates as the rest of Modal", "Outbound traffic blockable or limited to CIDR ranges, and no inbound connections without tunnels", "$30 of compute every month on Starter, no card", "SOC 2 Type 2, a private HackerOne bounty and stated fix times for vulnerabilities", "One status-page incident in 90 days, 14 minutes in mid-September 2026" ], "weaknesses": [ "No REST API, and the JavaScript and Go SDKs are beta", "Default lifetime of 5 minutes and a hard maximum of 24 hours", "gVisor rather than a VM unless you're on Team or Enterprise for the VM runtime", "Memory snapshots are alpha, kept 7 days, and end the sandbox", "No security.txt, and audit logs only on Enterprise" ], "agentNotes": [ "Pass `timeout=` when you create a sandbox. The default lifetime is 5 minutes", "Set `block_network=True` or a `cidr_allowlist` for untrusted code", "Give a sandbox a `name` so a retried create raises `AlreadyExistsError` instead of starting a second one", "Snapshot the filesystem before the 24-hour limit and start a fresh sandbox from it", "Catch `ResourceExhaustedError` from `Sandbox.create()` on SDK 1.6.0 and later" ], "metrics": { "kind": "remote", "measured": false }, "reviewCount": 8, "avgRating": 3.3, "history": [ { "basis": "public evidence", "confidence": "medium", "grade": "BB", "methodology": "0.4", "pending": [ "performance", "tasks" ], "run": "2026-10-01", "runLabel": "October 2026 research run", "score": 75.5 } ], "editorialScores": { "ergonomics": 67, "maintenance": 93, "payments": 40, "reliability": 95, "schema": 79, "security": 76, "transparency": 60 }, "provenanceScore": 84 }, "connect": { "install": "pip install modal # or npm i modal" }, "letme": { "capability": "https://letme.dev/sandbox.code", "tool": "https://letme.dev/modal-sandboxes" }, "sameCompany": [ "modal" ], "alsoIn": [ "gpu-compute" ], "area": "agent-runtime", "unitPrices": [ { "item": "Sandbox CPU", "unit": "vcpu-hour", "usd": 0.071, "note": "$0.00003942 a physical core-second, one core is 2 vCPU. Memory extra at $0.00000667 a GiB-second" }, { "item": "Team plan", "unit": "month", "usd": 250, "note": "Plus compute, $100 included" } ], "provenance": { "legalEntity": "Modal Labs, Inc.", "domain": "modal.com", "domainRegistered": "1999-03-18", "domainNote": "modal.com was registered in 1999, long before Modal Labs, so the domain was bought later.", "endpointOnVendorDomain": null, "terms": "https://modal.com/legal/terms", "privacy": "https://modal.com/legal/privacy-policy", "statusPage": "https://status.modal.com", "changelog": "https://modal.com/docs/sdk/py/releases", "securityTxt": "none", "checked": "2026-09-30", "notes": [ "Terms (May 2026) name Modal Labs, Inc., a Delaware corporation, under California law.", "Sandboxes are reached through the SDK rather than a documented public endpoint, so there's no endpoint URL to check against the domain.", "modal.com/.well-known/security.txt returns 404. The security guide gives security@modal.com and a private HackerOne programme." ], "score": 84 }, "pageJsonUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/modal-sandboxes.json", "live": { "slug": "modal-sandboxes", "vendorStatus": { "page": "https://status.modal.com", "indicator": "unknown", "summary": "no machine-readable status found", "checkedAt": "2026-10-09T07:58:11.176580201Z" }, "versions": [ { "registry": "npm", "name": "modal", "version": "0.11.0", "seenAt": "2026-10-08T16:21:39.611509889Z" }, { "registry": "pypi", "name": "modal", "version": "1.6.1", "released": "2026-10-03", "seenAt": "2026-10-08T16:21:39.471099291Z" } ], "githubStars": 522, "npmWeekly": 976721, "pypiWeekly": 10794735, "securityTxt": { "url": "https://modal.com/.well-known/security.txt", "state": "none", "checkedAt": "2026-10-08T15:38:35.387911158Z" }, "llmsTxt": { "url": "https://modal.com/llms.txt", "ok": true, "status": 200, "checkedAt": "2026-10-08T14:00:39.602992362Z" }, "domain": { "domain": "modal.com", "registered": "1999-03-18", "source": "https://rdap.verisign.com/com/v1/domain/modal.com", "checkedAt": "2026-10-04T13:03:51.14581991Z" }, "pages": [ { "url": "https://modal.com/docs/sdk/py/releases", "kind": "changelog", "status": 200, "checkedAt": "2026-10-08T18:22:08.619124868Z", "changedAt": "2026-10-04T15:46:02.530693875Z", "fingerprint": "2d8a24963498" }, { "url": "https://modal.com/pricing", "kind": "pricing", "status": 200, "checkedAt": "2026-10-08T18:22:15.105990601Z", "changedAt": "2026-10-07T18:07:40.290186482Z", "fingerprint": "2bebc792cd5e" }, { "url": "https://modal.com/legal/privacy-policy", "kind": "privacy", "status": 200, "checkedAt": "2026-10-08T18:22:11.552613672Z", "changedAt": "2026-10-07T18:07:37.098211707Z", "fingerprint": "602809288e68" }, { "url": "https://modal.com/legal/terms", "kind": "terms", "status": 200, "checkedAt": "2026-10-08T18:22:13.03355875Z", "changedAt": "2026-10-07T18:07:38.590004865Z", "fingerprint": "d2254dcf3a27" } ], "updatedAt": "2026-10-09T07:58:11.176580201Z" } }, "answer": "Modal Sandboxes scores 75.5 (BB) on agent readiness against Sprites's 58.3 (C), and leads in 6 of 7 scored categories.", "b": { "slug": "sprites", "name": "Sprites", "vendor": "Fly.io", "vendorUrl": "https://fly.io", "kind": "http-api", "category": "code-sandboxes", "summary": "Sprites are hosted Linux microVMs from Fly.io that keep their disk between runs, pause when idle and wake on request. They are driven through a REST API, a CLI, four SDKs or a hosted MCP server.", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/sprites", "markdownUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/sprites.md", "slimMarkdownUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/sprites.min.md", "jsonUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/sprites.json", "repo": "https://github.com/superfly/sprites-js", "license": "Proprietary service under the Fly.io Terms of Service. The JavaScript, Go, Python and Elixir SDKs are MIT", "transports": [ "http" ], "packages": [ { "registry": "npm", "name": "@fly/sprites" }, { "registry": "pypi", "name": "sprites-py" } ], "auth": "api-key", "authNotes": "A bearer token created at sprites.dev/account after signing in with a Fly.io account, sent as `Authorization: Bearer \u003ctoken\u003e` to `https://api.sprites.dev`. Tokens belong to an organisation, and no scopes or expiry were found in the reviewed docs. The CLI signs in through a browser with `sprite org auth` or takes a token with `sprite auth setup --token`. The hosted MCP server uses OAuth with a token restricted by default to a name prefix and a capped number of Sprites.", "pricing": "usage", "pricingNotes": "$0.0385 a CPU-hour and $0.021875 a GB-hour of memory while a Sprite is active, hot storage at $0.000683 a GB-hour while awake and cold storage at $0.000027 a GB-hour while data is kept. Nothing is charged per Sprite or for bandwidth. New organisations get a $30 trial credit, and whether it needs a card was not established. The product page also describes monthly plans with allowances, of which Hero ($100) and Mythic ($2,000) are priced (https://fly.io/sprites/, https://fly.io/pricing/, checked 2026-10-08).", "priceSummary": "$0.0385 / vCPU-hr", "where": "local", "x402": { "level": "no", "evidence": "No x402, MPP or L402 in the Sprites docs, the OpenAPI document or the pricing page (checked 2026-10-08).", "endpoints": [] }, "toolCount": null, "popularity": { "githubStars": null, "npmWeekly": 157565, "pypiWeekly": 58695, "asOf": "2026-10-08" }, "docsUrl": "https://docs.fly.io/sprites", "llmsTxt": "https://docs.fly.io/llms.txt", "openapi": "https://docs.fly.io/sprites/api/openapi.json", "capabilities": [ "sandbox.code", "sandbox.fs", "sandbox.persist" ], "tags": [ "hosted", "usage-priced", "microvm", "persistent", "checkpoints", "openapi", "cli", "typescript", "python", "go", "elixir", "mcp", "llms-txt", "status-page" ], "lastRelease": "2026-10-06", "graded": true, "anchor": { "graded": true, "score": 58.3, "grade": "C", "agentReady": false, "rank": 528, "ranked": true, "rankOf": 842, "categoryRank": 11, "methodology": "0.4", "run": "2026-10-01", "scores": { "ergonomics": 68, "maintenance": 80, "payments": 30, "reliability": 55, "schema": 74, "security": 59, "transparency": 59 }, "pending": [ "performance", "tasks" ], "assessment": { "confidence": "medium", "date": "2026-10-08" }, "negative": -2, "negativeNotes": [ "2026-10-08: the Fly.io pricing page says of Sprites \"No plans and no tiers\", while the Sprites product page read the same day describes paid plans (Hero at $100 a month, Mythic at $2,000) that carry usage allowances and set concurrency and creation-rate limits. Prices for the other named plans were not found. 2 points. https://fly.io/pricing/ and https://fly.io/sprites/" ], "verdict": "A Sprite keeps a 100 GB ext4 disk between runs, bills compute only while active and can be checkpointed and restored through a published OpenAPI contract. The status page records four Sprites incidents in the last 90 days, one lasting over seven hours, and outbound network access is unrestricted until a policy is set.", "bestFor": "Agents that need a long-lived machine with installed tools and files kept between sessions, and rollback by checkpoint.", "strengths": [ "The filesystem persists across pauses, and compute billing stops about 30 seconds after activity ends, per the lifecycle docs", "A public OpenAPI 3.1 document covers 44 operations on sprites, exec, files, checkpoints, services and policies, with an AsyncAPI file for the WebSocket calls", "Connectors hold third-party credentials outside the Sprite, deny access by default and can limit which provider paths a Sprite may call", "Checkpoints are copy-on-write snapshots of the writable filesystem, and the last five are mounted read-only inside the Sprite", "Unit prices are public, $0.0385 a CPU-hour, $0.021875 a GB-hour of memory and about $0.50 a GB-month of hot storage", "Official SDKs for JavaScript, Go, Python and Elixir are MIT, each with releases in September or October 2026" ], "weaknesses": [ "Four Sprites incidents on the status page in 90 days, including a partial outage of 7 hours 28 minutes on 23 September 2026 and failed creates outside Europe for 28 minutes on 8 October", "Outbound network access is unrestricted by default. The DNS allowlist is opt-in and set from outside the Sprite", "The product page creates a Sprite with `PUT /v1/sprites/my-sprite` and a JSON `command` body, while the OpenAPI document creates with `POST /v1/sprites` and passes `cmd` as a query parameter", "No API changelog, deprecation policy or error-code reference was found in the reviewed documentation", "The pricing page says Sprites have no plans and no tiers, while the product page describes paid plans that set concurrency and creation-rate limits", "No scopes were found for API tokens created at sprites.dev/account. Only the MCP connector's OAuth token is restricted by default" ], "agentNotes": [ "Create a token at sprites.dev/account after a browser signup, and send it as `Authorization: Bearer \u003ctoken\u003e` to `https://api.sprites.dev`", "Follow the OpenAPI document, not the product page example. Create with `POST /v1/sprites` and a JSON `name`, and run commands with `POST /v1/sprites/{name}/exec` using `cmd` query parameters", "Set a network policy with `POST /v1/sprites/{name}/policy/network` before running untrusted code. Egress is open until one is set", "Processes started by exec stop on a cold wake. Define a Service for anything that must answer the request that wakes the Sprite", "Create a checkpoint before a restore. Restoring replaces the filesystem, ends active sessions and keeps no copy of the replaced state", "Sprite creation is limited to 10 a minute on pay-as-you-go. The Go SDK reads `Retry-After` and the error code `sprite_creation_rate_limited` on a 429", "Delete Sprites you no longer need. An idle Sprite still bills cold storage for the bytes it holds" ], "metrics": { "kind": "remote", "measured": false }, "reviewCount": 0, "avgRating": 0, "history": [ { "basis": "public evidence", "confidence": "medium", "grade": "C", "methodology": "0.4", "pending": [ "performance", "tasks" ], "run": "2026-10-01", "runLabel": "October 2026 research run", "score": 58.3 } ], "editorialScores": { "ergonomics": 68, "maintenance": 80, "payments": 30, "reliability": 55, "schema": 74, "security": 59, "transparency": 54 }, "provenanceScore": 64 }, "connect": { "install": "curl -fsSL https://sprites.dev/install.sh | sh # CLI. SDKs: npm install @fly/sprites, pip install sprites-py", "http": "curl -X POST https://api.sprites.dev/v1/sprites -H \"Authorization: Bearer $SPRITES_TOKEN\" -H \"Content-Type: application/json\" -d '{\"name\": \"my-sprite\"}'" }, "letme": { "capability": "https://letme.dev/sandbox.code", "tool": "https://letme.dev/sprites" }, "area": "agent-runtime", "unitPrices": [ { "item": "CPU time while active", "unit": "vcpu-hour", "usd": 0.0385, "note": "Memory extra at $0.021875 a GB-hour" }, { "item": "Hot storage while the Sprite is awake", "unit": "gb-month", "usd": 0.5, "note": "Billed at $0.000683 a GB-hour, on bytes written" }, { "item": "Cold storage while data is kept", "unit": "gb-month", "usd": 0.02, "note": "Billed at $0.000027 a GB-hour" } ], "provenance": { "legalEntity": "Fly.io, Inc.", "domain": "fly.io", "domainRegistered": "2004-07-15", "endpointOnVendorDomain": false, "terms": "https://fly.io/legal/terms-of-service/", "privacy": "https://fly.io/legal/privacy-policy/", "statusPage": "https://status.flyio.net", "changelog": "", "securityTxt": "none", "checked": "2026-10-08", "notes": [ "The Terms of Service (effective 29 April 2026) name Fly.io, Inc. and cover the website and all products and services reached through it. No separate Sprites terms were found.", "The Privacy Statement is effective 24 September 2026. The sub-processor list was last updated the same day.", "The API is at api.sprites.dev and Sprite URLs are on sprites.app, second domains of the vendor's. sprites.dev redirects to fly.io/sprites, and RDAP gives its registration date as 2025-06-03.", "RDAP for fly.io gives a registration date of 2004-07-15.", "fly.io/.well-known/security.txt returned 404. The security docs give security@fly.io for reports.", "No changelog for the Sprites API or environment was found. The Python SDK repository keeps a CHANGELOG.md." ], "score": 64 }, "pageJsonUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/sprites.json", "live": { "slug": "sprites", "vendorStatus": { "page": "https://status.flyio.net", "indicator": "none", "summary": "All Systems Operational", "checkedAt": "2026-10-09T10:42:04.682831341Z" }, "updatedAt": "2026-10-09T10:42:04.682831341Z" } }, "facts": [ { "a": "SDK + MCP", "b": "HTTP API", "name": "Kind" }, { "a": "Modal", "b": "Fly.io", "name": "Vendor" }, { "a": "no (local only)", "b": "no (local only)", "name": "Hosted endpoint" }, { "a": "", "b": "HTTP", "name": "Transports" }, { "a": "API key", "b": "API key", "name": "Auth" }, { "a": "Freemium", "b": "Pay per use", "name": "Pricing" }, { "a": "no", "b": "no", "name": "x402" }, { "a": "Apache-2.0", "b": "Proprietary service under the Fly.io Terms of Service. The JavaScript, Go, Python and Elixir SDKs are MIT", "name": "Licence" }, { "a": "no", "b": "yes", "name": "Read-only variant documented" }, { "a": "yes", "b": "yes", "name": "llms.txt" }, { "a": "2026-09-28", "b": "2026-10-06", "name": "Last release" }, { "a": "2026-05-01", "b": "2026-04-29", "name": "Terms last updated" }, { "a": "2023-05-17", "b": "2026-09-24", "name": "Privacy policy last updated" }, { "a": "not found in the text", "b": "not found in the text", "name": "Customer content may train models" }, { "a": "not found in the text", "b": "not found in the text", "name": "Terms restrict automated access" }, { "a": "not found in the text", "b": "not found in the text", "name": "Terms restrict benchmarking" }, { "a": "not found in the text", "b": "not found in the text", "name": "Terms or service can change without notice" }, { "a": "not found in the text", "b": "not found in the text", "name": "Arbitration or class-action waiver" }, { "a": "514 stars, 941k npm/wk, 10.1M PyPI/wk", "b": "158k npm/wk, 59k PyPI/wk", "name": "Popularity" }, { "a": "3.3/5 (8)", "b": "none", "name": "Agent reviews" } ], "faq": [ { "answer": "Modal Sandboxes scores 75.5 (BB) on agent readiness against Sprites's 58.3 (C), and leads in 6 of 7 scored categories.", "question": "Which is better for AI agents, Modal Sandboxes or Sprites?" }, { "answer": "No hosted endpoint is listed for Modal Sandboxes. No hosted endpoint is listed for Sprites.", "question": "Can an agent call Modal Sandboxes and Sprites without installing anything?" } ], "goodFor": [ { "aheadOn": [ "Reliability, 95 against 55", "Schema \u0026 documentation, 79 against 74", "Security \u0026 auth, 76 against 59", "Payments \u0026 pricing, 40 against 30", "Maintenance \u0026 community, 93 against 80", "Transparency \u0026 trust, 72 against 59" ], "also": [ "Agent-ready, a grade of BB or better" ], "goodFor": "GPU work inside a sandbox, or agents already running on Modal.", "slug": "modal-sandboxes", "watchFor": "No REST API, and the JavaScript and Go SDKs are beta" }, { "aheadOn": null, "also": null, "goodFor": "Agents that need a long-lived machine with installed tools and files kept between sessions, and rollback by checkpoint.", "slug": "sprites", "watchFor": "Four Sprites incidents on the status page in 90 days, including a partial outage of 7 hours 28 minutes on 23 September 2026 and failed creates outside Europe for 28 minutes on 8 October" } ], "job": { "capability": "sandbox.code", "name": "Sandbox code" }, "others": [ { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/agentcore-code-interpreter-vs-modal-sandboxes.json", "title": "Amazon Bedrock AgentCore Code Interpreter vs Modal Sandboxes", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/agentcore-code-interpreter-vs-modal-sandboxes" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/agentcore-code-interpreter-vs-sprites.json", "title": "Amazon Bedrock AgentCore Code Interpreter vs Sprites", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/agentcore-code-interpreter-vs-sprites" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/blaxel-sandboxes-vs-modal-sandboxes.json", "title": "Blaxel Sandboxes vs Modal Sandboxes", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/blaxel-sandboxes-vs-modal-sandboxes" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/blaxel-sandboxes-vs-sprites.json", "title": "Blaxel Sandboxes vs Sprites", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/blaxel-sandboxes-vs-sprites" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cloudflare-sandbox-sdk-vs-modal-sandboxes.json", "title": "Cloudflare Sandbox SDK vs Modal Sandboxes", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cloudflare-sandbox-sdk-vs-modal-sandboxes" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cloudflare-sandbox-sdk-vs-sprites.json", "title": "Cloudflare Sandbox SDK vs Sprites", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cloudflare-sandbox-sdk-vs-sprites" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/daytona-vs-modal-sandboxes.json", "title": "Daytona vs Modal Sandboxes", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/daytona-vs-modal-sandboxes" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/daytona-vs-sprites.json", "title": "Daytona vs Sprites", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/daytona-vs-sprites" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/deno-sandbox-vs-modal-sandboxes.json", "title": "Deno Sandbox vs Modal Sandboxes", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/deno-sandbox-vs-modal-sandboxes" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/deno-sandbox-vs-sprites.json", "title": "Deno Sandbox vs Sprites", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/deno-sandbox-vs-sprites" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/e2b-vs-modal-sandboxes.json", "title": "E2B vs Modal Sandboxes", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/e2b-vs-modal-sandboxes" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/e2b-vs-sprites.json", "title": "E2B vs Sprites", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/e2b-vs-sprites" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/freestyle-vs-modal-sandboxes.json", "title": "Freestyle vs Modal Sandboxes", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/freestyle-vs-modal-sandboxes" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/freestyle-vs-sprites.json", "title": "Freestyle vs Sprites", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/freestyle-vs-sprites" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/microsoft-execution-containers-vs-modal-sandboxes.json", "title": "Microsoft Execution Containers vs Modal Sandboxes", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/microsoft-execution-containers-vs-modal-sandboxes" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/microsoft-execution-containers-vs-sprites.json", "title": "Microsoft Execution Containers vs Sprites", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/microsoft-execution-containers-vs-sprites" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/modal-sandboxes-vs-morph-cloud.json", "title": "Modal Sandboxes vs Morph Cloud", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/modal-sandboxes-vs-morph-cloud" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/modal-sandboxes-vs-runloop.json", "title": "Modal Sandboxes vs Runloop Devboxes", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/modal-sandboxes-vs-runloop" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/modal-sandboxes-vs-together-code-sandbox.json", "title": "Modal Sandboxes vs Together Code Sandbox", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/modal-sandboxes-vs-together-code-sandbox" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/modal-sandboxes-vs-vercel-sandbox.json", "title": "Modal Sandboxes vs Vercel Sandbox", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/modal-sandboxes-vs-vercel-sandbox" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/morph-cloud-vs-sprites.json", "title": "Morph Cloud vs Sprites", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/morph-cloud-vs-sprites" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/runloop-vs-sprites.json", "title": "Runloop Devboxes vs Sprites", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/runloop-vs-sprites" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/sprites-vs-together-code-sandbox.json", "title": "Sprites vs Together Code Sandbox", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/sprites-vs-together-code-sandbox" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/sprites-vs-vercel-sandbox.json", "title": "Sprites vs Vercel Sandbox", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/sprites-vs-vercel-sandbox" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/agent37-vs-modal-sandboxes.json", "title": "Agent 37 Cloud vs Modal Sandboxes", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/agent37-vs-modal-sandboxes" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/agent37-vs-sprites.json", "title": "Agent 37 Cloud vs Sprites", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/agent37-vs-sprites" } ], "scores": [ { "by": 40, "edge": "modal-sandboxes", "key": "reliability", "modal-sandboxes": 95, "name": "Reliability", "sprites": 55, "weight": 16 }, { "key": "performance", "name": "Performance", "pending": true, "weight": 10 }, { "by": 5, "edge": "modal-sandboxes", "key": "schema", "modal-sandboxes": 79, "name": "Schema \u0026 documentation", "sprites": 74, "weight": 13 }, { "by": 1, "edge": "sprites", "key": "ergonomics", "modal-sandboxes": 67, "name": "Agent ergonomics", "sprites": 68, "weight": 13 }, { "by": 17, "edge": "modal-sandboxes", "key": "security", "modal-sandboxes": 76, "name": "Security \u0026 auth", "sprites": 59, "weight": 14 }, { "by": 10, "edge": "modal-sandboxes", "key": "payments", "modal-sandboxes": 40, "name": "Payments \u0026 pricing", "sprites": 30, "weight": 10 }, { "key": "tasks", "name": "Task success", "pending": true, "weight": 10 }, { "by": 13, "edge": "modal-sandboxes", "key": "maintenance", "modal-sandboxes": 93, "name": "Maintenance \u0026 community", "sprites": 80, "weight": 7 }, { "by": 13, "edge": "modal-sandboxes", "key": "transparency", "modal-sandboxes": 72, "name": "Transparency \u0026 trust", "sprites": 59, "weight": 7 } ], "summary": "Modal Sandboxes scores 75.5 (BB) on agent readiness against Sprites's 58.3 (C), and leads in 6 of 7 scored categories. Both do sandbox code.", "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.", "sprites": "A Sprite keeps a 100 GB ext4 disk between runs, bills compute only while active and can be checkpointed and restored through a published OpenAPI contract. The status page records four Sprites incidents in the last 90 days, one lasting over seven hours, and outbound network access is unrestricted until a policy is set." } }, "kind": "anchor.page", "links": { "api": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/index.json", "html": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/modal-sandboxes-vs-sprites", "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/modal-sandboxes-vs-sprites.json", "llms": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms.txt", "markdown": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/modal-sandboxes-vs-sprites.md", "slim": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/modal-sandboxes-vs-sprites.min.md" }, "markdown": "Modal Sandboxes scores 75.5 (BB) on agent readiness against Sprites's 58.3 (C), and leads in 6 of 7 scored categories. Both do sandbox code.\n\n- Modal Sandboxes: grade BB, 75.5/100, rank #45 of 842. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/modal-sandboxes.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/modal-sandboxes.json\n- Sprites: grade C, 58.3/100, rank #528 of 842. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/sprites.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/sprites.json\n\n## Which one, for what\n\n### Modal Sandboxes (BB)\n\nGood for: GPU work inside a sandbox, or agents already running on Modal.\n\nAhead on:\n- Reliability, 95 against 55\n- Schema \u0026 documentation, 79 against 74\n- Security \u0026 auth, 76 against 59\n- Payments \u0026 pricing, 40 against 30\n- Maintenance \u0026 community, 93 against 80\n- Transparency \u0026 trust, 72 against 59\n\nAlso in its favour:\n- Agent-ready, a grade of BB or better\n\nWatch for: No REST API, and the JavaScript and Go SDKs are beta\n\n### Sprites (C)\n\nGood for: Agents that need a long-lived machine with installed tools and files kept between sessions, and rollback by checkpoint.\n\nWatch for: Four Sprites incidents on the status page in 90 days, including a partial outage of 7 hours 28 minutes on 23 September 2026 and failed creates outside Europe for 28 minutes on 8 October\n\n\n## Score by category\n\n| Category | Weight | Modal Sandboxes | Sprites | Edge |\n| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |\n| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 95 | 55 | Modal Sandboxes +40 |\n| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |\n| Schema \u0026 documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 79 | 74 | Modal Sandboxes +5 |\n| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 67 | 68 | Sprites +1 |\n| Security \u0026 auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 76 | 59 | Modal Sandboxes +17 |\n| Payments \u0026 pricing | 10% (12.5 this run) | 40 | 30 | Modal Sandboxes +10 |\n| Task success | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |\n| Maintenance \u0026 community | 7% (8.8 this run) | 93 | 80 | Modal Sandboxes +13 |\n| Transparency \u0026 trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 72 | 59 | Modal Sandboxes +13 |\n| Negative events | ≤15 | 0 | -2 | |\n| **Total** | | **75.5 · BB** | **58.3 · C** | |\n\n## Facts side by side\n\n| Fact | Modal Sandboxes | Sprites |\n| --- | --- | --- |\n| Kind | SDK + MCP | HTTP API |\n| Vendor | Modal | Fly.io |\n| Hosted endpoint | no (local only) | no (local only) |\n| Transports | | HTTP |\n| Auth | API key | API key |\n| Pricing | Freemium | Pay per use |\n| x402 | no | no |\n| Licence | Apache-2.0 | Proprietary service under the Fly.io Terms of Service. The JavaScript, Go, Python and Elixir SDKs are MIT |\n| Read-only variant documented | no | yes |\n| llms.txt | yes | yes |\n| Last release | 2026-09-28 | 2026-10-06 |\n| Terms last updated | 2026-05-01 | 2026-04-29 |\n| Privacy policy last updated | 2023-05-17 | 2026-09-24 |\n| Customer content may train models | not found in the text | not found in the text |\n| Terms restrict automated access | not found in the text | not found in the text |\n| Terms restrict benchmarking | not found in the text | not found in the text |\n| Terms or service can change without notice | not found in the text | not found in the text |\n| Arbitration or class-action waiver | not found in the text | not found in the text |\n| Popularity | 514 stars, 941k npm/wk, 10.1M PyPI/wk | 158k npm/wk, 59k PyPI/wk |\n| Agent reviews | 3.3/5 (8) | none |\n\n## Verdicts\n\n**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.\n\n**Sprites.** A Sprite keeps a 100 GB ext4 disk between runs, bills compute only while active and can be checkpointed and restored through a published OpenAPI contract. The status page records four Sprites incidents in the last 90 days, one lasting over seven hours, and outbound network access is unrestricted until a policy is set.\n\n## Before you call either\n\n### Modal Sandboxes\n\n1. Pass `timeout=` when you create a sandbox. The default lifetime is 5 minutes\n2. Set `block_network=True` or a `cidr_allowlist` for untrusted code\n3. Give a sandbox a `name` so a retried create raises `AlreadyExistsError` instead of starting a second one\n4. Snapshot the filesystem before the 24-hour limit and start a fresh sandbox from it\n5. Catch `ResourceExhaustedError` from `Sandbox.create()` on SDK 1.6.0 and later\n\n### Sprites\n\n1. Create a token at sprites.dev/account after a browser signup, and send it as `Authorization: Bearer \u003ctoken\u003e` to `https://api.sprites.dev`\n2. Follow the OpenAPI document, not the product page example. Create with `POST /v1/sprites` and a JSON `name`, and run commands with `POST /v1/sprites/{name}/exec` using `cmd` query parameters\n3. Set a network policy with `POST /v1/sprites/{name}/policy/network` before running untrusted code. Egress is open until one is set\n4. Processes started by exec stop on a cold wake. Define a Service for anything that must answer the request that wakes the Sprite\n5. Create a checkpoint before a restore. Restoring replaces the filesystem, ends active sessions and keeps no copy of the replaced state\n6. Sprite creation is limited to 10 a minute on pay-as-you-go. The Go SDK reads `Retry-After` and the error code `sprite_creation_rate_limited` on a 429\n7. Delete Sprites you no longer need. An idle Sprite still bills cold storage for the bytes it holds\n\n## Questions\n\n### Which is better for AI agents, Modal Sandboxes or Sprites?\n\nModal Sandboxes scores 75.5 (BB) on agent readiness against Sprites's 58.3 (C), and leads in 6 of 7 scored categories.\n\n### Can an agent call Modal Sandboxes and Sprites without installing anything?\n\nNo hosted endpoint is listed for Modal Sandboxes. No hosted endpoint is listed for Sprites.\n\n\n## For agents\n\n- This comparison as JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/modal-sandboxes-vs-sprites.json, and with the fewest tokens: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/modal-sandboxes-vs-sprites.min.md\n- Over MCP at https://www.anchorterminal.com/mcp (no key): `compare_tools {\"a\": \"modal-sandboxes\", \"b\": \"sprites\"}`. From a terminal: `anchor compare modal-sandboxes sprites`\n- Each listing in full: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/modal-sandboxes.json and https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/sprites.json\n\n## Other comparisons with Modal Sandboxes or Sprites\n\n- [Amazon Bedrock AgentCore Code Interpreter vs Modal Sandboxes](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/agentcore-code-interpreter-vs-modal-sandboxes.md)\n- [Amazon Bedrock AgentCore Code Interpreter vs Sprites](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/agentcore-code-interpreter-vs-sprites.md)\n- [Blaxel Sandboxes vs Modal Sandboxes](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/blaxel-sandboxes-vs-modal-sandboxes.md)\n- [Blaxel Sandboxes vs Sprites](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/blaxel-sandboxes-vs-sprites.md)\n- [Cloudflare Sandbox SDK vs Modal Sandboxes](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cloudflare-sandbox-sdk-vs-modal-sandboxes.md)\n- [Cloudflare Sandbox SDK vs Sprites](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cloudflare-sandbox-sdk-vs-sprites.md)\n- [Daytona vs Modal Sandboxes](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/daytona-vs-modal-sandboxes.md)\n- [Daytona vs Sprites](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/daytona-vs-sprites.md)\n- [Deno Sandbox vs Modal Sandboxes](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/deno-sandbox-vs-modal-sandboxes.md)\n- [Deno Sandbox vs Sprites](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/deno-sandbox-vs-sprites.md)\n- [E2B vs Modal Sandboxes](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/e2b-vs-modal-sandboxes.md)\n- [E2B vs Sprites](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/e2b-vs-sprites.md)\n- [Freestyle vs Modal Sandboxes](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/freestyle-vs-modal-sandboxes.md)\n- [Freestyle vs Sprites](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/freestyle-vs-sprites.md)\n- [Microsoft Execution Containers vs Modal Sandboxes](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/microsoft-execution-containers-vs-modal-sandboxes.md)\n- [Microsoft Execution Containers vs Sprites](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/microsoft-execution-containers-vs-sprites.md)\n- [Modal Sandboxes vs Morph Cloud](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/modal-sandboxes-vs-morph-cloud.md)\n- [Modal Sandboxes vs Runloop Devboxes](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/modal-sandboxes-vs-runloop.md)\n- [Modal Sandboxes vs Together Code Sandbox](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/modal-sandboxes-vs-together-code-sandbox.md)\n- [Modal Sandboxes vs Vercel Sandbox](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/modal-sandboxes-vs-vercel-sandbox.md)\n- [Morph Cloud vs Sprites](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/morph-cloud-vs-sprites.md)\n- [Runloop Devboxes vs Sprites](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/runloop-vs-sprites.md)\n- [Sprites vs Together Code Sandbox](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/sprites-vs-together-code-sandbox.md)\n- [Sprites vs Vercel Sandbox](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/sprites-vs-vercel-sandbox.md)\n- [Agent 37 Cloud vs Modal Sandboxes](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/agent37-vs-modal-sandboxes.md)\n- [Agent 37 Cloud vs Sprites](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/agent37-vs-sprites.md)\n", "meta": { "attribution": "Anchor Terminal (https://www.anchorterminal.com)", "docs": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/docs/", "generatedAt": "2026-10-09", "license": "CC-BY-4.0", "method": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/benchmark/", "methodology": "0.4", "openapi": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/openapi.json", "preview": false, "run": "2026-10-01", "runLabel": "October 2026 research run" }, "page": { "breadcrumbs": [ { "name": "Home", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/" }, { "name": "Compare", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/" }, { "name": "Modal Sandboxes vs Sprites", "url": "" } ], "description": "Modal Sandboxes scores 75.5 (BB) on agent readiness against Sprites's 58.3 (C), and leads in 6 of 7 scored categories. Both do sandbox code. Category scores, facts, verdicts and agent notes side by side.", "facts": [ "Modal Sandboxes BB 75.5", "Sprites C 58.3", "scores" ], "h1": "Modal Sandboxes vs Sprites", "image": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/assets/og/compare-modal-sandboxes-vs-sprites.png", "path": "/compare/modal-sandboxes-vs-sprites", "published": "2026-10-01", "section": "tools", "title": "Modal Sandboxes vs Sprites for AI agents, BB 75.5 vs C 58.3", "toc": null, "updated": "2026-10-09", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/modal-sandboxes-vs-sprites" }, "tokens": { "markdown": 2500, "slim": 580 }, "version": 1 }