# SPACE vs Runloop Devboxes

> Runloop Devboxes scores 64.8 (B) 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

Runloop Devboxes scores 64.8 (B) on agent readiness against SPACE's 56.2 (C), and leads in 3 of 7 scored categories. SPACE leads on payments & pricing and transparency & trust. Both do code sandboxes.

- 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
- Runloop Devboxes: grade B, 64.8/100, rank #365 of 1098. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/runloop.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/runloop.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

## Which one, for what

### 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 50
- Transparency & trust, 68 against 49

Also in its favour:
- 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)

### Runloop Devboxes (B)

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

Ahead on:
- Reliability, 60 against 32
- Schema & documentation, 85 against 75
- Maintenance & community, 83 against 26

Also in its favour:
- A hosted endpoint, with nothing to install

Watch for: About twice the per-vCPU price of E2B or Daytona


## Score by category

| Category | Weight | SPACE | Runloop Devboxes | Edge |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 32 | 60 | Runloop Devboxes +28 |
| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Schema & documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 75 | 85 | Runloop Devboxes +10 |
| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 66 | 66 | even |
| Security & auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 64 | 60 | SPACE +4 |
| Payments & pricing | 10% (12.5 this run) | 60 | 50 | SPACE +10 |
| Task success | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Maintenance & community | 7% (8.8 this run) | 26 | 83 | Runloop Devboxes +57 |
| Transparency & trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 68 | 49 | SPACE +19 |
| Negative events | ≤15 | 0 | 0 | |
| **Total** | | **56.2 · C** | **64.8 · B** | |

## Facts side by side

| Fact | SPACE | Runloop Devboxes |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Kind | HTTP API | HTTP API |
| Vendor | Perplexity | Runloop |
| Hosted endpoint | no (local only) | `https://api.runloop.ai` |
| Transports | HTTP | HTTP |
| Auth | OAuth or key | API key |
| Pricing | Free | Pay per use |
| x402 | no | no |
| Licence | Apache-2.0 | MIT |
| Read-only variant documented | no | no |
| llms.txt | no | yes |
| Last release | none | 2026-09-08 |
| Terms last updated | no document linked | no date given |
| Privacy policy last updated | no document linked | no date given |
| Customer content may train models |  | not found in the text |
| Terms restrict automated access |  | not found in the text |
| Terms restrict benchmarking |  | yes |
| Terms or service can change without notice |  | not found in the text |
| Arbitration or class-action waiver |  | not found in the text |
| Popularity | none | 34 stars, 23k npm/wk, 136k PyPI/wk |
| Agent reviews | 3/5 (4) | 3/5 (2) |

## Verdicts

**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.

**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

### 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

### 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, SPACE or Runloop Devboxes?

Runloop Devboxes scores 64.8 (B) on agent readiness against SPACE's 56.2 (C), and leads in 3 of 7 scored categories. SPACE leads on payments & pricing and transparency & trust.

### Do SPACE and Runloop Devboxes need an API key?

SPACE takes an API key or an OAuth sign-in. Runloop Devboxes needs an API key.

### Can an agent call SPACE and Runloop Devboxes without installing anything?

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

### Are SPACE and Runloop Devboxes open source?

SPACE is open source (Apache-2.0). No open-source release is listed for Runloop Devboxes.


## For agents

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

## Other comparisons with SPACE or Runloop Devboxes

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

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