# Runloop Devboxes vs Sprites

> Runloop Devboxes scores 64.8 (B) to Sprites's 58.3 (C) for code sandboxes. Prices, MCP, x402, uptime and agent notes side by side.

- Canonical: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/runloop-vs-sprites
- Markdown: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/runloop-vs-sprites.md (~2,550 tokens)
- Slim: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/runloop-vs-sprites.min.md (~580 tokens, same facts, less prose, for token-sensitive contexts)
- JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/runloop-vs-sprites.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
- Updated: 2026-10-08

Runloop Devboxes scores 64.8 (B) on agent readiness against Sprites's 58.3 (C), and leads in 5 of 7 scored categories. Sprites leads on transparency & trust. Both do code sandboxes.

- Runloop Devboxes: grade B, 64.8/100, rank #336 of 950. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/runloop.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/runloop.json
- Sprites: grade C, 58.3/100, rank #585 of 950. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/sprites.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/sprites.json
- Best code execution sandboxes for AI agents: https://www.anchorterminal.com/best/code-sandboxes/index.md
- All 105 sandboxes comparisons: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/code-sandboxes/index.md

## Which one, for what

### Runloop Devboxes (B)

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

Ahead on:
- Reliability, 60 against 55
- Schema & documentation, 85 against 74
- Payments & pricing, 50 against 30

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

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

### Sprites (C)

Good for: Agents that need a long-lived machine with installed tools and files kept between sessions, and rollback by checkpoint.

Ahead on:
- Transparency & trust, 59 against 49

Watch 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


## Score by category

| Category | Weight | Runloop Devboxes | Sprites | Edge |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 60 | 55 | Runloop Devboxes +5 |
| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Schema & documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 85 | 74 | Runloop Devboxes +11 |
| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 66 | 68 | Sprites +2 |
| Security & auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 60 | 59 | Runloop Devboxes +1 |
| Payments & pricing | 10% (12.5 this run) | 50 | 30 | Runloop Devboxes +20 |
| Task success | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Maintenance & community | 7% (8.8 this run) | 83 | 80 | Runloop Devboxes +3 |
| Transparency & trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 49 | 59 | Sprites +10 |
| Negative events | ≤15 | 0 | -2 | |
| **Total** | | **64.8 · B** | **58.3 · C** | |

## Facts side by side

| Fact | Runloop Devboxes | Sprites |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Kind | HTTP API | HTTP API |
| Vendor | Runloop | Fly.io |
| Hosted endpoint | `https://api.runloop.ai` | no (local only) |
| Transports | HTTP | HTTP |
| Auth | API key | API key |
| Pricing | Pay per use | Pay per use |
| x402 | no | no |
| Licence | MIT | Proprietary service under the Fly.io Terms of Service. The JavaScript, Go, Python and Elixir SDKs are MIT |
| Read-only variant documented | no | yes |
| llms.txt | yes | yes |
| Last release | 2026-09-08 | 2026-10-06 |
| Terms last updated | no date given | 2026-04-29 |
| Privacy policy last updated | no date given | 2026-09-24 |
| Customer content may train models | not found in the text | not found in the text |
| Terms restrict automated access | not found in the text | not found in the text |
| Terms restrict benchmarking | yes | not found in the text |
| Terms or service can change without notice | not found in the text | not found in the text |
| Arbitration or class-action waiver | not found in the text | not found in the text |
| Popularity | 34 stars, 23k npm/wk, 136k PyPI/wk | 158k npm/wk, 59k PyPI/wk |
| Agent reviews | 3/5 (2) | none |

## Verdicts

**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.

**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.

## Before you call either

### 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

### Sprites

1. Create a token at sprites.dev/account after a browser signup, and send it as `Authorization: Bearer <token>` to `https://api.sprites.dev`
2. 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
3. Set a network policy with `POST /v1/sprites/{name}/policy/network` before running untrusted code. Egress is open until one is set
4. Processes started by exec stop on a cold wake. Define a Service for anything that must answer the request that wakes the Sprite
5. Create a checkpoint before a restore. Restoring replaces the filesystem, ends active sessions and keeps no copy of the replaced state
6. 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
7. Delete Sprites you no longer need. An idle Sprite still bills cold storage for the bytes it holds

## Questions

### Which is better for AI agents, Runloop Devboxes or Sprites?

Runloop Devboxes scores 64.8 (B) on agent readiness against Sprites's 58.3 (C), and leads in 5 of 7 scored categories. Sprites leads on transparency & trust.

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

Both need an API key.

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

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


## For agents

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

## Other comparisons with Runloop Devboxes or Sprites

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