Runloop alternatives
Updated
Runloop's transition support ends November 13, 2026. Six Runloop alternatives for agent devboxes (Prized, Tensorlake, Modal, Freestyle, Daytona and E2B) with when each fits better, each fact from the vendor's own pages, checked October 28, 2026.
On this page10
Runloop is winding down, with transition support for existing customers through November 13, 2026 at 11:59 PM PT (Runloop's notice). Its own transition guides point to Tensorlake, Modal and Freestyle, and map Reflex to OpenAI's Agents API.
A Runloop devbox keeps only its disk through a suspend (processes start again on resume), builds from a blueprint (a Dockerfile), and lives 1 hour unless you set a keep-alive or an idle policy. The alternatives differ in what survives a pause, whether you bring your own image, and how long a run can last.
Pick one
- MicroVMs that pause with their memory and running processes, fork into live copies, and run up to 7 days, for less per hour than Runloop: Prized. A sandbox runs 24 hours by default and up to 7 days, extendable, and Runloop's common devbox calls each have a Prized one (Moving from Runloop). Not there yet: your own image or Dockerfile, root, Docker, tunnels or preview links to ports, egress rules, arm64, GPUs, and regions other than Oregon (Not yet); for root, Docker and no run time limit, a Prized box is a whole VM in one of five regions.
- Your Dockerfile, with a suspend that keeps memory: Tensorlake. MicroVMs built from a Dockerfile or code; a named sandbox suspends with its processes; GPU sandboxes on request, and sandboxes in your own AWS account.
- GPUs, or a Python stack already on Modal: Modal. gVisor or a VM runtime (Docker runs on the VM one); up to 24 hours a sandbox; images from a Dockerfile. $30 of free credit every month.
- A persistent VM that pauses with its memory and forks while running: Freestyle. Full Linux VMs with root, billed for storage only while paused; Runloop customers get $1,000 of credit, good for 12 months, and a month of its Hobby plan through Runloop's guide.
- No run time limit, GPUs, or Windows: Daytona. Containers by default; Linux VM sandboxes pause with their memory and fork. $200 of free compute.
- Firecracker with templates from your Dockerfile: E2B. Sandboxes pause with their memory and fork; up to 24 hours a session on Pro, at $150 a month, and multi-day sessions or your own cloud (BYOC) on Enterprise.
Side by side
| Isolation | Longest run | What a pause keeps | 2 vCPU and 4 GB, an hour | Free use | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Runloop, winding down | microVM with a container inside | 1 hour by default; you set a keep-alive or an idle policy | The disk; processes start again | $0.320 (Medium, 8 GB disk), plus $250 a month on Pro | Winding down |
| Prized sandboxes | Firecracker microVM | 7 days at a time, 24 hours by default, extendable (60 minutes of running in all on the free tier) | Memory, processes and files, on the machine it ran on, until you delete it (30 days after last use on the free tier) | $0.131, 10 GB disk included | $30 of credit once, no card |
| Prized boxes | Dedicated x86_64 VM, with root and Docker | No maximum; on the free credit, a box pauses after 2 idle hours | Files; memory and processes too on Nano to Small, for up to 3 days | $0.034 (Micro, burstable CPU, 80 GB disk included) | The same $30 of credit, for one box from Nano to Small |
| Tensorlake | Cloud Hypervisor microVM | An idle timeout: up to 2 hours on Free, 24 on prepaid credits, unlimited on Pro | Memory, processes and files, for a named sandbox | $0.202 busy, $0.062 idle; on Pro ($250 a month), $0.121 and $0.037 | 1 sandbox at a time, 1 vCPU and 1 GB, on Free |
| Modal | gVisor; VM runtime optional | 24 hours; 5 minutes by default | Filesystem snapshots; memory snapshots in alpha | $0.238 (a core is 2 vCPU) | $30 a month on Starter |
| Freestyle | Full Linux VM | No limit listed; pauses after an idle timeout you set | Memory, processes and files | $0.132, plus disk | 200 vCPU-hours and 400 GB-hours of memory a month; $1,000 for Runloop customers |
| Daytona | Container; Linux VM sandboxes optional | No limit; stops after 15 idle minutes by default | Files; memory too on VM sandboxes, which pause | $0.166 | $200 of compute, no card |
| E2B | Firecracker microVM | 1 hour on Hobby, 24 hours on Pro; a pause resets it | Memory and files, until you delete it | $0.166 | $100 of credit once, no card |
Prices are pay-as-you-go list prices for a running machine, before plans and discounts. Runloop, Prized, Modal, Freestyle, Daytona and E2B bill the vCPU and memory you ask for, busy or idle; Tensorlake bills CPU only while it works. A Prized box meters its hour against a monthly plan's credit, from $10 a month (Billing).
In place of a blueprint, Tensorlake, Modal and E2B build images or templates from a Dockerfile, Daytona builds snapshots from one, and Freestyle snapshots a VM you set up. On Prized, fork a set-up sandbox for each run, or use Docker on a box.
Moving to Prized
- Make a key: on the API keys page, with Sandboxes: Write; sign-up comes with $30 of free credit and no card.
- Swap the calls: Moving from Runloop has the Prized command and HTTP route for the common devbox calls, a short ported script, and what is not on Prized yet.
- Replace the blueprint: set up one sandbox and fork it for each run (Use a sandbox as your own template); a parent's machine holds a limited number of copies, so for wide runs set up more than one (Fork). For root, apt or Docker, use a box.
Common questions
What is the best Runloop alternative?
For devbox-style runs with a pause that keeps memory and forks into live copies, at less than half Runloop's hourly rate: Prized. To keep building from your Dockerfile: Tensorlake, Modal, E2B or Daytona. For GPUs: Tensorlake, Modal or Daytona. Runloop's own guides name Tensorlake, Modal and Freestyle.
When does Runloop shut down?
Runloop says it is winding down its services, with transition support for existing customers through November 13, 2026 at 11:59 PM PT; it has not published a date the service itself stops, so plan to have moved by then. The notice says nothing about refunds; ask Runloop's support.
Can I move my devboxes, blueprints and snapshots?
Not directly: Runloop's transition guides say devbox IDs, blueprints, snapshots and Axon data don't transfer automatically. Download the files you need with devbox.file.download() by 11:59 PM PT on November 13, then rebuild the environment where you land; on Prized, copy them in with prized sandbox cp, up to 100 MiB a file (Limits).
Which alternative keeps running processes through a pause?
Runloop's suspend kept only the disk. Prized, Tensorlake's named sandboxes, Freestyle, E2B and Daytona's VM sandboxes pause with memory and processes; Modal's memory snapshots are in alpha. A paused Prized sandbox is held on the machine it ran on, so keep what you can't lose outside it (Pause and resume).
Where do I run Harbor benchmarks instead of Runloop?
Runloop's guides replace its discontinued Benchmarks with Harbor, whose sandbox providers include Daytona, Modal, E2B and Tensorlake; Prized is not one of them. Harbor also runs a benchmark locally with Docker, which a Prized box has.
Sources
Checked October 28, 2026:
- Runloop: transition guides (the notice, the three platforms, Reflex), home page (isolation), lifecycle (suspend keeps the disk), lifetime (1 hour default), sizes (Medium's rate), pricing, blueprints, files, Freestyle guide (what doesn't transfer, the $1,000 offer), Modal guide (Benchmarks to Harbor).
- Tensorlake: pricing and billing, lifecycle (suspend, timeouts), sandboxes FAQ (Cloud Hypervisor), images, GPU sandboxes, BYOC on AWS.
- Modal: pricing (sandbox rates, Starter credit), sandboxes (timeouts, runtimes), snapshots, images.
- Freestyle: pricing and limits, VM lifecycle (pause keeps memory), VMs (live forking).
- Daytona: pricing, sandboxes (auto-stop, VM, Windows and GPU sandboxes), snapshots.
- E2B: pricing (plans, rates, session length, BYOC), persistence.
- Harbor: sandbox providers, README (local Docker).
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