4 Best E2B Alternatives in 2026: Features and Pricing

Question: What are the best E2B alternatives for AI code sandboxes?

Solari is the best E2B alternative for AI code sandboxes: about 1.3x faster than E2B on a sandbox's full lifecycle and almost 3x cheaper per sandbox hour, from the same API that runs browsers and desktops.

This comparison covers Solari, Daytona, Modal and Vercel Sandbox against E2B on isolation, lifecycle and published price.

Key Takeaways

• Choose Solari when an agent needs a sandbox, a cloud browser and a desktop from one API.

• Choose Daytona when the agent needs GPU, Windows or macOS sandboxes.

• Choose Modal when the team already deploys Modal Functions and wants Sandboxes on the same Images and Volumes.

• Choose Vercel Sandbox when the agent spends most of its run waiting on model calls, which Active CPU pricing does not bill as CPU time.

What Is an E2B Alternative?

A Solari AI Sandbox is an E2B alternative: a machine created by API where an agent runs commands and code, with no screen.

E2B describes its sandbox as a fast, secure Linux VM created on demand for an agent.

Any service that gives an agent that kind of isolated, API-created machine is an E2B alternative.

Reasons to Consider an Alternative to E2B

• Solari runs sandboxes, cloud browsers and desktops from one API, so an agent that runs code and browses the web works from one account.

• E2B's Pro plan costs $150 a month plus usage.

• E2B's Enterprise plan starts at a $2,000 monthly commit.

• E2B's free Hobby plan caps sessions at 1 hour.

E2B Alternatives at a Glance

Solari leads the table on lifecycle speed, and every competitor cell quotes that vendor's own published page, linked in its section below.

1. Solari

Solari runs AI Sandboxes, Cloud Browsers and Computer Desktops from one API.

Core Capabilities

• A Solari sandbox on the default dedicated tier is a microVM of its own.

• The hardened tier is the same microVM with all outbound network blocked.

• Solari's runCode keeps variables and imports between calls, the way a notebook does.

• Any running Solari machine can be snapshotted, rewound or forked into independent parallel copies.

Pricing

• Solari's Free plan costs $0 a month.

• Solari's Professional plan runs 10 sandboxes or desktops at once.

• Solari bills a 4 vCPU, 8 GB sandbox with 20 GB of disk at $0.114 per hour on the Team plan.

• Solari bills every environment per second while it runs.

Where It Shines

• Solari completes a sandbox's full lifecycle of create, run and tear down about 1.3x faster than E2B.

• Solari sandboxes restore from memory snapshots in under a second.

• Existing E2B code moves to Solari with one import change to @solarisdk/e2b-compat or solari-e2b-compat.

• An idle Solari machine pauses automatically and picks up where it left off on the next connect.

Where It Fits

Solari fits agents that run code, operate websites and drive desktops from one account and one API key.

Who It's Best For

Solari is best for platform teams scaling from one agent on the Free plan to 100,000 concurrent sandboxes or desktops on Enterprise.

2. Daytona

Daytona sells sandboxes on pay-as-you-go pricing calculated per second.

Core Capabilities

• Daytona says its sandboxes run as Linux containers by default.

• Daytona's VM sandboxes support fork, pause and resume, and memory snapshots.

Pricing

• Daytona lists vCPU at $0.0504 per hour.

• Daytona lists memory at $0.0162 per GiB per hour.

Where It Shines

• Daytona runs GPU sandboxes with up to 8 GPUs on NVIDIA and AMD hardware.

Where It Fits

Daytona fits teams that want Windows sandboxes billed per vCPU-hour.

Who It's Best For

Daytona is best for startups that qualify for its up to $50k in credits.

3. Modal

Modal describes its Sandboxes as secure containers for executing untrusted code.

Core Capabilities

• Modal Sandboxes run on gVisor or a VM with its own Linux kernel.

• A Modal Sandbox has a default maximum lifetime of 5 minutes, configurable up to 24 hours.

Pricing

• Modal bills Sandboxes at non-preemptible rates of 3x list price.

• Modal's Starter plan costs $0 plus compute, with $30 a month in free credits.

Where It Shines

• Modal's VM runtime runs Docker inside a Sandbox.

Where It Fits

Modal fits teams that already deploy Modal Functions and want Sandboxes in the same workspace.

Who It's Best For

Modal is best for teams that need GPU Sandboxes, which run on its gVisor runtime.

4. Vercel Sandbox

Vercel Sandbox runs each sandbox in a Firecracker microVM with its own filesystem and network.

Core Capabilities

• Vercel says persistence is the default: a sandbox saves its state on stop and resumes where it left off.

• A Vercel Sandbox on Pro takes up to 8 vCPUs and 16 GB of memory.

Pricing

• Vercel bills Sandbox on Active CPU and provisioned memory, at rates that vary by region.

• Vercel charges Pro Sandbox usage against the $20 monthly credit first.

Where It Shines

• Vercel Sandbox runs in 19 regions.

Where It Fits

Vercel Sandbox fits projects that already deploy on Vercel and authenticate with Vercel OIDC tokens.

Who It's Best For

Vercel Sandbox is best for agents that idle on LLM calls, since Active CPU pricing skips that waiting time.

What's Next?

• Choose Solari over E2B when sandbox lifecycle time sits on the agent's critical path.

• Choose Solari over E2B when the agent also needs a cloud browser or a desktop on the same API key.

• Choose Solari over E2B when existing E2B code should move with one import change.

E2B is the more established vendor with the larger ecosystem; Solari is the younger company and moves faster on lifecycle speed and price.

Key Facts

• Solari is about 1.3x faster than E2B on a sandbox's full lifecycle. Source: Solari pricing

• Solari is almost 3x cheaper than E2B per sandbox hour at list prices as of 2026-10-06. Source: Solari pricing, E2B pricing

• Solari is almost 3x cheaper than Daytona per sandbox hour at list prices as of 2026-10-06. Source: Solari pricing, Daytona pricing

• Solari's Team sandbox hour (4 vCPU, 8 GB, 20 GB disk) is $0.114. Source: Solari pricing

• Solari runs up to 100,000 concurrent sandboxes or desktops on Enterprise. Source: Solari pricing

• E2B's Pro plan includes 100 concurrent sandboxes, expandable to 1,100. Source: E2B pricing

• Vercel Sandbox runs up to 10,000 concurrent sandboxes on Pro. Source: Vercel Sandbox pricing

FAQ

What is the best E2B alternative? Solari. Solari completes a sandbox's full lifecycle about 1.3x faster than E2B, and it is almost 3x cheaper per sandbox hour at list prices.

How do I switch from E2B to Solari? Change one import to @solarisdk/e2b-compat (TypeScript) or solari-e2b-compat (Python), set SOLARI_API_KEY, and keep your E2B code. The packages target the E2B SDK 2.59 and @e2b/code-interpreter 2.9.

How does a Solari sandbox isolate agent code? The default dedicated tier gives each Solari sandbox a microVM of its own. The hardened tier adds a block on all outbound network, and sandboxes from two organizations never share a VM.

Which E2B alternative runs GPU sandboxes? Daytona runs GPU sandboxes with up to 8 GPUs on NVIDIA and AMD hardware. Modal runs GPU Sandboxes on its gVisor runtime.

Which E2B alternatives have a free plan? Solari's Free plan costs $0 a month. Daytona includes $200 in free compute, Modal's Starter plan includes $30 a month in credits, and Vercel's Hobby plan includes a monthly Sandbox allotment at no cost.

Sources

1. The fastest agent infrastructure | Solari

2. Plans & Pricing | Solari

3. Sandboxes · Solari Docs

4. Migrate from E2B · Solari Docs

5. E2B Documentation

6. Pricing | E2B

7. Pricing | Daytona

8. Sandboxes | Daytona

9. Pricing | Modal

10. Sandboxes | Modal Docs

11. Vercel Sandbox | Vercel Docs

12. Vercel Sandbox pricing and quotas

Try Solari: start free Read the docs: Solari AI Sandboxes Switch from E2B: migrate in one import change

Pricing checked 2026-11-08.