Claude Code Execution Tool vs E2B

Anthropic's server-side sandbox lets Claude run Python and Bash inside the API call: a 1 CPU / 5 GiB container with no internet access that you can reuse for 30 days. For agents built on Claude that need data analysis and file generation without running their own sandbox. Claude Code Execution Tool does not publish comparable vCPU and memory rates, so no hourly price is compared; E2B lists $0.166 an hour for a 2 vCPU / 4 GiB sandbox.

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Claude Code Execution Tool against E2B, line by line

E2B baseline sources
Field -E2B (baseline) +Claude Code Execution Tool Change
2 vCPU + 4 GiB, per hour $0.166 (source: E2B Pricing) not published Claude Code Execution Tool: no figure
vCPU, per hour $0.0504 (source: E2B Pricing) not published Claude Code Execution Tool: no figure
Memory, per GiB-hour $0.0162 (source: E2B Pricing) not published Claude Code Execution Tool: no figure
Billed on wall clock (source: E2B Pricing) wall clock (source: Claude code execution tool docs) same
Isolation Firecracker microVM (source: E2B homepage) container (source: Claude code execution tool docs) differs
Max session 1 h (Hobby), 24 h (Pro) (source: E2B Pricing) Containers expire 30 days after creation; checkpointed after ~5 min idle and restored on reuse (source: Claude code execution tool docs) differs
Persistence state kept, pause/resume, memory kept, fork (source: E2B homepage) state kept, pause/resume (source: Claude code execution tool docs) differs
Self-host Yes, Apache-2.0 (source: E2B runtime (GitHub)) not published Claude Code Execution Tool: no figure
Your own cloud (BYOC) Yes (source: E2B homepage) not published Claude Code Execution Tool: no figure
GPU No (source: E2B Pricing) not published Claude Code Execution Tool: no figure
SDKs Python, JavaScript/TypeScript (source: E2B Pricing) Claude API SDKs; runs Python 3.11 and Bash (source: Claude code execution tool docs) differs
SOC 2 Type II (source: E2B homepage) not published Claude Code Execution Tool: no figure
Free tier Hobby: $0 plan fee, one-time $100 usage credit, 10 concurrent sandboxes, 1-hour sessions. (source: E2B Pricing) 1,550 free container-hours per organization per month; free when used with web search or web fetch. (source: Claude code execution tool docs) differs

Prices are list prices for one hour of a 2 vCPU / 4 GiB sandbox: 2 × the vCPU rate + 4 × the memory rate. Each value links to the page it came from; not published means the vendor states no figure. How we compare.

Pick Claude Code Execution Tool instead of E2B when

  • your agents run longer than E2B's 24-hour Pro session cap: Containers expire 30 days after creation; checkpointed after ~5 min idle and restored on reuse.
  • you only need code execution inside a model API: Claude Code Execution Tool comes with the API you already call, with no separate sandbox vendor.
  • you are prototyping: 1,550 free container-hours per organization per month; free when used with web search or web fetch.

Stay on E2B when

  • you run model-written code you do not control and want a dedicated kernel per sandbox: E2B uses Firecracker microVMs, Claude Code Execution Tool uses container.
  • pause has to keep running memory as well as files: E2B's pause saves both, and Claude Code Execution Tool does not state memory state in our data.
  • you need a SOC 2 report: E2B states Type II, and Claude Code Execution Tool states none in our data.
  • you want managed cloud, your own cloud account and self-hosting from one vendor: E2B offers all three, with BYOC on its Enterprise plan.

All Claude Code Execution Tool facts

Source per value
Isolation Isolation technology the vendor states for each sandbox.
container 1
Other isolation options Alternative runtimes the vendor offers besides the default (e.g. VM runtime, gVisor for GPU).
Not published
Deployment Managed cloud service, self-hosted software, or both.
managed 1
Billing basis What the meter counts: wall-clock allocated resources, active CPU only, requests/plan quota, session-hours, or free software.
wall clock 1
vCPU price $/vCPU-hr Published on-demand CPU rate normalised to USD per vCPU-hour (per-second rates multiplied by 3,600; per-core rates divided by vCPUs per core where the vendor defines it). Lowest public tier, default region. 0 means the vendor states no separate CPU charge.
Not published
Memory price $/GiB-hr Published memory rate normalised to USD per GiB-hour (GB treated as GiB where the vendor does not distinguish). 0 means the vendor states memory is free.
Not published
Sandbox from $/sandbox-hr Smallest published per-sandbox hourly price, where the vendor publishes one.
$0.05 1
Paid plan from $/mo Cheapest paid platform plan fee (before usage).
Not published
Free tier A free plan, free monthly allowance or sign-up credit exists.
Yes 1
Free tier detail What the free tier or credit includes, as published.
1,550 free container-hours per organization per month; free when used with web search or web fetch. 1
Cold start ms Vendor-published create/boot time in milliseconds (a vendor claim, not our benchmark). Only filled when the vendor publishes a number; see startup_claim for percentile and conditions.
Not published
Resume time ms Vendor-published resume-from-pause/standby/snapshot time in milliseconds.
Not published
Startup claim The vendor's startup/resume wording with conditions, quoted or closely paraphrased.
Not published
Max session length Longest single sandbox session by plan, as published.
Containers expire 30 days after creation; checkpointed after ~5 min idle and restored on reuse 1
Persistence / snapshots Filesystem state can be kept between runs (snapshots, persistent disks, volumes).
Yes 1
Pause / resume A sandbox can be paused, suspended, hibernated or put in standby and resumed later.
Yes 1
Memory state kept Pause/hibernate preserves running memory state, not only the filesystem.
Not published
Fork / branch A running or snapshotted sandbox can be cloned into new sandboxes.
Not published
GPU GPU sandboxes are offered.
Not published
Self-host Can run on your own hardware or cluster (open source or licensed).
Not published
BYOC / VPC Vendor-managed deployment inside your own cloud account.
Not published
Open source Core sandbox runtime is published under an open-source licence.
Not published
Licence Open-source licence of the runtime, if any.
Not published
SDKs / languages Official SDK languages (or supported execution languages where noted).
Claude API SDKs; runs Python 3.11 and Bash 1
Regions Published regions or region count.
Not published
Max vCPU per sandbox vCPU Largest published vCPU count per sandbox on any self-serve or enterprise plan.
1 1
Max memory per sandbox GiB Largest published memory per sandbox.
5 1
Concurrency Published concurrent sandbox limits by plan.
Not published
SOC 2 SOC 2 status as stated by the vendor.
Not published
HIPAA Vendor offers HIPAA-compliant usage/BAA (on any plan).
Not published
2 vCPU + 4 GiB per hour $/hr Hourly list price of one 2 vCPU / 4 GiB sandbox: 2 x the vCPU rate + 4 x the memory rate, from the two published rates. Left empty for self-hosted software and for vendors without both rates. Vendors that bill CPU only while busy (Vercel, Cloudflare, Upstash, Tensorlake, AWS AgentCore) cost less for idle agents than this shows.
Not published
Price vs E2B x E2B The 2 vCPU + 4 GiB hourly price divided by E2B's own ($0.1656 at $0.000014/vCPU-s and $0.0000045/GiB-s). Under 1 is cheaper than E2B.
Not published
Status Preview, experimental, beta, sunset or self-hosting caveats the vendor documents.
Not published
Pricing model
usage
From
$0.05 container-hour (1 CPU, 5 GiB)
Pricing note
$0.05 per container-hour after 1,550 free hours per organization per month, 5-minute minimum; no charge when the request includes web search or web fetch. No internet access inside the container. Pricing checked 2026-11-09.

Sources

  1. Claude code execution tool docs accessed 2026-11-09

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