Docker vs E2B

Docker's sbx CLI runs AI coding agents in isolated microVM sandboxes on your own machine or on Docker-managed cloud compute. For developers who want to let coding agents run unattended without exposing the host. Docker 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.

coding-agentslocalmanagedmicrovm

Verified 11 Nov 2026

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Docker against E2B, line by line

E2B baseline sources

Field	-E2B (baseline)	+Docker	Change
2 vCPU + 4 GiB, per hour	$0.166 (source: E2B Pricing)	not published	Docker: no figure
vCPU, per hour	$0.0504 (source: E2B Pricing)	not published	Docker: no figure
Memory, per GiB-hour	$0.0162 (source: E2B Pricing)	not published	Docker: no figure
Billed on	wall clock (source: E2B Pricing)	not published	Docker: no figure
Isolation	Firecracker microVM (source: E2B homepage)	microVM (source: Docker Sandboxes architecture)	differs
Max session	1 h (Hobby), 24 h (Pro) (source: E2B Pricing)	not published	Docker: no figure
Persistence	state kept, pause/resume, memory kept, fork (source: E2B homepage)	state kept (source: Docker Sandboxes architecture)	differs
Self-host	Yes, Apache-2.0 (source: E2B runtime (GitHub))	Yes (source: Docker Sandboxes docs)	differs
Your own cloud (BYOC)	Yes (source: E2B homepage)	not published	Docker: no figure
GPU	No (source: E2B Pricing)	not published	Docker: no figure
SDKs	Python, JavaScript/TypeScript (source: E2B Pricing)	not published	Docker: no figure
SOC 2	Type II (source: E2B homepage)	not published	Docker: no figure
Free tier	Hobby: $0 plan fee, one-time $100 usage credit, 10 concurrent sandboxes, 1-hour sessions. (source: E2B Pricing)	sbx CLI and local sandbox compute free, including commercial use; cloud compute pay-as-you-go. (source: Docker Sandboxes 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 Docker instead of E2B when

you are prototyping: sbx CLI and local sandbox compute free, including commercial use; cloud compute pay-as-you-go.

Stay on E2B when

pause has to keep running memory as well as files: E2B's pause saves both, and Docker does not state memory state in our data.
you need a SOC 2 report: E2B states Type II, and Docker 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, and Docker offers one of them.

All Docker facts

Source per value

Isolation Isolation technology the vendor states for each sandbox.: microVM 2
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.: both 1
Billing basis What the meter counts: wall-clock allocated resources, active CPU only, requests/plan quota, session-hours, or free software.: Not published
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.: Not published
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.: sbx CLI and local sandbox compute free, including commercial use; cloud compute pay-as-you-go. 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.: Not published
Persistence / snapshots Filesystem state can be kept between runs (snapshots, persistent disks, volumes).: Yes 2
Pause / resume A sandbox can be paused, suspended, hibernated or put in standby and resumed later.: Not published
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).: Yes 1
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).: Not published
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.: Not published
Max memory per sandbox GiB Largest published memory per sandbox.: Not published
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: $0.00
Pricing note: Local free; cloud compute billed separately (rate not on the docs page). Checked 2026-11-09.

Sources

Docker Sandboxes docs accessed 2026-11-09
Docker Sandboxes architecture accessed 2026-11-09

Docker in the E2B comparisons

Self-hosted E2B alternativesWhich E2B alternatives can I run on my own hardware or cluster? 9 listed.
E2B alternatives with microVM or VM isolationWhich E2B alternatives give each sandbox its own kernel? 26 listed.

Compare with other E2B alternatives

All 41

microsandbox vs E2B no comparable hourly price, microVM
OpenSandbox vs E2B no comparable hourly price, Firecracker microVM
Northflank vs E2B $0.067/hr, 0.4x E2B, Cloud Hypervisor microVM
Agent vs E2B no comparable hourly price, pluggable (gVisor/Kata)
AWS Lambda MicroVMs vs E2B no comparable hourly price, Firecracker microVM

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