Modal vs E2B

Modal's Sandboxes API runs untrusted code in gVisor-isolated containers on Modal's serverless cloud, with GPU access. For Python-first teams that already use Modal or need GPUs next to agent code. A 2 vCPU / 4 GiB sandbox lists at $0.238 an hour on Modal against $0.166 on E2B, 44% more.

gpugvisormanagedserverless

Verified 11 Nov 2026

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Modal against E2B, line by line

E2B baseline sources

Field	-E2B (baseline)	+Modal	Change
2 vCPU + 4 GiB, per hour	$0.166 (source: E2B Pricing)	$0.238 (source: Modal Pricing)	+44%
vCPU, per hour	$0.0504 (source: E2B Pricing)	$0.071 (source: Modal Pricing)	+41%
Memory, per GiB-hour	$0.0162 (source: E2B Pricing)	$0.024 (source: Modal Pricing)	+48%
Billed on	wall clock (source: E2B Pricing)	wall clock (source: Modal Pricing)	same
Isolation	Firecracker microVM (source: E2B homepage)	gVisor (source: Modal Sandboxes guide)	differs
Max session	1 h (Hobby), 24 h (Pro) (source: E2B Pricing)	5 min default, up to 24 h (source: Modal Sandboxes guide)	differs
Persistence	state kept, pause/resume, memory kept, fork (source: E2B homepage)	state kept (source: Modal Pricing)	differs
Self-host	Yes, Apache-2.0 (source: E2B runtime (GitHub))	not published	Modal: no figure
Your own cloud (BYOC)	Yes (source: E2B homepage)	not published	Modal: no figure
GPU	No (source: E2B Pricing)	Yes (source: Modal Sandboxes guide)	differs
SDKs	Python, JavaScript/TypeScript (source: E2B Pricing)	Python, JavaScript, Go (source: Modal Pricing)	differs
SOC 2	Type II (source: E2B homepage)	Type II (source: Modal security and privacy)	same
Free tier	Hobby: $0 plan fee, one-time $100 usage credit, 10 concurrent sandboxes, 1-hour sessions. (source: E2B Pricing)	Starter: $0 plan with $30/month free compute credits. (source: Modal Pricing)	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 Modal instead of E2B when

you need GPUs: Modal documents GPU sandboxes, and E2B lists CPU-only sandboxes.
you are prototyping: Starter: $0 plan with $30/month free compute credits.

Stay on E2B when

you run model-written code you do not control and want a dedicated kernel per sandbox: E2B uses Firecracker microVMs, Modal uses gVisor.
pause has to keep running memory as well as files: E2B's pause saves both, and Modal does not state memory state in our data.
price decides it: Modal lists $0.238 an hour for the 2 vCPU / 4 GiB box against $0.166 on E2B.
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 Modal facts

Source per value

Isolation Isolation technology the vendor states for each sandbox.: gVisor 2
Other isolation options Alternative runtimes the vendor offers besides the default (e.g. VM runtime, gVisor for GPU).: VM runtime with its own Linux kernel (no GPU) 2
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.: $0.071 1
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.: $0.024 1
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).: $250.00 1
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.: Starter: $0 plan with $30/month free compute credits. 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.: 5 min default, up to 24 h 2
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.: 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.: Yes 2
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).: Python, JavaScript, Go 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.: 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.: Type II 3
HIPAA Vendor offers HIPAA-compliant usage/BAA (on any plan).: Yes 1
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.: $0.238 1
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.: 1.44 1
Status Preview, experimental, beta, sunset or self-hosting caveats the vendor documents.: Not published

Pricing model: usage
From: $0.071 vCPU-hour
Pricing note: Sandboxes billed at non-preemptible rates (3x list): $0.00003942 per physical core-second (1 core = 2 vCPU) and $0.00000667/GiB-s; normalised to $0.071/vCPU-h and $0.024/GiB-h. HIPAA on Enterprise only. Pricing checked 2026-11-09.

Sources

Modal Pricing accessed 2026-11-09
Modal Sandboxes guide accessed 2026-11-09
Modal security and privacy accessed 2026-11-09

Modal in the E2B comparisons

E2B alternatives with GPU sandboxesWhich E2B alternatives offer GPU sandboxes? 7 listed.

Compare with other E2B alternatives

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Daytona vs E2B $0.166/hr, 1x E2B, container
Beam vs E2B $0.140/hr, 0.85x E2B, container
Northflank vs E2B $0.067/hr, 0.4x E2B, Cloud Hypervisor microVM
Hugging Face vs E2B no comparable hourly price, VM

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