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Daytona vs Rill Data

Daytona logo

Daytona

Developer Tools

Infrastructure for spinning up secure, sub-second sandboxes to run AI-generated code

From
Free
Free plan
Yes
Visit DaytonaFull review
Rill Data logo

Rill Data

Business Intelligence

Local-first BI on DuckDB and ClickHouse with dashboards defined as code

From
$20/month
Free plan
No
Visit Rill DataFull review

The short version

  • Daytona has a free plan, then $0.0504/mo; Rill Data starts at $20/mo.
  • Only Daytona lists sub-second sandbox creation; only Rill Data lists local development.
  • Where Daytona falls short: pricing is purely usage-based with no flat monthly plan, which can make costs harder to predict for steady workloads.
  • Prices and features on this page were last checked on 31 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Daytona and Rill Data actually diverge.

Attributes where Daytona and Rill Data differ
AttributeDaytonaRill Data
Starting priceFree$20/month
Pricing modelUsage-basedPer user per month plus metered compute
Free tierYesNo
PlatformsWeb, Linux, Windows, APIWeb, Linux, macOS, Windows
CategoryDeveloper ToolsBusiness Intelligence

What each one covers

Drawn from each product's published feature list. An absence here means we hold no record of it - not that the product lacks it.

Only in Daytona

  • Sub-second sandbox creation
  • Per-second billing
  • GPU instances
  • Windows OS support
  • Enterprise BYOC

Only in Rill Data

  • Local development
  • Dashboards as code
  • Embedded DuckDB
  • Bring your own database
  • Alerts and scheduled reports
  • Embedded analytics

What people use each for

The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.

Daytona

  • Running AI agent-generated code in a disposable, isolated sandboxnot Rill Data
  • Executing untrusted user code for a coding platformnot Rill Data
  • Running GPU workloads on demand without provisioning dedicated serversnot Rill Data
  • Testing Windows-specific code paths in a sandboxnot Rill Data

Rill Data

  • An analytics team that wants dashboard changes to go through code review rather than being edited in a web UInot Daytona
  • Interactive exploration of event-scale data where a warehouse round trip per filter click is too slownot Daytona
  • Embedding fast slice-and-dice dashboards into a product where the underlying store is already ClickHouse or Druidnot Daytona
  • A data engineer prototyping a metrics layer locally on a laptop before committing to any cloud spendnot Daytona

Where each one falls short

Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.

Daytona

  • Pricing is purely usage-based with no flat monthly plan, which can make costs harder to predict for steady workloads
  • GPU instances are priced separately and can be significantly more expensive than standard compute for AI-heavy use cases
  • Enterprise features like SSO, audit logs, and BYOC are only available by contacting sales rather than self-serve

Rill Data

  • The seat price of 20 dollars is misleading as a budget figure: Rill’s own calculator puts a small two-seat project at around 256 dollars a month, with compute making up the great majority
  • Dashboards are defined in YAML and SQL, so business users cannot create or change one without a developer and a Git workflow, which stalls self-service adoption
  • It is built for the explore-a-metric pattern and does not produce pixel-perfect financial or operational reports, so most organisations still need a second reporting tool
  • AI tokens and API calls are quota-limited per seat, with API overage at a cent per call, so programmatic consumers can create an unbudgeted line item
  • As a smaller vendor competing against Looker, Tableau and Power BI, the ecosystem of consultants, templates and trained analysts is thin, which raises the cost of hiring for it

Pricing, plan by plan

Daytona

Free
  • Pay-as-you-goOn request
    • $0.0504 per vCPU/hour
    • $0.0162 per GiB memory/hour
    • $0.000108 per GiB storage/hour after 5 free GiB
  • Startup ProgramOn request
    • Up to $50,000 in free credits for qualifying startups
  • EnterpriseOn request
    • Custom usage limits
    • SSO
    • Audit logs

Rill Data

$20/month
  • Starter$20/mo
    • Per seat, up to twenty seats
    • Three projects
    • Compute at 0.15 USD per compute unit hour
  • Growth$30/mo
    • Per seat, up to one hundred seats
    • Ten projects
    • Compute at 0.20 USD per compute unit hour
  • EnterpriseOn request
    • Annual platform licence with negotiated capacity
    • Unlimited seats and projects
    • Dedicated infrastructure

Which should you pick?

Choose Daytona if

  • You need sub-second sandbox creation.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Web, Linux, Windows, API.
  • You also want per-second billing.
Daytona review

Choose Rill Data if

  • You need local development.
  • You work on Web, Linux, macOS, Windows.
  • You also want dashboards as code.
Rill Data review

Questions people ask

Is Daytona or Rill Data better?
Neither clearly leads. Daytona starts at Free and Rill Data at $20/month, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Daytona or Rill Data?
Daytona has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at Free for Daytona and $20/month for Rill Data.
Does Daytona or Rill Data run on more platforms?
Daytona runs on Web, Linux, Windows, API. Rill Data runs on Web, Linux, macOS, Windows.
Can I use Daytona for free?
Yes. Daytona has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. Rill Data starts at $20/month.
What is Daytona best used for?
Daytona is most often used for running ai agent-generated code in a disposable, isolated sandbox, executing untrusted user code for a coding platform, running gpu workloads on demand without provisioning dedicated servers, testing windows-specific code paths in a sandbox. Of those, running ai agent-generated code in a disposable, isolated sandbox and executing untrusted user code for a coding platform are not what Rill Data is typically brought in for.
What can Daytona do that Rill Data cannot?
Daytona covers Sub-second sandbox creation, Per-second billing, GPU instances, Windows OS support. Rill Data covers Local development, Dashboards as code, Embedded DuckDB, Bring your own database.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Daytona: How is Daytona usage metered?

Usage is billed per second across vCPU, memory, and storage consumed, with separate per-hour rates for GPU and Windows instances.

Source
Rill Data: Is Rill open source?

The Rill developer binary is open source and free to run locally; Rill Cloud is the paid product.

Daytona: Is there a free plan, and what are its limits?

There is no flat free plan, but new signups receive $200 in free compute credit with no credit card required to start.

Source
Rill Data: How much does it actually cost?

Seats start at 20 USD per month, but hosted compute at 0.15 USD per compute unit hour typically dominates the bill. Bringing your own database removes the usage fee.

Daytona: Are discounts available for startups?

Yes, the Startup Program offers up to $50,000 in free credits for qualifying companies.

Source
Rill Data: Can business users build dashboards?

Not directly. Dashboards are YAML and SQL under version control.

Rill Data: Which databases can back a deployed project?

DuckDB, ClickHouse, Druid, Pinot, Snowflake and others.

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