DaytonavsCCodeSandbox
CodeSandbox: Both offer fast, isolated sandbox infrastructure aimed at AI agent and code execution use cases.
Daytona
Infrastructure for spinning up secure, sub-second sandboxes to run AI-generated code
As of 29 August 2026, Daytona has a free plan and paid plans start at $0.0504/month. Daytona provides secure, millisecond-startup sandboxes for safely executing AI agent-generated code, billed per second of usage. Softwr lists it under Developer Tools. Daytona is available on Web, Linux, Windows, API.
Overview
What Daytona does
Daytona provides secure, scalable infrastructure for executing AI-generated code, with sandboxes that spin up in under 90 milliseconds. It targets teams building AI agents that need isolated, disposable compute to run untrusted or generated code safely. Pricing is usage-based and billed per second across vCPU, memory, and storage, with optional GPU instances for heavier workloads. New signups receive $200 in free compute, and a startup program offers up to $50,000 in credits for qualifying companies.
What people use it 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
The honest half
Where it falls short
Concrete and checkable, so you can decide whether any of them matter to you. This is the half of a review a vendor will not write about 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.
Cross-shopped
What people choose instead of Daytona
Each pairing was judged by two reviewers asking whether a buyer would genuinely weigh the two against each other. The ones that failed were deleted rather than published.
- DaytonavsFly.io
Fly.io: Fly.io offers similarly usage-based, developer-first compute infrastructure, though aimed more broadly at app hosting than agent sandboxes.
Pricing
What Daytona costs
Taken from the vendor's own pricing page. Prices move, so check before you buy.
Pay-as-you-go
On request
- $0.0504 per vCPU/hour
- $0.0162 per GiB memory/hour
- $0.000108 per GiB storage/hour after 5 free GiB
- $0.0858 per vCPU/hour for Windows
- Billed per second
- $200 in free compute on signup
Startup Program
On request
- Up to $50,000 in free credits for qualifying startups
Enterprise
On request
- Custom usage limits
- SSO
- Audit logs
- Bring Your Own Cloud (BYOC)
Capabilities
Features
Sub-second sandbox creation
Spins up isolated sandboxes in under 90 milliseconds for near-instant code execution.
Per-second billing
Meters compute, memory, and storage usage down to the second.
GPU instances
Offers on-demand GPU sandboxes including H200, H100, and RTX-series cards.
Windows OS support
Supports Windows-based sandbox instances in addition to Linux.
Enterprise BYOC
Enterprise tier supports bring-your-own-cloud deployment along with SSO and audit logs.
Answered, with sources
Questions people ask
Each answer names the page it came from, so you can check it rather than take our word for it.
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.
SourceIs 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.
SourceAre discounts available for startups?
Yes, the Startup Program offers up to $50,000 in free credits for qualifying companies.
SourceKeep looking
Where to go from Daytona
- Daytona alternativesEvery product people weigh against it
- Daytona pricingPlans, floors and what the tiers exclude
- Daytona badgesWhich rules it meets, and the figure behind each
- All Developer Tools softwareThe full category
- Best Developer Tools softwareThe shortlist, and how it was cut
Best Developer Tools software for
Compare Daytona with
- CodeSandbox
- Coder
- Ona (formerly Gitpod)
- Namespace
- WarpBuild
- Sweep
- Turborepo
- Keycloak
- Vite
- Depot
- Harness
- Swagger UI
- StackBlitz
- Steampipe
- Tilt
- Webpack
- Avo
- WarpBuild
Other Developer Tools software
Cloud platform for instant, isolated development sandboxes and code execution
Free plan7 researched notesSelf-hosted platform for provisioning governed cloud development environments
Free plan8 researched notesCloud development environments repositioned as a control plane for software engineering agents
Free, then $20/mo12 researched notesHigh-performance build system for JavaScript and TypeScript monorepos
Free plan8 researched notesSoftware delivery platform across CI, CD, security testing and cost management
Free plan11 researched notesBrowser-based IDE and AI app builder running full Node.js stacks via WebContainers
Free plan8 researched notesQuery cloud APIs, SaaS tools and code with SQL, with no extract or load step
Free, then $49/mo12 researched notesLocal Kubernetes development loop that rebuilds and live-updates containers on save
Open source12 researched notesAnalytics governance: define a tracking plan, generate typed code from it, and catch drift before release
Free, then $250/mo12 researched notes
Softwr does not host reviews and shows no star rating for Daytona, because a rating we did not collect is not ours to publish. What is here is the pricing and platform detail from the vendor’s own pages, limitations we could state concretely, and alternatives a reviewer confirmed people weigh against it. Tell us if any of it is wrong.
More on Daytona
Daytona alternatives
What people switch to, and what they give up
Daytona pricing
Every tier, and where the cost actually lands
Compare Daytona
Put it head to head with anything we hold
Daytona badge
Its rating, and an embed for your own site
Best Developer Tools software alternatives
Programmable CI/CD engine that runs your pipeline as containers on any runner
Per month per team for Dagger Cloud
Internal developer portal that scores service ownership and maturity rather than just cataloguing services
quote
Feature flag service priced per flag and environment with unlimited seats and unlimited monthly active users
Per month by feature flag and environment countAnalytics governance: define a tracking plan, generate typed code from it, and catch drift before release
Per editor seat per month
Event gateway that receives, queues, retries and replays inbound webhooks
Per month by delivered event count
Kubernetes development and testing automation with shared caching, now owned by Incredibuild
Open source, no licence fee
The Python web framework behind ERPNext, sold as managed hosting through Frappe Cloud
Per month by site or server