Agent sandboxes / CoreWeave Sandboxes and GPU Cloud alternative

CoreWeave alternatives for an agent’s returning environment

CoreWeave offers agent sandboxes as well as GPU infrastructure. Its serverless sandboxes use hardware-isolated microVMs; CKS placement follows the cluster’s runtime policy. Filesystem snapshots and registered volumes preserve selected state across runs. Compare those actual sandbox features with the lifetime of a returning agent’s complete writable RootFS.

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Reviewed 2026-10-19 · Published by the Sandbox0 team

When CoreWeave Sandboxes and GPU Cloud fits

CoreWeave fits agents, evaluations and RL rollouts that should run near an existing CoreWeave model, dataset or CKS fleet. Its own-capacity and managed serverless placements offer different infrastructure and billing choices.

When to consider Sandbox0

Consider Sandbox0 when each user needs a durable complete writable RootFS across tasks, automatic online expansion, and supported file access while sandbox compute stays paused. Keep GPU training and inference on suitable accelerator infrastructure.

Capabilities

CoreWeave Sandboxes and GPU Cloud and Sandbox0: what persists?

Feature comparison with documentation and verification status
Capability	CoreWeave Sandboxes and GPU Cloud	Sandbox0
Environment and runtime lifetime	CoreWeave Sandboxes and GPU CloudServerless and CKS sandboxes accept a lifetime up to thirty days. It cannot be extended after creation, and zero does not mean unlimited.View evidence ↗	Sandbox0ttl and hard_ttl default to 0 (disabled). Configure idle pause and deletion policies for the same persistent sandbox identity; an idle running sandbox still accrues compute charges.Read documentation →
Persistent files	CoreWeave Sandboxes and GPU CloudRegistered CKS PVC volumes persist independently; scratch needs a snapshot to survive sandbox deletion.View evidence ↗	Sandbox0The writable RootFS survives successful checkpoints, including software, system configuration, dependencies, and user data.Read documentation →
Whole RootFS	CoreWeave Sandboxes and GPU CloudDocumented filesystem snapshots preserve the chosen working-directory mount rather than the entire writable container root layer.View evidence ↗	Sandbox0Persistence extends beyond /workspace to paths such as /usr/local, /etc, and /home. Runtime tmpfs and virtual filesystems are excluded.Read documentation →
Release compute, keep state	CoreWeave Sandboxes and GPU CloudFilesystem suspend/resume uses stop with a snapshot and a new sandbox restored from it; this is not execution-state resume.View evidence ↗	Sandbox0Pause compute between tasks; resume on available capacity. Default resume starts fresh processes from the saved filesystem.Read documentation →
Memory and process state	CoreWeave Sandboxes and GPU CloudThe documented artifact is a filesystem archive; process and RAM restoration are not established.View evidence ↗	Sandbox0Experimental memory checkpoints can preserve compatible process state. Use memory: true on both pause and resume on a compatible deployment. A filesystem checkpoint alone does not preserve running processes.Read documentation →

Online RootFS growth

On growth-enabled images, Sandbox0 automatically expands the writable RootFS as free space runs low, within a configured sparse logical ceiling up to 64 TiB. Agent processes keep running. Growth is enabled in the qualified Cloud region; confirm activation for other regions. Existing images and snapshots retain their captured storage geometry. The ceiling is logical capacity, not preallocated host disk.

CoreWeave scratch mounts have an explicit requested size, and registered PVCs follow cluster storage controls. Those snapshot and volume mechanisms differ from automatic online expansion of Sandbox0’s complete writable RootFS. Both support persistence, with different scopes and workflows.

Files while compute is paused

Sandbox0's Files API reads persistent files without resuming compute. Filesystem-only pauses also permit edits; retained-memory pauses are read-only and reject mutations with 409. SSH, SFTP, file watching, and runtime-only mounts require running compute.

CoreWeave workspace snapshots and CKS PVCs permit saved data to outlive a sandbox. They do not by themselves establish read/write operations against a paused sandbox’s whole writable RootFS without another runtime. Sandbox0’s supported offline operations target that RootFS; memory-paused generations allow reads only.

See paused file operations →

A workspace snapshot is a defined mount

File System Snapshots archive a selected writable scratch mount into object storage. Snapshot-on-stop and mid-life snapshots can be restored or forked into new sandboxes. The archive is copied between local scratch and a bucket; this documented workspace mechanism does not capture the entire container root layer or promise running-process restoration.

Source 1 ↗

Persistent volumes and long running sessions are supported

Registered volumes point to an existing PVC on the customer’s CKS cluster and outlive sandbox deletion. Ordinary scratch volumes disappear with their sandbox unless snapshotted. Both serverless and CKS sessions support a requested lifetime up to 30 days; the lifetime cannot be extended after creation and zero does not mean unlimited.

Source 1 ↗Source 2 ↗

Sandbox rates differ from a GPU-node quote

Managed CPU and memory are billed for requested resources by the millisecond. Billing starts at command readiness, includes idle time and filesystem-snapshot capture, and excludes scheduling, image pull, startup and cleanup. Existing contracted CKS capacity has no additional sandbox charge. GPU sandboxes are Private Preview with account-specific GPU rates; a public GPU-node rate is a separate offer.

Source 1 ↗Source 2 ↗

Pricing

Compare billing models, then price your workload

CPU allocation, memory, billing minimums, disk, plan fees, and supported workload differ. These meters are not equal-performance machine quotes. Confirm region, resource units, and included allowances before estimating a total.

CoreWeave Sandboxes and GPU Cloud

Pricing reviewed 2026-10-19

Managed sandbox CPU: $0.128 per CPU-core-hour; Requested allocation, metered by millisecond.; Rate source ↗
Managed sandbox memory: $0.0212 per GiB-hour; Rate source ↗
GPU sandboxes: Private Preview; GPU rate by quote; GPU-hour fees are additional to sandbox CPU and memory.; Rate source ↗
Separate North America H100 HGX node reference: $49.24 per 8-GPU node-hour; Whole node reference, not the GPU sandbox preview rate.; Rate source ↗

CPU and memory rates are additive. Snapshot and volume storage are billed separately; internet egress has no charge under the sandbox pricing FAQ. Contracted CKS capacity remains a separate commitment. Compare the requested machine shape and workload rather than treating a GPU node and a small Linux agent as equal-performance products.

Check current CoreWeave Sandboxes and GPU Cloud pricing ↗

Sandbox0

$0.015/GiB-hour compute (billed by the second at approximately $0.000004167/GiB-second), plus $0.02/GiB-month of retained incremental RootFS and memory checkpoint data. Shared base images and platform recovery retention are excluded; paused sandboxes accrue storage charges only.

Compute / GiB-hour: $0.015
Retained data / GiB-month: $0.02
Paused compute: $0.00

A 4 GiB agent, 100 running hours

$6.00 compute

4 GiB × 100 hours, billed by the second. Keeping 20 GiB of billable incremental data for a full billing month adds $0.40. CPU is derived from memory by the platform; choose a tier that fits your workload.

Understand storage billing →

Before migrating from CoreWeave Sandboxes and GPU Cloud

Identify serverless versus CKS placement, requested resources, hard lifetime, workspace snapshot mounts, registered PVCs and GPU dependencies.
Save and verify needed snapshots or export files before stop or expiry; recreate system-level changes outside the captured mount and port policy and credentials.
Test repeated tasks, installed tools, growing outputs, supported paused files, and compute plus storage costs; retain GPU stages where required.

Common questions

Is Sandbox0 a drop-in CoreWeave Sandboxes and GPU Cloud replacement?

Evaluate API compatibility and product scope. A shared sandbox category does not make SDKs, lifecycle semantics, or limits interchangeable.

Does keeping files also keep a running agent?

Filesystem state and volatile process state are separate. Sandbox0 requires explicit compatible memory checkpoints to preserve running processes; its default filesystem resume starts fresh processes.

Sources and review scope

The Boat team's Battleships directory is the discovery source. References below describe the product and plan discussed on this page. Check current availability, regional terms and billing units before migrating. Where the cited material does not establish a capability or price, the comparison identifies that uncertainty.

Battleships research record ↗docs.coreweave.com/products/sandboxes/file-system-snapshots ↗docs.coreweave.com/products/sandboxes/volumes ↗docs.coreweave.com/products/sandboxes/long-running-sandboxes.md ↗www.coreweave.com/forge-pricing/inference-agents ↗www.coreweave.com/pricing ↗www.coreweave.com/products/coreweave-forge/coreweave-sandboxes ↗Sandbox0 RootFS capacity →

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