Windows compute / Daytona Windows VM Sandboxes alternative

Daytona Windows alternative for portable persistent agents

Daytona Windows sandboxes are full VM environments, with whole-filesystem persistence and memory-preserving pause, hot snapshots and forks. Their lifecycle differs from Daytona Linux containers and ephemeral GPU sandboxes. Keep those current capabilities in the comparison before moving portable work to a Linux runtime.

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

When Daytona Windows VM Sandboxes fits

Choose Daytona Windows for native Windows applications and its VM lifecycle, snapshot/fork and SDK integrations. Existing VM snapshots supply the Windows environment; Linux container dynamic-build behavior is a separate product path.

When to consider Sandbox0

Consider Sandbox0 for compatible Linux agents needing automatic online whole-RootFS growth and supported paused-file operations. Keep Windows-only tools on a suitable Windows runtime and assess which process-state features the workflow requires.

Capabilities

Daytona Windows VM Sandboxes and Sandbox0: what persists?

Feature comparison with documentation and verification status
Environment and runtime lifetimeDaytona Windows VM SandboxesNot established in this reviewSandbox0ttl 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 filesDaytona Windows VM SandboxesWindows VM filesystem state persists through stop/start and snapshots unless deleted or configured ephemeral.View evidence ↗Sandbox0The writable RootFS survives successful checkpoints, including software, system configuration, dependencies, and user data.Read documentation →
Whole RootFSDaytona Windows VM SandboxesVM persistence includes the installed OS, packages, files and configuration rather than only a workspace volume.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 stateDaytona Windows VM SandboxesWindows VM Pause/Resume preserves execution state; ordinary Stop is filesystem-only.View evidence ↗Sandbox0Pause compute between tasks; resume on available capacity. Default resume starts fresh processes from the saved filesystem.Read documentation →
Memory and process stateDaytona Windows VM SandboxesVM hot snapshots and forks retain memory/process state; Linux container and GPU classes differ.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.

Daytona Windows already retains a complete VM filesystem and can preserve RAM. Disk growth explicitly requires stopping the sandbox and organization enablement, unlike automatic low-space growth while a compatible Sandbox0 Linux agent keeps executing.

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.

Daytona provides filesystem and volume APIs. Its persistence/pause description does not by itself establish arbitrary Windows RootFS mutations while compute stays paused; verify the selected SDK operation and whether it resumes the guest. Sandbox0 documents its supported offline RootFS scope and memory-pause mutation guard explicitly.

See paused file operations →

Windows VMs preserve disk and can retain RAM

Stop/start keeps installed files and configuration while Stop clears memory. VM Pause retains filesystem and execution state; hot snapshots and forks preserve memory in independent environments. Deletion, ephemeral settings and GPU-stop semantics differ and should not be assigned to the Windows VM class.

Source 1 ↗

Disk growth requires stopping the sandbox

The resource guide permits increasing CPU/RAM on a running sandbox, but decreasing compute or increasing disk requires Stop. Resize also needs organization enablement. A Windows pause checkpoint therefore does not remove the stop/restart planning needed for a disk-capacity change.

Source 1 ↗

Reduced billing starts after the transition completes

Creating, starting, stopping and pausing still reserve/bill running resources. Once Stopped or Paused, Daytona bills reserved disk only, and its billing guide says preserved paused memory is not billed. Disk billing and organization disk quota are separate concepts.

Source 1 ↗

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.

Daytona Windows VM Sandboxes

Pricing reviewed 2026-10-19

Published Windows vCPU reference
$0.0858 per vCPU-hour
Windows-specific entry on the pricing page; use the configured Windows quote rather than substituting the general Linux CPU rate.
Rate source ↗
Reserved memory
$0.0162 per GiB-hour
Running-resource meter; completed Paused/Stopped states have different billing.
Rate source ↗
Reserved disk
$0.000108 per GiB-hour after first 5 GiB free
Retained disk billing continues in Stopped/Paused states.
Rate source ↗
Completed Paused VM memory
Preserved memory state is not billed
Reserved disk remains billed; transition time still uses running-resource billing.
Rate source ↗

Published usage is calculated per second. Confirm the complete Windows configuration and organization terms; do not stack or replace generic CPU and Windows entries without the applicable SKU quote. Include reserved disk, retained snapshots and other selected resources.

Check current Daytona Windows VM Sandboxes 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 Daytona Windows VM Sandboxes

  1. Inventory Windows snapshot, VM class, retained disk, pause versus Stop, hot snapshots/forks, resize enablement and effective Windows tariff.
  2. Export compatible files and rebuild portable Linux agent stages while keeping native Windows applications on a suitable VM.
  3. Test process requirements, installed-state retention, disk-growth interruption, paused files and complete compute/disk/snapshot plus Linux runtime costs.

Common questions

Is Sandbox0 a drop-in Daytona Windows VM Sandboxes replacement?

Evaluate API compatibility and product scope. These products serve different core workflows, so a change may require a different architecture.

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 ↗www.daytona.io/docs/en/persistence/ ↗www.daytona.io/docs/en/sandboxes/ ↗www.daytona.io/docs/en/billing/ ↗www.daytona.io/pricing ↗Sandbox0 RootFS capacity →

Related comparisons

Amazon WorkSpaces Personal vs Sandbox0 →AWS EC2 Windows Server vs Sandbox0 →Azure Windows Virtual Machines vs Sandbox0 →Google Compute Engine Windows Server vs Sandbox0 →Vultr Cloud Compute Windows Server vs Sandbox0 →Windows 365 Business / Enterprise Cloud PC vs Sandbox0 →