Cloud infrastructure / Google Compute Engine alternative

Google Compute Engine alternative for persistent agents

Compute Engine VMs with persistent boot disks already retain installed system tools and files through stop/start. Supported suspension preserves RAM, and many public images automatically grow their root partition and filesystem after a disk increase without rebooting. Compare how you automate and operate this lifecycle for each agent.

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

When Google Compute Engine fits

Choose Compute Engine for Google Cloud VM families, full OS control, networking and specialized machine requirements. Its whole boot-disk retention and online expansion are substantive capabilities worth evaluating.

When to consider Sandbox0

Consider Sandbox0 for the managed agent runtime interface, automatic growth when RootFS free space runs low and supported paused-file access. Assess kernel compatibility and retain required Google Cloud application/data services separately.

Capabilities

Google Compute Engine and Sandbox0: what persists?

Feature comparison with documentation and verification status
Environment and runtime lifetimeGoogle Compute EngineEligible VMs can remain suspended for up to sixty days before transition to the stopped (TERMINATED) state. This bounds retained execution state, not the separate persistent-disk lifecycle.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 filesGoogle Compute EnginePersistent boot/data disks survive normal stop/start; Local SSD policies differ.View evidence ↗Sandbox0The writable RootFS survives successful checkpoints, including software, system configuration, dependencies, and user data.Read documentation →
Whole RootFSGoogle Compute EngineThe persistent boot disk includes the root partition/filesystem and installed OS state.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 stateGoogle Compute EngineEligible suspension saves execution state; ordinary stop is a different mode.View evidence ↗Sandbox0Pause compute between tasks; resume on available capacity. Default resume starts fresh processes from the saved filesystem.Read documentation →
Memory and process stateGoogle Compute EngineRAM is saved to persistent storage for supported suspension, up to the documented limit.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.

Compute Engine already supports explicit boot-disk expansion and automatic online guest-root expansion on supported public images. Sandbox0 integrates the low-space trigger, logical ceiling and durable agent RootFS lifecycle; it is not uniquely capable of online filesystem growth.

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.

A separate helper-VM or disk workflow can inspect suitable stopped persistent disks, using other compute and storage orchestration. That differs from a managed whole-RootFS file interface; retained RAM and storage consistency must be respected.

See paused file operations →

Persistent boot disks and volatile state have separate lifecycles

Stopping does not remove the VM resource or its persistent disks, but ordinary stop/start loses running memory. Local SSD and other temporary state need their documented handling; do not treat a persistent boot disk as protection for every attached storage class.

Source 1 ↗

Suspension already preserves execution with limits

Supported suspension moves RAM to storage and resumes it later. The maximum suspended period is 60 days before transition to TERMINATED state. Hardware, OS, memory and encryption restrictions apply; saved memory consumes persistent storage quota and has storage costs.

Source 1 ↗

Public images can grow the root filesystem online

After you explicitly increase the boot disk, supported public images automatically expand the root partition and filesystem without restarting. Custom images and Fedora CoreOS need manual guest expansion. This is real online RootFS growth, while triggering disk expansion from a low-space policy remains a separate control.

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.

Google Compute Engine

Pricing reviewed 2026-10-19

E2-standard-2 on-demand, Iowa
$0.06701142 per instance-hour
Published us-central1 default consumption rate; 2 vCPU and 8 GiB memory.
Rate source ↗
E2-small on-demand, Iowa
$0.016752855 per instance-hour
Shared-core reference, 2 GiB memory; listed vCPU count is not dedicated full-core throughput.
Rate source ↗
Persistent disks and saved suspension memory
Separate storage charges
Include retained disk capacity, saved RAM and other attached resources in the total.
Rate source ↗

Selected us-central1 on-demand references exclude commitment/Spot assumptions and separately billed disks, network and software. Shared-core and dedicated machine behavior differ. Suspension eligibility must be verified for the actual OS/hardware; no storage-free or guaranteed-capacity claim is made.

Check current Google Compute Engine 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 Google Compute Engine

  1. Inventory image type, boot/data/Local SSD storage, VM family, suspension eligibility and effective disk expansion behavior.
  2. Export required state and port compatible agent tools to Sandbox0 while retaining specialized Google Cloud services.
  3. Test full system-path retention, low-space-triggered growth, process restoration, paused files and total compute/storage/network costs.

Common questions

Is Sandbox0 a drop-in Google Compute Engine 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 ↗docs.cloud.google.com/compute/docs/instances/stop-start-instance ↗docs.cloud.google.com/compute/docs/instances/suspend-resume-instance ↗docs.cloud.google.com/compute/docs/disks/resize-persistent-disk ↗cloud.google.com/products/compute/pricing/general-purpose ↗Sandbox0 RootFS capacity →

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