Development environments / Okteto alternative

An Okteto alternative for an agent’s returning Linux runtime

Okteto standardizes development, preview, testing and coding-agent environments on Kubernetes infrastructure you control. It can scale environments to zero while keeping persistent volumes. Compare that organization-wide environment platform with the durable hosted Linux machine used by an individual agent.

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Reviewed 2026-10-18 · Published by the Sandbox0 team

When Okteto fits

Okteto fits platform teams needing multi-service development environments, previews, Kubernetes integration, testing and governance on their own infrastructure. Unlimited environment entitlements and per-user licensing can be valuable when many agents validate changes against a shared platform.

When to consider Sandbox0

Consider Sandbox0 when the primary need is a hosted persistent Linux execution API with complete writable-RootFS retention, automatic online expansion and supported files while guest compute is paused. Keep or rebuild the surrounding Kubernetes previews, test environments and developer governance where required.

Capabilities

Okteto and Sandbox0: what persists?

Feature comparison with documentation and verification status
Environment and runtime lifetimeOktetoEnvironment sleep/delete behavior is administrator policy-controlled; defaults and persistent-resource exemptions must be checked.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 filesOktetoSleep preserves PVCs and their data; deletion rules and personal-namespace exceptions are distinct.View evidence ↗Sandbox0The writable RootFS survives successful checkpoints, including software, system configuration, dependencies, and user data.Read documentation →
Whole RootFSOktetoPVC persistence and snapshots do not establish complete writable container RootFS retention across pod recreation.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 stateOktetoEnvironment sleep scales workloads to zero and supports wake; it preserves configured volumes rather than process memory.View evidence ↗Sandbox0Pause compute between tasks; resume on available capacity. Default resume starts fresh processes from the saved filesystem.Read documentation →
Memory and process stateOktetoThe reviewed snapshot feature captures volume data, not a documented arbitrary execution checkpoint.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.

Okteto keeps selected PVCs through sleep and can clone volume snapshots. Resizing depends on the chosen Kubernetes storage configuration; these sources do not establish automatic online growth of the complete durable agent RootFS. Do not infer that the platform cannot resize volumes.

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.

See paused file operations →

Sleep deletes pods while preserving configured storage

Okteto sleep scales Deployments and StatefulSets to zero, preserving PVC data, service definitions and configuration. Pod-local process memory is a different state boundary. Deletion can later remove namespaces and PVC data; personal-namespace cleanup has a documented PVC-preserving exception. Evaluate the actual namespace and storage policy.

Source 1 ↗

Inactivity and deletion have separate timers

The GC guide lists default sleep/delete periods of three hours/fourteen days for namespaces and one hour/seven days for previews. When sleep is enabled, the delete period follows entering sleep. Activity detection, persistent-resource exemptions and administrator configuration affect the effective lifecycle; a background workload should not assume its desired retention policy is automatic.

Source 1 ↗

Volume snapshots and license entitlements solve different problems

Okteto can initialize PVCs from CSI volume snapshots, subject to compatible storage-class/driver setup. That copies selected volume data, not arbitrary RAM. Separately, every current plan includes unlimited environments; paid tiers are priced per user account, with infrastructure and storage in the customer deployment.

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.

Okteto

Pricing reviewed 2026-10-18

Starter software
Free for up to five users
Self-operated on customer Kubernetes infrastructure.
Rate source ↗
Scale
Contact sales; priced per user
Rate source ↗
Enterprise
Contact sales; priced per user
Self-Hosted or the vendor’s Enterprise BYOC offering.
Rate source ↗
Environment and AI-agent platform meter
No per-environment or per-minute platform fee
Unlimited environment entitlement is separate from available cluster resources.
Rate source ↗
Infrastructure and retained storage
Customer deployment/provider costs apply
Rate source ↗

These are platform-license terms, not an all-in sandbox VM-hour price. Include customer cluster, persistent volumes, data services, model usage and operations. The current price page marks some capabilities such as SAML as forthcoming; broad marketing summaries should not override specific current plan availability. No vendor ROI percentage is treated as a measured Sandbox0 saving.

Check current Okteto 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 Okteto

  1. Inventory namespaces, PVCs, pod-local state, snapshot storage classes, manifests, agent/test integrations and sleep/deletion exemptions.
  2. Move compatible Linux agent execution to Sandbox0 while retaining Kubernetes preview environments and organizational controls where needed.
  3. Test system-path persistence separately from PVC data, online growth, paused file access, process lifecycle and combined licensing/infrastructure charges.

Common questions

Is Sandbox0 a drop-in Okteto 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.okteto.com/docs/admin/cleanup.md ↗www.okteto.com/docs/core/use-volume-snapshots.md ↗www.okteto.com/pricing/ ↗Sandbox0 RootFS capacity →

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