Ona’s current billing docs say new Core subscriptions and resubscription are unavailable. Existing Core accounts remain supported; confirm current sales-led terms before relying on legacy OCU examples. Read the source ↗

Development environments / Ona (formerly Gitpod) alternative

An Ona alternative for evolving system state beyond a single coding task

Ona environments already retain files anywhere on disk across ordinary stop/start, including system tools. Dev Container rebuilds have different retention semantics. Its current commercial path also differs from old self-serve Core pricing, so a comparison should distinguish current availability, existing-account meters and the machine lifecycle.

Start buildingCompare capabilities ↓

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

When Ona (formerly Gitpod) fits

Ona fits teams wanting a managed coding-agent and development-environment product with enterprise controls and supported cloud/VPC deployment choices. Its environment preparation and policy tooling are broader than a raw Linux execution API.

When to consider Sandbox0

Consider Sandbox0 when your own agent application needs a durable complete writable RootFS that grows online, with supported persistent-file access while compute stays paused. Supply any required IDE, coding-agent, policy and integration layers separately.

Capabilities

Ona (formerly Gitpod) and Sandbox0: what persists?

Feature comparison with documentation and verification status
Environment and runtime lifetimeOna (formerly Gitpod)Not 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 filesOna (formerly Gitpod)Ordinary stop/start retains all on-disk files, with separate rebuild/archive/deletion rules.View evidence ↗Sandbox0The writable RootFS survives successful checkpoints, including software, system configuration, dependencies, and user data.Read documentation →
Whole RootFSOna (formerly Gitpod)System packages and files anywhere on the filesystem explicitly survive ordinary stop/start; Dev Container rebuild is different.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 stateOna (formerly Gitpod)Stopped environments retain disk; archived environments can be unarchived before deletion.View evidence ↗Sandbox0Pause compute between tasks; resume on available capacity. Default resume starts fresh processes from the saved filesystem.Read documentation →
Memory and process stateOna (formerly Gitpod)Disk persistence and prepared filesystem prebuilds do not establish arbitrary process-memory continuity.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.

Ona persists the whole disk through normal stops and offers class-dependent disk sizes. The reviewed guide recommends a larger class when space runs out, but does not establish automatic online growth of an existing complete RootFS.

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 →

Whole-filesystem stop/start and Dev Container rebuild differ

Ona explicitly retains system packages, home data and files anywhere on disk across stop/start. Rebuilding a Dev Container recreates most filesystem content while preserving the repository bind mount; other paths need explicit mounts. Prebuilds save a prepared Dev Container filesystem for new environments, rather than updating every existing machine.

Source 1 ↗

An idle background process may still be stopped

The auto-stop policy does not treat background builds, server traffic, file changes or CPU/RAM usage as activity. Agent work, supported IDE interaction, plain SSH or CLI keepalive can prevent idle. Separately, Core environments archive after three inactive days and auto-delete four days after archival; Enterprise timing and retention are policy-controlled.

Source 1 ↗Source 2 ↗

Old Core OCUs do not establish a new-customer price

Current billing docs say no new Core subscriptions, upgrades or resubscriptions are available. Existing Core usage still distinguishes environment OCUs from agent/model usage. New commercial terms go through sales, and Enterprise uses a different billing model. Preserve those boundaries instead of advertising an old public Core dollar price.

Source 1 ↗Source 2 ↗Source 3 ↗

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.

Ona (formerly Gitpod)

Pricing reviewed 2026-10-18

New customer / Enterprise terms
Contact sales; no current numeric self-serve quote verified
Rate source ↗
New Core subscription
No longer available
Rate source ↗
Existing Core standard environment
1 OCU/hour for 4 vCPU / 16 GB
Legacy-account meter, not a currently purchasable new Core offer.
Rate source ↗
Existing Core GPU-accelerated environment
7 OCUs/hour for 16 vCPU / 64 GB
Confirm the actual GPU and effective existing-account terms.
Rate source ↗

No dollar-per-OCU conversion or historical Core fee is applied as a current price. Core subscription credits reset monthly without rollover; top-up validity depends on an active subscription. Enterprise billing and external model/subscription usage have separate terms.

Check current Ona (formerly Gitpod) 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 Ona (formerly Gitpod)

  1. Export required system and repository state, record Dev Container mounts, prebuilds, runner/class selection, inactivity and deletion policies, and current commercial eligibility.
  2. Port compatible tools, lifecycle, files, credentials and network rules, and supply the surrounding coding-agent, IDE and enterprise functions.
  3. Validate whole-system retention separately from rebuilds, online growth, paused file access, process behavior and actual current versus legacy billing.

Common questions

Is Sandbox0 a drop-in Ona (formerly Gitpod) 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 ↗ona.com/docs/ona/environments/persistent-storage ↗ona.com/docs/ona/organizations/policies/environment-timeout ↗ona.com/docs/ona/environments/archive-auto-delete ↗ona.com/docs/ona/billing/overview ↗ona.com/docs/ona/billing/usage ↗ona.com/contact/sales ↗Sandbox0 RootFS capacity →

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