Agent sandboxes / Porter.run Sandboxes alternative

Porter.run alternative for returning agent environments

Porter now documents a dedicated Sandbox product alongside its application PaaS. Sandboxes run in your AWS account, offer filesystem snapshots and support independent persistent volumes. Compare those current capabilities with the state coverage and lifecycle of a returning agent computer.

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

When Porter.run Sandboxes fits

Choose Porter when running workloads in your own cloud account is central, especially alongside existing Porter applications. Its sandbox warm pools, egress controls, filesystem snapshots and SDK-accessible volumes can fit task execution and reusable setup environments.

When to consider Sandbox0

Consider Sandbox0 when one durable writable RootFS should carry installed tools, system configuration and outputs across tasks, expand automatically online and permit supported file operations during compute pauses. Retain any required Porter applications and cloud integrations.

Capabilities

Porter.run Sandboxes and Sandbox0: what persists?

Feature comparison with documentation and verification status
Environment and runtime lifetimePorter.run SandboxesTTL is optional; sandbox lifetime follows the main process and ends when it exits or is terminated.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 filesPorter.run SandboxesIndependent volumes survive sandbox exit; the sandbox’s own filesystem needs a snapshot to be reused.View evidence ↗Sandbox0The writable RootFS survives successful checkpoints, including software, system configuration, dependencies, and user data.Read documentation →
Whole RootFSPorter.run SandboxesSnapshots capture the sandbox filesystem, excluding separate mounted volumes; this is explicit capture rather than automatic exit retention.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 statePorter.run SandboxesThe documented lifecycle and file snapshots do not establish an in-place pause/resume contract.View evidence ↗Sandbox0Pause compute between tasks; resume on available capacity. Default resume starts fresh processes from the saved filesystem.Read documentation →
Memory and process statePorter.run SandboxesSnapshots explicitly exclude running processes and start the command from the beginning.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.

Porter separates snapshots of the sandbox filesystem from independent mounted volumes. The cited interfaces do not establish automatic low-space-triggered online expansion of the entire durable sandbox 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.

Porter already offers independent disk-volume file methods, including use from outside the sandbox. Their scope is the selected volume; they do not establish arbitrary whole-OS file operations on a paused sandbox. Sandbox0 applies supported offline operations to its durable RootFS with separate retained-memory mutation guards.

See paused file operations →

Snapshot files, then restart the command

Porter captures a running sandbox’s filesystem for later new sandboxes. Snapshots exclude running processes and mounted volumes; the restored sandbox starts its command from the beginning. Ordinary sandbox filesystem state is discarded at exit unless saved, while independent mounted volumes have a longer lifecycle.

Source 1 ↗Source 2 ↗

Independent volumes already have file operations

Porter disk volumes support browsing, reading, writing, uploads and moves through the SDK, CLI and dashboard. These operations address the volume, not every OS path in a paused sandbox. S3 object volumes have different semantics: they do not support in-place editing/appending and lack those external file methods.

Source 1 ↗

The app tariff is not a verified sandbox quote

Porter’s public Standard management fee uses requested application CPU/RAM, on top of underlying cloud costs. The cited pricing page does not establish that this is the sandbox-specific tariff. Obtain written sandbox, snapshot, retained-volume and warm-pool pricing before comparing a complete agent workload.

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.

Porter.run Sandboxes

Pricing reviewed 2026-10-19

Standard application RAM management reference
$6 per requested GB-month; $0.009/hour
Application management fee; underlying cloud resources extra; not a verified sandbox tariff.
Rate source ↗
Standard application CPU management reference
$13 per requested vCPU-month; $0.019/hour
Requested application resources, prorated to the minute; not actual CPU instruction usage.
Rate source ↗
Sandbox-specific total
Confirm tariff with Porter
Include sandbox fees, AWS compute/warm capacity, retained volumes, snapshots and network charges.
Rate source ↗

The published hourly and monthly application rates are Porter’s own references, not a derived 730-hour conversion. Enterprise pricing is custom. Do not assign a sandbox rate from the app table or count underlying AWS capacity as included in the management fee.

Check current Porter.run 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 Porter.run Sandboxes

  1. Separate Porter Applications from Sandboxes; inventory AWS cluster/warm-pool capacity, filesystem snapshots, mounted disk/object volumes and SDK operations.
  2. Export required snapshot and volume data and recreate compatible Linux setup, commands, credentials and egress rules; retain application/cloud services as needed.
  3. Test repeated tasks, system changes, online growth, paused files and complete sandbox, cloud capacity, retained storage and network pricing.

Common questions

Is Sandbox0 a drop-in Porter.run Sandboxes 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.porter.run/sandboxes/overview.md ↗docs.porter.run/sandboxes/volumes.md ↗www.porter.run/pricing ↗docs.porter.run/sandboxes/sdk/typescript/reference.md ↗Sandbox0 RootFS capacity →

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