Agent sandboxes / Prime Intellect Sandboxes alternative

A Prime Intellect sandbox alternative for accumulated agent state

Prime Intellect sandboxes target disposable microVM environments and agentic training, with reusable filesystem checkpoints. For a returning personal agent, compare the durable-checkpoint workflow, disk sizing, and retained image costs with keeping one growing RootFS.

Start buildingCompare capabilities ↓

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

When Prime Intellect Sandboxes fits

Prime Intellect fits RL rollouts, verifier-driven experiments, and workloads that need its full VM behavior, Docker, systemd, or training ecosystem. Its documentation allows an unlimited lifetime deadline when configured explicitly.

When to consider Sandbox0

Consider Sandbox0 for a persistent per-user Linux environment that keeps packages, system configuration, and outputs together, expands its RootFS online, and releases compute between tasks without losing its identity.

Capabilities

Prime Intellect Sandboxes and Sandbox0: what persists?

Feature comparison with documentation and verification status
Environment and runtime lifetimePrime Intellect SandboxesDefault timeout is 60 minutes; a negative value removes the lifetime deadline. Optional idle termination is independent.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 filesPrime Intellect SandboxesA DURABLE filesystem checkpoint outlives its source sandbox.View evidence ↗Sandbox0The writable RootFS survives successful checkpoints, including software, system configuration, dependencies, and user data.Read documentation →
Whole RootFSPrime Intellect SandboxesFilesystem checkpoints capture the sandbox environment for later restore or fork.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 statePrime Intellect SandboxesThe documented saved-state path restores files into a new sandbox, rather than retaining arbitrary live processes.View evidence ↗Sandbox0Pause compute between tasks; resume on available capacity. Default resume starts fresh processes from the saved filesystem.Read documentation →
Memory and process statePrime Intellect SandboxesFilesystem checkpoints explicitly exclude running processes and memory.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.

Prime documents a 2–128 GiB disk size at creation; checkpoint restore inherits the saved image and disk size. Automatic mounted-RootFS growth is not established by the reviewed create and checkpoint APIs.

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 →

Wait for checkpoint durability before removing the source

Prime filesystem checkpoints become reusable only at DURABLE. Before that state, deleting the source or reaching its timeout can lose the pending checkpoint. Restore and fork preserve files but do not continue the source’s running processes or memory.

Source 1 ↗Source 2 ↗

Long runtime is a shared configurable capability

Prime documents a default 60-minute timeout and permits a negative timeout for no lifetime deadline. Optional idle timeout remains a separate termination policy. Configure both settings deliberately: removing the lifetime deadline does not disable idle termination.

Source 1 ↗

Retained checkpoints have storage and upload charges

Prime’s running disk meter differs from its image and checkpoint storage meter. A completed image build or durable checkpoint also incurs an upload charge equal to one day of storage. Include those artifacts when pricing repeated rollout branches or long-lived saved environments.

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.

Same size. Lower compute cost.

2 vCPU · 4 GiB RAM · 730 running hours / month

Save $21.90 / month

The same CPU and memory allocation, with runtime aggregated across sessions. Monthly allowances and credits below are applied to this workload.

Prime Intellect Sandboxes

Sandbox launch compute rates

$65.70

$0.09/hour before monthly allowances

Sandbox0

Pay as you go · no monthly plan fee

$43.80

$0.06/hour · 33% lower in this example

Launch CPU and memory rates are valid through December 22, 2026. Running disk, VM-image storage, checkpoint storage and upload charges are separate.

Compute and stated plan fees only. Storage, network, taxes and one-time credits are excluded; hardware and throughput can differ.

Calculation and billing assumptions

Prime Intellect Sandboxes: $65.70 compute after 0 included vCPU-hours and 0 included GiB-hours, plus $0.00 plan fee, minus $0.00 applied monthly credit.

Sandbox0: 4 GiB × 730 hours × its published compute rate. CPU uses the Cloud allocation shown on the pricing page.

Includes compute and the selected plan. Excludes storage, network, taxes, one-time grants and negotiated discounts. Assumes this workload can use the full listed monthly allowances. CPU and memory counts do not guarantee equal hardware or throughput.

Checked Prime Intellect Sandboxes rate source ↗Sandbox0 rates ↗

Prime Intellect Sandboxes

Pricing reviewed 2026-10-18

Launch CPU rate
$0.02 per vCPU-hour
Rate source ↗
Launch memory rate
$0.0125 per GiB-hour
Rate source ↗
Launch running disk rate
$0.0002 per GiB-hour
Rate source ↗
VM image and checkpoint storage
$0.10 per GiB-month
Billed hourly while retained; upload adds a one-time charge equivalent to one day of storage.
Rate source ↗

The official documentation states the launch compute rates are valid through December 22, 2026. Recheck the rate card beyond that date. Per-sandbox disk is listed up to 128 GiB; account-wide quotas and retained artifacts add separate constraints.

Check current Prime Intellect 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
Understand storage billing →

Before migrating from Prime Intellect Sandboxes

  1. Keep each source alive until its required checkpoint is DURABLE, and export mounted or external data separately.
  2. Recreate the workload image and port verifier hooks, commands, private networking, timeouts, and secret handling.
  3. Test VM-dependent tooling for gVisor compatibility, then validate RootFS growth, paused file access, and the level of process restoration the agent needs.

Common questions

Is Sandbox0 a drop-in Prime Intellect 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.primeintellect.ai/sandboxes/overview ↗docs.primeintellect.ai/sandboxes/sdk ↗Sandbox0 RootFS capacity →

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