Development environments / Prized alternative

Prized.dev alternative

Prized has two distinct execution products: returning developer Boxes and beta API Sandboxes. Boxes retain a whole system disk, with size-dependent hibernation and an opt-in growing-storage alpha. Sandboxes offer memory/disk pause and fork but have a different host-loss boundary and lifetime. Compare the actual product and mode you use.

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

When Prized fits

Prized fits developers wanting a personal cloud machine with SSH, local sync, ports, terminal/desktop access and coding-agent workflows. Its beta Sandboxes also serve short-lived API jobs and memory forks; evaluate their own limits rather than applying Box durability to them.

When to consider Sandbox0

Consider Sandbox0 when your application needs the whole durable RootFS, online growth, cross-node recovery from regional commits and supported file operations while compute remains paused. Assess gVisor compatibility and rebuild any required local-sync, desktop and developer-product layer.

Capabilities

Prized and Sandbox0: what persists?

Feature comparison with documentation and verification status
Environment and runtime lifetimePrizedBoxes live until deletion; beta Sandboxes separately cap lifetime at 24 hours and free-credit Sandboxes have tighter limits.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 filesPrizedBoxes retain their whole system volume across pause; beta Sandboxes have a separate single-host failure boundary.View evidence ↗Sandbox0The writable RootFS survives successful checkpoints, including software, system configuration, dependencies, and user data.Read documentation →
Whole RootFSPrizedThe ordinary Box disk includes system, Docker and user files; growing alpha and beta Sandboxes have distinct lifecycle restrictions.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 statePrizedBoxes pause with size-dependent RAM behavior; beta Sandboxes document memory/disk pause on one host.View evidence ↗Sandbox0Pause compute between tasks; resume on available capacity. Default resume starts fresh processes from the saved filesystem.Read documentation →
Memory and process statePrizedMemory capture/fork is explicit for beta Sandboxes; Boxes hibernate only Nano through Small.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.

Prized offers an opt-in growing-storage alpha in Oregon, with snapshot, fork, template and region-move operations unavailable in that mode. Compare those restrictions with Sandbox0’s qualified growth-enabled RootFS lifecycle. The ordinary Prized Box disk grows during a resize restart; beta Sandbox state has its own host-local durability boundary.

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.

Prized’s beta Sandboxes wake on commands, uploads and downloads unless auto-resume is disabled, in which case paused execution is refused. Ordinary Box file/command access is not established as a full offline interface in these sources. Sandbox0 supports RootFS reads while paused and mutations during filesystem-only pause; retained-memory mutations conflict.

See paused file operations →

Boxes already preserve the whole system disk

The Machines guide describes one encrypted EBS volume containing the home directory, Docker images and system. Pausing keeps it. Nano through Small hibernate processes; Medium and larger stop clean and restart processes. Standard disk snapshots are incremental, whole-disk and crash-consistent; they capture disk writes rather than unflushed RAM.

Source 1 ↗Source 2 ↗Source 3 ↗

Fixed disks and growing-storage alpha have different tradeoffs

Ordinary Boxes grow storage during an explicit size-change restart and never shrink their disk. The opt-in infinite-storage alpha instead grows a pool on demand, enabled by the team per workspace in Oregon. On that mode disk snapshots, forks, templates and region moves are unavailable. The guide warns a storage-service failure reboots the box and can lose the newest few seconds of writes.

Source 1 ↗Source 2 ↗

Beta Sandboxes retain memory on one host

The sandbox guide documents process-memory/disk pause and live memory forks. Paused state stays on its machine: host failure, or an unexpected local process stop shortly after pause, can put it in error and lose the state. Its lifetime is capped at 24 hours, unlike a Box kept until deletion. Commands and file uploads/downloads wake a paused sandbox and resume running charges.

Source 1 ↗

Price the selected product and retained data separately

Boxes use size-based rates and paid monthly credit, while Sandboxes meter CPU, memory and disk per second with no minimum. Paused Sandboxes still charge disk plus saved memory and reserve their CPU/memory quota. A Box’s sleep rate, a Sandbox’s pause rate and a monthly plan are not interchangeable offers.

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.

Prized

Pricing reviewed 2026-10-18

Box Nano awake
$0.014/hour; 2 vCPU, 2 GB, 40 GB disk
Burstable CPU; the monthly credit rung is $10, not an additional fee on top of all included usage.
Rate source ↗
Box Small awake
$0.137/hour; 4 vCPU, 16 GB, 300 GB disk
The published $100/month reference uses 730 hours; metered by the second.
Rate source ↗
Box asleep disk
$0.0001 per GB-hour
Actual retained disk size matters, including an oversized disk kept after downsizing.
Rate source ↗
Sandbox running CPU
$0.04 per vCPU-hour
Add memory and disk; no compute charge while paused.
Rate source ↗
Sandbox running memory
$0.0125 per GB-hour
Separate from CPU, disk and external model usage.
Rate source ↗
Sandbox disk and paused memory
$0.0001 per GB-hour each
Disk is charged running and paused; saved memory is also charged while paused.
Rate source ↗

New-workspace $30 credit is one-time, with tighter free-credit limits. Ordinary Box plan credit rolls over up to a two-plan-month cap, with separate grace rules for new credits; long calendar cycles receive proportionate credit. An oversized retained Box disk adds its disk charge even while awake. Sandboxes need positive balance but do not require a monthly plan; overage is optional. Preserve vendor GB units, resource classes, deadlines and alpha/beta scope rather than asserting equal performance.

Check current Prized 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 Prized

  1. Identify Box versus beta Sandbox and standard disk versus growing alpha; inventory system tools, memory needs, files, deadlines, region and effective rates.
  2. Export required files and port the API/SSH/agent integration deliberately, rebuilding local sync or desktop workflow where needed.
  3. Exercise host-loss recovery, snapshot/fork restrictions, system-state retention, growth, paused files and complete compute/storage/model costs.

Common questions

Is Sandbox0 a drop-in Prized 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 ↗prized.dev/docs/machines.md ↗prized.dev/docs/boxes.md ↗prized.dev/docs/snapshots.md ↗prized.dev/docs/sandboxes.md ↗prized.dev/docs/billing ↗Sandbox0 RootFS capacity →

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