Development environments / Sealos DevBox alternative

A Sealos Devbox alternative for a growing agent execution environment

Sealos DevBox is a managed cloud development environment connected to the wider Sealos app/database/storage platform. It retains workspaces between sessions and packages application releases as OCI images. Compare that developer-to-production workflow with a runtime API for an agent’s evolving complete filesystem.

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

When Sealos DevBox fits

Sealos DevBox fits developers who want remote IDE/SSH access, prepared runtimes and a direct release/deploy path into Sealos Cloud. Its fixed resource packages can suit workloads that prefer a known subscription envelope.

When to consider Sandbox0

Consider Sandbox0 when each user’s Linux agent needs whole-RootFS durability, automatic online growth and supported file access without waking compute. Provide the surrounding IDE, deployment, database and developer-product features separately where needed.

Capabilities

Sealos DevBox and Sandbox0: what persists?

Feature comparison with documentation and verification status
Environment and runtime lifetimeSealos DevBoxNot 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 filesSealos DevBoxThe introduction explicitly retains the workspace between sessions and supports stop/resume.View evidence ↗Sandbox0The writable RootFS survives successful checkpoints, including software, system configuration, dependencies, and user data.Read documentation →
Whole RootFSSealos DevBoxThe reviewed workspace/release guides do not establish complete writable operating-system retention across every lifecycle path.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 stateSealos DevBoxManaged workspaces support stop/resume; this does not establish per-second savings for a fixed monthly package.View evidence ↗Sandbox0Pause compute between tasks; resume on available capacity. Default resume starts fresh processes from the saved filesystem.Read documentation →
Memory and process stateSealos DevBoxAn OCI application release is not a documented live RAM/process 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.

The reviewed subscription envelope and manual upgrade path do not establish automatic online growth of one existing complete RootFS. Sandbox0’s enabled filesystem growth retains the running agent while expanding within the configured sparse-device ceiling.

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 →

Workspace reuse and OCI release solve different lifecycle problems

The introduction says workspaces persist between sessions and can stop/resume. The release guide separately builds a versioned OCI image from the developed application and uses entrypoint.sh to start it. That deployment artifact is not evidence of retaining arbitrary live process memory or every mutable system path across all DevBox actions.

Source 1 ↗Source 2 ↗

The current price page qualifies the low introductory prices

The guide lists low Starter/Hobby prices, while the current price page distinguishes regular prices from eligible first-paid-plan-purchase offers. Keep that eligibility condition and the fixed package’s CPU/RAM/disk/traffic together rather than present the introductory price as an unconditional permanent rate.

Source 1 ↗Source 2 ↗

A package envelope is not an automatically growing filesystem

The price FAQ says allocating more resources requires a manual plan upgrade. App deployment, databases and storage can share the platform package. Verify actual DevBox allocation, region/account eligibility and optional services before treating the entire package as a dedicated agent VM quote.

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.

Sealos DevBox

Pricing reviewed 2026-10-18

Starter platform package
Regular $34/month; eligible new-user offer $7/month
2 vCPU, 2 Gi RAM, 10 Gi disk, 10 GB traffic; first paid-plan purchase eligibility is checked in Cost Center.
Rate source ↗
Hobby platform package
Regular $70/month; eligible new-user offer $25/month
4 vCPU, 4 Gi RAM, 20 Gi disk, 50 GB traffic; conditional first-purchase offer.
Rate source ↗
Standard platform package
$128 per month
8 vCPU, 16 Gi RAM, 50 Gi disk, 300 GB traffic.
Rate source ↗
Pro platform package
$512 per month
16 vCPU, 32 Gi RAM, 200 Gi disk, 1 TB traffic.
Rate source ↗
Additional capacity
Requires manual plan upgrade
Rate source ↗

These are Sealos platform resource packages, not per-second dedicated DevBox quotes. Confirm effective DevBox allocation, account/region terms, taxes and optional services. Preserve Gi capacity versus GB traffic labels. Stopping a workspace does not by itself establish a refund or reduced fixed subscription.

Check current Sealos DevBox 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 Sealos DevBox

  1. Export workspace files, release images and required system setup, then record IDE/SSH, deployment, database, package eligibility and resource-allocation dependencies.
  2. Port compatible execution/files and supply or retain the developer, publishing and data services the workflow needs.
  3. Validate system-path retention, online RootFS growth, paused file operations, process/rebuild expectations and actual subscription plus optional-service cost.

Common questions

Is Sandbox0 a drop-in Sealos DevBox 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 ↗sealos.io/docs/guides/devbox/intro/ ↗sealos.io/docs/guides/devbox/release/ ↗sealos.io/pricing/ ↗Sandbox0 RootFS capacity →

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