# Daytona vs Runloop: Daytona is 48% cheaper per agent run Runtime Cloud (withruntime.com) costs $0.64 for the job; Daytona charges $2.76 and a Runloop devbox $5.33. ## Which is better, Daytona or Runloop? It depends on whether you want benchmarks as a managed product. For eval and agent runs that wait on a model, Runtime costs least: $0.64 for the job, against $2.76 on Daytona and $5.33 on Runloop, with no plan fee and a pause and forks that keep memory. Pick Runloop for evaluation and RL rollouts from one vendor, or deployment into your own cloud account. Pick Daytona for GPU or Windows sandboxes. ## At a glance | | Daytona | Runloop | Runtime | | ---------------- | --------------------------------------------------------- | --------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | Isolation | Containers by default; VM sandboxes as a separate class | Hardware-isolated microVM | Firecracker microVM, own kernel, every sandbox | | CPU | $0.0504 per allocated vCPU-hour | $0.108 per CPU-hour while the devbox runs | $0.025 per vCPU-hour of measured CPU, with a small floor | | Memory | $0.0162 per GiB-hour | $0.0252 per GB-hour | $0.0075 per reserved GiB-hour | | Disk | First 5 GiB free, then $0.000108 per GiB-hour | $0.00034236 per GB-hour | Included while running; paused storage $0.08 per GB-month | | Plan fee | None published | Basic free; Pro $250 a month plus usage | None; prepaid credit from $10 | | Free start | $200 of compute | $50 of credit, no card; 3 running devboxes on the trial | 100 free hours of a 1 GB machine in the first 30 days, no card; 4 concurrent sandboxes | | Pause and resume | Files and memory on VM sandboxes | Suspend keeps the disk, processes restart; on Pro | Files, memory and processes, every sandbox | ## Which is better for agent evals and benchmarks? Runloop sells evaluation as a product. It evaluates models against your own workload rather than mock benchmarks, and generates RL rollouts checked by running them. On Runtime you bring the harness and run each task in its own sandbox. The cost of a large eval run is where they part. An eval task spends most of its time waiting for the model under test, and the three bill for that time at very different rates: | For 1,000 one-minute tasks | Runloop | Daytona | Runtime | | -------------------------- | ---------------: | ---------------: | --------------------: | | 20 CPU-seconds per task | $5.33 | $2.76 | $0.64 | | Both CPUs busy throughout | $5.33 | $2.76 | $1.33 | A Runtime fork also copies a prepared sandbox with its memory and running processes, so a repository installed once can start several attempts from the same point. See [agent evals and SWE-bench](/use-cases/agent-evals-and-swe-bench) and [RL environments](/use-cases/rl-environments). ## Cost for the same job Worked out for the first row: 1,000 tasks of 60 seconds on 2 vCPU and 4 GiB, 20 CPU-seconds of computing in each. Runloop's matching size is `MEDIUM`, with 2 CPUs, 4 GB and 8 GB of disk. ``` Daytona CPU 1,000 × 60 s / 3,600 × 2 × $0.0504 = $1.68 Memory 1,000 × 60 s / 3,600 × 4 × $0.0162 = $1.08 Total $2.76 Runloop CPU 1,000 × 60 s / 3,600 × 2 × $0.108 = $3.60 Memory 1,000 × 60 s / 3,600 × 4 × $0.0252 = $1.68 Disk 1,000 × 60 s / 3,600 × 8 × $0.00034236 = $0.05 Total $5.33 Runtime CPU 1,000 × 20 s / 3,600 × $0.025 = $0.14 Memory 1,000 × 60 s / 3,600 × 4 × $0.0075 = $0.50 Total $0.64 ``` Scaled up to 100,000 runs a month, Daytona comes to $276.00, Runloop to $532.56 and Runtime to $63.89. With both CPUs busy for the whole minute, it is $1.33 on Runtime, $2.76 on Daytona and $5.33 on Runloop. Plan fees, storage while stopped, network and free credit are left out. ## What survives between sessions? A suspended Runloop devbox keeps its disk; compute and memory charges stop, and its processes must be restarted when it resumes. Suspend and resume are on the Pro plan. Daytona keeps files and memory when a VM sandbox pauses. A paused Runtime sandbox keeps files, memory and running processes on every sandbox, while you have credit, and wakes on the next request: ```python check from withruntime import Sandbox sbx = Sandbox.create(timeout_seconds=600) sbx.exec("echo state > /workspace/state.txt") sbx.pause() # memory and files are kept; compute billing stops again = Sandbox.connect(sbx.id) again.wake(timeout_seconds=1200) again.extend(600) again.stop() ``` ## Which one to pick - **Daytona**, for GPU sandboxes or Windows machines at a flat rate well below Runloop's, or a $200 free start. - **Runloop**, for evaluation and RL rollouts, delivered as a managed product, or for deployment into your own cloud account with the SOC 2, HIPAA and GDPR readiness it states. - **Runtime**, for eval and agent runs at 77% below Daytona's price and 88% below Runloop's, pause and forks that keep memory and processes on every sandbox, and no plan fee. ## Runtime Cloud Runtime costs 77% less than Daytona and 88% less than Runloop for an eval or agent job that waits on a model. 1,000 one-minute runs of a 2 vCPU, 4 GiB sandbox are $2.76 on Daytona, $5.33 on Runloop and $0.64 on Runtime, whose CPU is metered by use at $0.025 a vCPU-hour. Each Runtime sandbox is a Firecracker microVM, and each can pause with memory and running processes. Rates checked 25 October 2026. Run your eval harness on the free usage first: `npx withruntime login` sets up the account. The [migration guide](/docs/migrate) moves Daytona code across. ## Moving to Runtime Daytona code needs one import changed: ```ts no-run import { Daytona } from "withruntime/daytona"; // was: from "@daytona/sdk" ``` ```python no-run from withruntime.daytona import Daytona # was: from daytona import Daytona ``` Runloop code is ported through the [migration table](/docs/migrate#map-the-calls): a devbox is created with `Sandbox.create()`, commands run through `exec`, suspend and resume become `pause()` and `wake()`, and shutdown is `stop()`. `npx withruntime compare --from runloop` reprices your Runloop usage, and credit you add within 30 days of signing up is matched, up to $1,000 in total. A coding agent can do either port from the one instruction in [migration](/docs/migrate), on a branch and on the free usage. See [Runtime vs Daytona](/docs/daytona-alternative) and [Runtime vs Runloop](/docs/runloop-alternative). ## Sources Daytona and Runloop pricing pages rechecked 25 October 2026; the rest checked 25 October 2026. - [Runloop pricing](https://www.runloop.ai/pricing), [Devbox sizes](https://docs.runloop.ai/docs/devboxes/configuration/sizes), [Devbox lifecycle](https://docs.runloop.ai/docs/devboxes/lifecycle), [Runloop](https://www.runloop.ai/) - [Daytona pricing](https://www.daytona.io/pricing), [Daytona sandboxes](https://www.daytona.io/docs/en/sandboxes) - Runtime [pricing](/docs/pricing) Facts on this page were checked on 26 October 2026.