boat
Persistent Ubuntu VMs for agents with SSH, Docker and disk-level fork, billed per second.
Overall in sandbox providers
11of 19 · score 70.1
Data coverage
81%
21 of 26 fields sourced
Best for
- •You want a VM that stays up rather than a sandbox that vanishes
- •SSH, Docker and a real network stack matter more than an SDK
- •You fork one prepared machine into many agent runs
Strong on
- +Idle cost free-when-stopped 1/19
- +Runtimes python, javascript-typescript, bash, go, rust, java, ruby, php, any-oci-image 1/18
- +Price / hour $0.018/hr 1/17
- +SDKs python, typescript, cli 2/19
Weak on
- −Egress control open 15/19Better: Daytona: allowlist
- −MCP server No 13/18Better: Daytona: Yes
- −Custom images Partial 14/19Better: E2B: Yes
vs CodeSandbox SDK
- •Ahead on Runtimes: python, javascript-typescript, bash, go, rust, java, ruby, php, any-oci-image vs python, javascript-typescript, bash, any-oci-image
- •Ahead on SDKs: python, typescript, cli vs typescript, python
- •Behind on Snapshot & fork: Partial vs Yes
- •Behind on Custom images: Partial vs Yes
How boat scores among 19 sandbox providers21 of 26 fields known
Runtime13
Cold start
—
Cold start (claimed)
—
Runtimes1st
python, javascript-typescript, bash, go, rust, java, ruby, php, any-oci-image
1/18
docs.boat.dev · 2026-11-14
Isolation & network3
Agent integration3
SDKs2nd
python, typescript, cli
2/19
Leader: Runloop · python, typescript, rest-api, cli
docs.boat.dev · 2026-11-14
Pricing3
Traction2
GitHub stars
—
Funding
—
Positioning1
Positioning
Full Linux VMs for AI agents, billed per second and free when stopped.
boat.dev · 2026-11-14
Timeline1
Shipped
—
Alternatives8
Blaxel
Cloudflare Sandbox
CodeSandbox SDK
Daytona
Self-hosted Firecracker
E2B
exe.dev
Fly.io MachinesCompare
Sources8
- docs.boat.dev/llms.txt8 fields
- boat.dev6 fields
- boat.dev/2 fields
- docs.boat.dev/hosting/firewall.md1 field
- docs.boat.dev/snapshots/templates.md1 field
- docs.boat.dev/machines/tools.md1 field
- docs.boat.dev/limits.md1 field
- docs.boat.dev/ai-tools.md1 field
