---
title: Modal
slug: modal
url: "https://toolweight.com/tools/modal"
homepage: "https://modal.com"
categories: sandbox-providers
last_verified: 2026-07-23
dataset_version: 0738be72
license: CC-BY-4.0
---

# Modal

> Serverless Python compute with a Sandbox API bolted onto a GPU-first platform.

- Serverless Python runtime on gVisor, with its own scheduler and years of container-start engineering
- Sandbox API runs untrusted or agent-generated code, including on GPUs
- Strongest option if the sandbox sits next to real ML work
- Awkward fit if you just want a plain Linux box

## Identity

|  |  |
| --- | --- |
| Name | Modal |
| Company | Modal |
| One-liner | Serverless Python compute with a Sandbox API bolted onto a GPU-first platform. |
| Site | https://modal.com |
| Docs | https://modal.com/docs/guide/sandbox |
| Founded | 2021 |
| Funding | Series B |
| Compared in | 1 |

## Where it is compared

### [Sandbox providers](https://toolweight.com/compare/sandbox-providers)
Ranked **#5 of 19** on default weights.
| Field | Value | Confidence | Verified | Source | Note | Permalink |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Cold start | 1.5s | Inferred | - | - | Estimate for a cached CPU image with no warm container. Large images and GPU attachment push this considerably higher. | https://toolweight.com/compare/sandbox-providers#modal--cold_start_measured |
| Cold start (claimed) | 1s | Vendor-claimed | 2026-01-15 | https://modal.com/docs/guide/cold-start | Marketed as sub-second container starts. Recorded at 1000 ms, the literal ceiling of "sub-second", this page's convention for a claim of that shape. | https://toolweight.com/compare/sandbox-providers#modal--cold_start_claimed |
| Isolation | gvisor | Vendor-claimed | 2026-01-15 | https://modal.com/docs/guide/security | - | https://toolweight.com/compare/sandbox-providers#modal--isolation_tech |
| Root in guest | ● | Inferred | - | - | Root inside the sandbox; no host device access. | https://toolweight.com/compare/sandbox-providers#modal--root_access |
| Egress control | proxy-logged | Inferred | - | - | Outbound is open by default; proxy and blocking options exist but are not a per-sandbox allowlist. | https://toolweight.com/compare/sandbox-providers#modal--egress_control |
| Max runtime | 24h | Vendor-claimed | 2026-01-15 | https://modal.com/docs/guide/timeouts | 24 h function timeout ceiling. | https://toolweight.com/compare/sandbox-providers#modal--max_runtime |
| Persistent FS | ● | Vendor-claimed | 2026-01-15 | https://modal.com/docs/guide/volumes | Modal Volumes mount into sandboxes and outlive them. | https://toolweight.com/compare/sandbox-providers#modal--persistent_fs |
| Snapshot & fork | ◐ | Inferred | - | - | Memory snapshots exist mainly as a cold-start optimisation; forking a live sandbox is not the headline primitive it is at CodeSandbox. | https://toolweight.com/compare/sandbox-providers#modal--snapshot_fork |
| Custom images | ● | Vendor-claimed | 2026-01-15 | https://modal.com/docs/guide/images | Images are defined in Python or pulled from a registry. | https://toolweight.com/compare/sandbox-providers#modal--custom_images |
| GPU | ● | Vendor-claimed | 2026-01-15 | https://modal.com/pricing | Self-serve H100, A100, L40S and others. | https://toolweight.com/compare/sandbox-providers#modal--gpu |
| Runtimes | python, javascript-typescript, bash, any-oci-image | Inferred | - | - | - | https://toolweight.com/compare/sandbox-providers#modal--language_runtimes |
| Preview URLs | ● | Vendor-claimed | 2026-01-15 | https://modal.com/docs | - | https://toolweight.com/compare/sandbox-providers#modal--preview_urls |
| Browser inside | ◐ | Inferred | - | - | Chromium runs fine in a custom image; no supported browser template. | https://toolweight.com/compare/sandbox-providers#modal--browser_in_sandbox |
| File up/download | ● | Vendor-claimed | 2026-01-15 | https://modal.com/docs | - | https://toolweight.com/compare/sandbox-providers#modal--file_transfer_api |
| Sydney region | ○ | Inferred | - | - | US and EU regions. | https://toolweight.com/compare/sandbox-providers#modal--sydney_region |
| Concurrent limit | 100 sandboxes | Inferred | - | - | Default account limits sit in the low hundreds of containers and are raised on request. | https://toolweight.com/compare/sandbox-providers#modal--max_concurrency |
| MCP server | ◐ | Inferred | - | - | Examples and community servers rather than a supported product. | https://toolweight.com/compare/sandbox-providers#modal--mcp_server |
| SDKs | python, cli | Inferred | - | - | - | https://toolweight.com/compare/sandbox-providers#modal--sdk_languages |
| Streaming output | ● | Vendor-claimed | 2026-01-15 | https://modal.com/docs | - | https://toolweight.com/compare/sandbox-providers#modal--streaming_stdout |
| Price / hour | $0.238/hr | Inferred | 2026-07-23 | https://modal.com/pricing | Derived from the Sandbox rate card: $0.00003942/core/s and $0.00000667/GiB/s. Modal bills per physical core, not per vCPU, so this column's 2 vCPU shape is one core: 0.00003942 × 3600 = $0.142, plus 4 × 0.00000667 × 3600 = $0.096, totalling $0.238. Billing the 2 vCPU as 2 cores, the obvious misreading, overstates Modal by about 55%. Expensive per CPU-hour, competitive per GPU-hour. | https://toolweight.com/compare/sandbox-providers#modal--price_per_hour |
| Meter | per-second | Vendor-claimed | 2026-01-15 | https://modal.com/pricing | - | https://toolweight.com/compare/sandbox-providers#modal--billing_granularity |
| Idle cost | active-cpu-only | Inferred | - | - | Containers scale to zero; a stopped sandbox is not billed. | https://toolweight.com/compare/sandbox-providers#modal--idle_billing |
| GitHub stars | - | Inferred | - | - | - | https://toolweight.com/compare/sandbox-providers#modal--github_stars |
| Funding | series-b | Community-reported | - | - | Raised a large Series B in 2025. | https://toolweight.com/compare/sandbox-providers#modal--funding_stage |
| Shipped | 2024 | Inferred | - | - | The platform is older; the Sandbox API is the newer surface. | https://toolweight.com/compare/sandbox-providers#modal--launched |
| Positioning | Serverless compute for AI teams, with sandboxes as one primitive. | Inferred | - | - | - | https://toolweight.com/compare/sandbox-providers#modal--positioning |

**Verdict.** Buy Modal for GPUs and Python ergonomics, not boot time; unmatched when the agent runs inference next to its code.

## Alternatives

- [Blaxel](https://toolweight.com/tools/blaxel), Agent-first cloud claiming ~25 ms microVM boots from snapshots.
- [boat](https://toolweight.com/tools/boat), Persistent Ubuntu VMs for agents with SSH, Docker and disk-level fork, billed per second.
- [Cloudflare Sandbox](https://toolweight.com/tools/cloudflare-sandbox), Container sandboxes driven from a Worker, addressed through Durable Objects.
- [CodeSandbox SDK](https://toolweight.com/tools/codesandbox-sdk), Firecracker VMs with memory snapshots, from the online IDE, now owned by Together AI.
- [Daytona](https://toolweight.com/tools/daytona), Sub-second container sandboxes for agent workloads, from a team that built a dev-env manager.
- [Self-hosted Firecracker](https://toolweight.com/tools/diy-firecracker), The baseline: Firecracker on your own metal, plus every hard part you now own.
- [E2B](https://toolweight.com/tools/e2b), Open-source Firecracker sandboxes with Python and TypeScript SDKs for AI agents.
- [exe.dev](https://toolweight.com/tools/exe-dev), Persistent VMs you SSH into, with root, apt and systemd, on a flat monthly plan.
- [Fly.io Machines](https://toolweight.com/tools/fly-machines), Raw Firecracker microVMs with a REST API, durable volumes and 35+ regions.
- [Freestyle](https://toolweight.com/tools/freestyle), Run untrusted JavaScript and full dev servers, with git hosting and domains built in.
- [GitHub Codespaces](https://toolweight.com/tools/github-codespaces), Devcontainer-backed cloud VMs built for humans, occasionally repurposed for agents.
- [Islo](https://toolweight.com/tools/islo), Per-agent isolated cloud sandboxes with enterprise policy controls, from Incredibuild.

## Logo & brand colours

SVG files: https://toolweight.com/teams/modal/logo.svg and https://toolweight.com/teams/modal/mono.svg. JSON: https://toolweight.com/api/v1/brands/modal.

| Hex | oklch |
| --- | --- |
| #7fee64 | oklch(85.4% 0.204 139.8) |

## Licence and attribution

Data from Toolweight (https://toolweight.com), licensed CC-BY-4.0.

- Licence: [CC-BY-4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)
- Canonical HTML: https://toolweight.com/tools/modal
- Machine-readable: https://toolweight.com/tools/modal.md · https://toolweight.com/api/v1 · https://toolweight.com/mcp
- Toolweight takes no affiliate revenue and sells no placements.