--- title: Val Town slug: val-town url: "https://toolweight.com/tools/val-town" homepage: "https://val.town" categories: sandbox-providers last_verified: 2026-11-07 dataset_version: 0738be72 license: CC-BY-4.0 --- # Val Town > Deno isolates that run TypeScript on HTTP, cron and email triggers. - Runs small TypeScript programs in Deno isolates with HTTP, cron and email triggers, plus SQLite and blob storage - Not a general sandbox: no root, no Docker, no long-running processes - For a model-generated TypeScript snippet behind an HTTP endpoint it starts faster and costs less than anything with a kernel - The isolate end of the spectrum ## Identity | | | | --- | --- | | Name | Val Town | | Company | Val Town | | One-liner | Deno isolates that run TypeScript on HTTP, cron and email triggers. | | Site | https://val.town | | Docs | https://docs.val.town | | Founded | 2022 | | Funding | Seed | | Compared in | 1 | ## Where it is compared ### [Sandbox providers](https://toolweight.com/compare/sandbox-providers) Ranked **#18 of 19** on default weights. | Field | Value | Confidence | Verified | Source | Note | Permalink | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Cold start | 150ms | Inferred | - | - | Estimate for an HTTP val's first request after idle. Isolates start fast because there is no kernel to boot. | https://toolweight.com/compare/sandbox-providers#val-town--cold_start_measured | | Cold start (claimed) | 100ms | Vendor-claimed | 2026-11-07 | https://docs.val.town/ | - | https://toolweight.com/compare/sandbox-providers#val-town--cold_start_claimed | | Isolation | v8-isolate | Vendor-claimed | 2026-01-15 | https://docs.val.town | Deno isolates. | https://toolweight.com/compare/sandbox-providers#val-town--isolation_tech | | Root in guest | ○ | Vendor-claimed | 2026-01-15 | https://docs.val.town | - | https://toolweight.com/compare/sandbox-providers#val-town--root_access | | Egress control | proxy-logged | Inferred | - | - | Outbound fetch is available and observable; no fine-grained per-val allowlist. | https://toolweight.com/compare/sandbox-providers#val-town--egress_control | | Max runtime | 5min | Inferred | - | - | Vals are request-scoped with a timeout measured in minutes, not a long-running process host. | https://toolweight.com/compare/sandbox-providers#val-town--max_runtime | | Persistent FS | ○ | Vendor-claimed | 2026-01-15 | https://docs.val.town | No filesystem. SQLite and blob storage are provided instead. | https://toolweight.com/compare/sandbox-providers#val-town--persistent_fs | | Snapshot & fork | ○ | Inferred | - | - | Forking a val copies source, not runtime state. | https://toolweight.com/compare/sandbox-providers#val-town--snapshot_fork | | Custom images | ○ | Vendor-claimed | 2026-01-15 | https://docs.val.town | - | https://toolweight.com/compare/sandbox-providers#val-town--custom_images | | GPU | ○ | Inferred | - | - | - | https://toolweight.com/compare/sandbox-providers#val-town--gpu | | Runtimes | javascript-typescript | Inferred | - | - | - | https://toolweight.com/compare/sandbox-providers#val-town--language_runtimes | | Preview URLs | ● | Vendor-claimed | 2026-01-15 | https://docs.val.town | Every HTTP val gets a public URL by default. | https://toolweight.com/compare/sandbox-providers#val-town--preview_urls | | Browser inside | ○ | Inferred | - | - | - | https://toolweight.com/compare/sandbox-providers#val-town--browser_in_sandbox | | File up/download | ◐ | Inferred | - | - | Blob storage API rather than a sandbox filesystem. | https://toolweight.com/compare/sandbox-providers#val-town--file_transfer_api | | Sydney region | ○ | Inferred | - | - | - | https://toolweight.com/compare/sandbox-providers#val-town--sydney_region | | Concurrent limit | N/A | Vendor-claimed | 2026-11-07 | https://www.val.town/limits | No sandbox concurrency allotment is published; Val Town lists request rate limits instead. | https://toolweight.com/compare/sandbox-providers#val-town--max_concurrency | | MCP server | ● | Inferred | - | - | Val Town has leaned into MCP for driving vals from agents. | https://toolweight.com/compare/sandbox-providers#val-town--mcp_server | | SDKs | typescript, rest-api, cli | Inferred | - | - | - | https://toolweight.com/compare/sandbox-providers#val-town--sdk_languages | | Streaming output | ◐ | Inferred | - | - | Logs are visible; there is no exec-stream primitive. | https://toolweight.com/compare/sandbox-providers#val-town--streaming_stdout | | Price / hour | - | Unknown | - | - | Subscription plus usage limits rather than compute-hours; the hourly comparison does not apply. | https://toolweight.com/compare/sandbox-providers#val-town--price_per_hour | | Meter | subscription | Vendor-claimed | 2026-01-15 | https://www.val.town/pricing | - | https://toolweight.com/compare/sandbox-providers#val-town--billing_granularity | | Idle cost | free-when-stopped | Inferred | - | - | Idle vals cost nothing. | https://toolweight.com/compare/sandbox-providers#val-town--idle_billing | | GitHub stars | 144 | Community-reported | 2026-11-07 | https://github.com/val-town/vt | - | https://toolweight.com/compare/sandbox-providers#val-town--github_stars | | Funding | seed | Community-reported | - | - | - | https://toolweight.com/compare/sandbox-providers#val-town--funding_stage | | Shipped | 2022 | Inferred | - | - | - | https://toolweight.com/compare/sandbox-providers#val-town--launched | | Positioning | Write and deploy TypeScript in the browser, triggered by HTTP, cron or email. | Inferred | - | - | - | https://toolweight.com/compare/sandbox-providers#val-town--positioning | **Verdict.** The isolate benchmark: fastest and cheapest for a TypeScript snippet behind a URL, outgrown the moment you need `npm install`. ## 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/val-town/logo.svg and https://toolweight.com/teams/val-town/mono.svg. JSON: https://toolweight.com/api/v1/brands/val-town. | Hex | oklch | | --- | --- | | #ffffff | oklch(100.0% 0.000 0.0) | | #000000 | oklch(0.0% 0.000 0.0) | ## 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/val-town - Machine-readable: https://toolweight.com/tools/val-town.md · https://toolweight.com/api/v1 · https://toolweight.com/mcp - Toolweight takes no affiliate revenue and sells no placements.