Docker Cloud Sandboxes vs Azure Container Apps Sandboxes

Both give each agent a microVM with its own kernel and can stop it with its memory. Docker's is your laptop's sbx sandbox moved to the cloud, capped at 24 hours and 10 at a time, while Azure's lives in your Azure subscription with no session cap, a quota of 500 active cores and wake on traffic.

The companies and products

Docker Cloud Sandboxes

Docker Cloud Sandboxes runs Docker's sbx coding-agent microVMs on Docker-managed compute instead of your laptop.

Each sandbox is a microVM with its own Linux kernel and its own Docker Engine, started from the same sbx CLI you use locally, with Claude Code, Codex and other agents ready to run. You can move a sandbox from your laptop to the cloud and back, publish HTTPS ports and SSH in. It launched on September 24, 2026, is billed pay-as-you-go on a personal Docker account, and is built for developers who want their local agent sandboxes to keep going off their machine.

Isolation: MicroVM per sandbox with its own Linux kernel and its own Docker Engine
Launched: September 24, 2026
Machine sizes: 1 vCPU / 2 GiB up to 16 vCPU / 32 GiB, CPU only, amd64 or arm64 by account
Session length: 1 hour by default, extendable to 24 hours from creation
Default quota: 10 concurrent and 50 stored sandboxes per account
Account: Pay-as-you-go plan on a personal Docker account, even inside an organization
Regions: Not published

Azure Container Apps Sandboxes

Azure Container Apps Sandboxes is a service inside Microsoft Azure that gives each agent or user an isolated microVM you create, suspend and resume through an SDK.

It is part of Azure Container Apps, the hyperscaler's serverless container platform, and lives in your Azure subscription as a sandbox group resource. Each sandbox boots from an OCI image or a snapshot, has its own kernel, and can be suspended with its memory and resumed in under a second. It is built for teams already on Azure that want stateful code execution with Azure networking, identity and billing.

Kind of product: A compute type inside Azure Container Apps, next to apps, jobs and dynamic sessions
Isolation: Each sandbox runs in its own secure boundary with its own kernel
Regions: 40 Azure regions, 9 of them in the EU
Sizes: Tiers from 0.25 cores / 0.5 GB to 4 cores / 8 GB; up to 16 vCPU / 32 GB by API
Quota: 500 concurrent active cores and 3,000 API requests a minute by default, raised by support request
Access: Microsoft Entra ID accounts only, with the Container Apps SandboxGroup Data Owner role
Compliance: Azure holds a SOC 2 Type 2 report for its cloud services; the scope list names which services it covers

Which use cases each one fits

For each use case, Battleships prices every sandbox provider on the same workload and sorts them from the cheapest monthly bill up. “280th cheapest of 367” means 279 of the other 366 providers run that workload, with every feature it needs, for less. “With limits” means the provider runs it but misses something, so it is listed after every full match. Open a use case for its whole ranking and what each provider misses.

Use case and its workload	Docker Cloud Sandboxes: price rank	Azure Container Apps Sandboxes: price rank	bochka: price rank
Software factory 100 at once · 4 vCPU / 8 GB · 2,200 sessions of 8 h a month A software factory runs many agents for days; Docker stops each one at 24 hours and runs 10 at a time, Azure has no cap but no SSH or /dev/kvm, and bochka has all of it.	280th of 367, with limits $4,928 a month	288th of 367, with limits $5,276 a month	3rd cheapest of 367 $634 a month
Always-on AI employees 50 machines 24/7 · 2 vCPU / 4 GB An assistant that lives on its machine all month cannot do it in one Docker session; Azure keeps it running but bills every second, and bochka adds a desktop and SSH.	276th of 366, with limits $5,110 a month	302nd of 366, with limits $6,544 a month	5th cheapest of 366 $657 a month
Code interpreter bursts 100 at once · 1 vCPU / 2 GB · 200,000 sessions of 1 min a month Azure fits short code runs best of the three: sandboxes suspend with their memory after idle time and resume in under a second.	119th of 345, with limits $233 a month	34th cheapest of 345 $354 a month	186th of 345, with limits $2,000 a month
Sandboxes for your users 300 at once · 2 vCPU / 4 GB · 30,000 sessions of 23 min a month Serving your own users needs more than Docker's default of 10 sandboxes at once; Azure scales with its core quota, and bochka runs up to 2,000 self-serve.	136th of 361, with limits $1,628 a month	22nd cheapest of 361 $2,260 a month	Cheapest of 361 $209 a month
RL rollouts 1,000 at once · 2 vCPU / 4 GB · 1,000,000 sessions of 3 min a month	114th of 360, with limits $7,000 a month	153rd of 360, with limits $10,740 a month	34th of 360, with limits $2,000 a month
Agent evals 250 at once · 4 vCPU / 8 GB · 15,000 sessions of 20 min a month Evals run many sandboxes side by side, which Azure handles and Docker's 10-at-once default does not.	167th of 364, with limits $1,400 a month	75th cheapest of 364 $1,728 a month	10th cheapest of 364 $200 a month
CI runners 40 at once · 8 vCPU / 16 GB · 6,000 sessions of 12 min a month CI that builds Android apps or VM images needs /dev/kvm, which bochka exposes and neither Docker nor Azure documents.	172nd of 377, with limits $672 a month	103rd cheapest of 377 $1,046 a month	4th cheapest of 377 $86 a month
24/7 dev boxes 1 machine 24/7 · 4 vCPU / 8 GB A dev box wants SSH and no session cap; Docker has SSH but a 24-hour cap, Azure has no cap but no SSH, and bochka has both.	127th of 368, with limits $204 a month	322nd of 368, with limits $262 a month	18th cheapest of 368 $26 a month
Computer-use agents 50 at once · 4 vCPU / 8 GB · 20,000 sessions of 15 min a month Computer-use agents need a screen; Docker and Azure sandboxes are both headless, while bochka streams a Linux desktop at 60fps.	268th of 369, with limits $1,400 a month	279th of 369, with limits $1,573 a month	6th cheapest of 369 $200 a month
Browser-use agents 50 at once · 2 vCPU / 4 GB · 30,000 sessions of 10 min a month	277th of 367, with limits $700 a month	288th of 367, with limits $795 a month	7th cheapest of 367 $200 a month
Scraping & bots (startup scale) 50 at once · 1 vCPU / 2 GB · 100,000 sessions of 3 min a month	262nd of 346, with limits $350 a month	284th of 346, with limits $561 a month	6th cheapest of 346 $90 a month
Mass scraping & bots (undetectable) 1,000 at once · 1 vCPU / 2 GB · 3,000,000 sessions of 2 min a month	190th of 338, with limits $7,000 a month	239th of 338, with limits $10,956 a month	71st of 338, with limits $1,800 a month
Parallel red teaming 200 at once · 2 vCPU / 4 GB · 5,000 sessions of 30 min a month	248th of 360, with limits $350 a month	278th of 360, with limits $517 a month	2nd cheapest of 360 $200 a month
GPU eval jobs 10 at once · 8 vCPU / 32 GB · 500 sessions of 30 min a month	Can't run it	Can't run it	Can't run it
macOS agents 5 at once · 4 vCPU / 8 GB · 1,000 sessions of 20 min a month	Can't run it	Can't run it	Can't run it

Key features

Feature	Docker Cloud Sandboxes	Azure Container Apps Sandboxes	bochka
Isolation	MicroVM with its own Linux kernel and its own Docker Engine	MicroVM per sandbox with its own kernel	Full VM with its own kernel on dedicated AMD Ryzen 9 9950X hosts
Session length	1 hour by default, at most 24 hours from creation; resuming starts a new timer	No cap; runs until stopped, deleted or suspended when idle	No cap on paid plans; you set the time to live
Sandboxes at once	10 concurrent and 50 stored by default; no published way to raise it	500 concurrent active cores by default; more by Azure support request, which can need review	100 on the $20 plan, up to 2,000 on higher plans, self-serve
Stop, suspend and wake	Stop keeps memory and files; resume picks up where it left off	Auto-suspend with memory after an idle timeout; resume in under a second, woken by traffic or a start command	Auto-stop timer you set; disk saved every minute and on stop; resume boots the machine again
Fork	Snapshot a running sandbox with disk or disk and memory, then restore it as a new sandbox	Snapshot a running sandbox with its memory and create new sandboxes from it	Fork a running sandbox with its disk
Docker inside	Yes, its own Docker Engine in every sandbox; agent runs as a non-root user with sudo	Depends on the image: azure-dev ships Docker on systemd; the default ubuntu image has only Buildah	Docker, systemd and root on every sandbox
Nested virtualization	Not documented	Not documented	Yes, /dev/kvm for Android emulators and VMs
Getting a shell	sbx CLI, plus SSH with Docker-issued certificates	Interactive shell through the aca CLI, SDK or portal; no SSH	SSH, plus CLI and API exec
Desktop and browser	Terminal sessions only	Headless; no desktop or managed browser	60fps Linux desktop with Chromium and computer-use tools
Inbound access	Public HTTPS URL per published port, not protected by Docker sign-in; not a TCP tunnel	Public HTTPS routes per published port; private endpoint from your VNet at extra cost; no public IP	HTTPS URLs for up to 50 ports, token-protected by default; raw TCP; dedicated IPv4 or IPv6
Outbound rules	Allow and deny rules by host, with allow-all, balanced and deny-all presets	Allow, deny, rewrite and header rules by host, path and method; VNet integration	Open internet, no provider-side allowlist
Coding agents and keys	Claude Code, Codex, Copilot, OpenCode and more from the sbx CLI; a cloud proxy sets auth headers so the sandbox sees a placeholder	Copilot CLI and Claude Code images run through the exec API; their tokens are injected into the sandbox at startup	Seven agents preinstalled with a prompt, steer and events API; credentials proxy for model providers and any HTTPS API
Laptop and cloud	Same microVM and CLI locally or in the cloud; move a sandbox either way	Cloud only, inside your Azure subscription	Cloud only
Regions and account	Regions not published; pay-as-you-go on a personal Docker account	40 Azure regions, 9 in the EU; Microsoft Entra ID accounts only	EU only (Germany, Finland, France); sign in with GitHub, Google or an emailed code

Every feature Battleships tracks (43)

Feature	Docker Cloud Sandboxes	Azure Container Apps Sandboxes	bochka
Full VM (own kernel)	Yes	Yes	Yes
Docker inside	Yes	Yes	Yes
Nested virtualization	No	No	Yes
Root	Yes	Yes	Yes
Systemd	Not published	Yes	Yes
Desktop GUI	No	No	Yes
Browser	No	No	Yes
Computer-use API	No	No	Yes
SSH	Yes	No	Yes
Persistent disk	Yes	Yes	Yes
Pause/resume	Yes	Yes	Yes
Automatic snapshots	Yes	Yes	Yes
Fork/clone	Yes	Yes	Yes
Live fork (no pause)	Yes	Yes	Yes
Memory fork	Yes	Yes	No
Custom image (Docker or snapshot)	Yes	Yes	Yes
≥24 h sessions	Yes	Yes	Yes
Idle auto-stop	No	Yes	No
Wake on request	Not published	Yes	No
HTTPS preview URLs	Yes	Yes	Yes
Raw TCP inbound	Not published	No	Yes
Public IPv4	No	No	No
Egress allowlist	Yes	Yes	No
Secret proxy	Yes	Yes	Yes
Secret proxy for any API	Yes	Yes	Yes
Preinstalled agents	Yes	Yes	Yes
Agent harness API	No	No	Yes
MCP server	Yes	No	No
GPU	No	No	No
Windows	No	No	No
Arm64	Yes	No	No
Self-hosting	No	No	No
BYOC	No	No	No
Open source	No	No	No
Scoped API keys	Not published	Not published	Yes
Spend limits	Not published	Yes	Yes
Usage per sandbox (API)	No	Yes	Yes
Audit logs	Not published	Yes	No
SSO	Yes	Yes	No
SOC 2	No	Yes	No
HIPAA	No	Yes	No
EU data residency	No	Yes	Yes
Zero data retention	Not published	Not published	Yes

Performance

Docker Cloud SandboxesNot measured

Azure Container Apps SandboxesNot measured

bochka26.69 runs/s

There is no comparable measurement for Docker Cloud Sandboxes or Azure Container Apps Sandboxes yet; neither is in the StarSling hpc-sandbox-benchmarks runs. bochka did 26.69 runs per second on that Node.js build-and-test benchmark at 4 vCPU / 8 GB, on dedicated AMD Ryzen 9 9950X hosts. Until Docker and Azure are measured on the same test, this page makes no speed claim between them.

Node.js build-and-test loop at 4 vCPU / 8 GB, higher is better. Measured with the open hpc-sandbox-benchmarks suite. Docker Cloud Sandboxes and Azure Container Apps Sandboxes have no published run in this suite yet, so there is no like-for-like number to compare.

Pricing in five scenarios

Each bill is priced from the providers' public price lists by the open Battleships engine, with the cheapest plan that runs the scenario.

Scenario	Docker Cloud Sandboxes, a month	Azure Container Apps Sandboxes, a month	bochka, a month
One coding agent, workdays 4 vCPU / 8 GB, 50 GB disk, 8 hours a day, 22 days a month, files kept between days	$49 · Docker Agentic Platform (pay-as-you-go)	$68 · Pay-as-you-go	$20 · $20/mo
One agent that never stops 4 vCPU / 8 GB, 50 GB disk, running 24/7 all month	$204 · Docker Agentic Platform (pay-as-you-go) · with limits	$262 · Pay-as-you-go · with limits	$26 · $20/mo
50 agents in parallel 50 machines of 4 vCPU / 8 GB at once, 8-hour sessions, 1,100 sessions a month, Docker inside	$2,464 · Docker Agentic Platform (pay-as-you-go) · with limits	$3,421 · Pay-as-you-go	$317 · $20/mo × 3 seats
Sandboxes for your users 2 vCPU / 4 GB, 30,000 sessions of 10 minutes a month, up to 300 at once	$700 · Docker Agentic Platform (pay-as-you-go) · with limits	$989 · Pay-as-you-go	$200 · $100/mo × 2 seats
1,000 short jobs at once 2 vCPU / 4 GB, 1,000 at once, 3 minutes each, 200,000 jobs a month	$1,400 · Docker Agentic Platform (pay-as-you-go) · with limits	$2,148 · Pay-as-you-go	$2,000 · $2000/mo · with limits

Docker Cloud Sandboxes: Docker bills per second for the size you pick, from $0.07 an hour for 1 vCPU / 2 GiB to $1.12 an hour for 16 vCPU / 32 GiB, with no monthly fee. A stopped sandbox costs nothing, and volumes and egress are free.

Azure Container Apps Sandboxes: Azure bills per second on the Container Apps Consumption meters for the sandbox's tier while it runs, idle time before auto-suspend included. There is no plan fee, stopped sandboxes pay no CPU or memory, and some regions such as West Europe charge more.

Azure Container Apps Sandboxes: Plans start at $20 a month, and the whole fee is usage credit. You pay per second while a sandbox runs, and a stopped sandbox costs nothing and keeps its disk.

Limits in those scenarios

Docker's 24-hour cap rules it out for one agent that never stops, and its default of 10 sandboxes at once rules it out for 50 agents in parallel, sandboxes for your users and 1,000 short jobs at once. Azure fits all three of those, but its always-on price of $262 a month needs a 3-year commitment, and its fleets stop at 500 active cores until support raises the quota. bochka fits every scenario but the burst, where even the $2,000 plan queues starts.

Scenario	Docker Cloud Sandboxes	Azure Container Apps Sandboxes	bochka
One coding agent, workdays	None that bite	None that bite	None that bite
One agent that never stops	Docker Agentic Platform (pay-as-you-go): sessions capped at 24 h	3-year commitment	None that bite
50 agents in parallel	Docker Agentic Platform (pay-as-you-go): max 10 concurrent	None that bite	None that bite
Sandboxes for your users	Docker Agentic Platform (pay-as-you-go): max 10 concurrent	None that bite	None that bite
1,000 short jobs at once	Docker Agentic Platform (pay-as-you-go): max 10 concurrent	None that bite	max 2,400 starts/day (needs ~6,667) max 600 starts/hour (needs ~1,000) bursts above 90 starts/min are queued (a burst of 333 takes ~4 min to start)

Which one should you use?

Use Docker Cloud Sandboxes when

you already run agents in sbx on your laptop and want a few of them to keep going in the cloud for up to a day, with SSH and keys kept out of the sandbox.

The same sandbox on your laptop. If you already run sbx locally, the cloud is the same microVM and CLI, and a sandbox can move either way.
SSH and Docker in every sandbox. Each sandbox has its own Docker Engine and takes SSH, while Azure has no SSH and Docker depends on the image.
Keys the sandbox never sees. Docker's cloud proxy adds the auth header outside the VM, so the agent only sees a placeholder, not the real key.

Use Azure Container Apps Sandboxes when

your team runs on Azure and needs many short stateful sandboxes that suspend with their memory, wake on traffic, follow strict egress rules or run outside the EU.

No session cap, room to scale. A sandbox runs until you stop it, and 500 active cores by default fit fleets that Docker's 10-at-once quota cannot.
Suspend with memory, wake on traffic. Idle sandboxes suspend with their memory and come back in under a second when traffic or a start command arrives.
Inside Azure, in 40 regions. Teams on Azure get Entra ID, Azure billing, VNets and fine egress rules by host, path and method, in 40 regions.

Where bochka fits

Docker and Azure both give an agent a small headless microVM, one capped at a day and 10 at a time, the other tied to an Azure account and core quota. If your agents run for days or by the dozen, need emulators, a desktop or a browser, or must be driven from your own app, look at bochka.

Runs as long and as wide as the work

Docker ends a sandbox 24 hours after creation and runs 10 at a time with no published way to ask for more. Azure has no cap, but going past 500 active cores means a support request that can need review. bochka runs up to 2,000 self-serve.

A whole machine, screen included

Neither Docker nor Azure documents /dev/kvm, so an agent cannot start an Android emulator or a VM, and both are headless. To give an agent a browser there, you build a display and streaming stack yourself or add a separate service.

Drive agents inside from outside

Docker's agents are reached by attaching to their terminal from the sbx CLI, and Azure's run through raw exec. On either, you write a wrapper and parse the agent's text to know when it is done. bochka gives prompt, steer and structured events.

Use bochka when your agents run for days or by the dozen, need SSH, Docker, Android emulators, a desktop or a browser, or have to be driven from your own app through an API. Compare it one to one: bochka vs Docker Cloud Sandboxes and bochka vs Azure Container Apps Sandboxes.

Questions people ask

Is Docker Cloud Sandboxes cheaper than Azure Container Apps Sandboxes?

For one coding agent on workdays, yes: $49 a month on Docker against $68 on Azure for 4 vCPU / 8 GiB. But Docker does not fit 50 agents in parallel, user sandboxes or a 1,000-job burst, which Azure runs for $3,421, $989 and $2,148 a month. bochka runs the workday agent for $20.

Which is faster, Docker Cloud Sandboxes or Azure Container Apps Sandboxes?

Neither has been measured on the same benchmark yet, so there is no fair answer. bochka did 26.69 runs per second on the StarSling Node.js build-and-test benchmark at 4 vCPU / 8 GB.

Can a sandbox run longer than 24 hours?

Not on Docker: a cloud sandbox expires after one hour by default and cannot be extended past 24 hours from creation. Azure has no session cap; a sandbox runs until it is stopped, deleted or suspended for being idle. bochka has no session cap on paid plans.

Can I run Docker inside each sandbox?

Docker gives every sandbox its own Docker Engine. On Azure it depends on the image: azure-dev ships Docker on systemd, while the default ubuntu image has only Buildah. bochka runs Docker, systemd and root on every sandbox and also exposes /dev/kvm.

Can I SSH into Docker or Azure sandboxes?

Docker cloud sandboxes take SSH with Docker-issued certificates. Azure has no SSH and gives you a shell through the aca CLI, the SDK or the portal. Every bochka sandbox has an SSH endpoint and raw TCP inbound.

Do I need an Azure or Docker account?

Azure needs a subscription, a Microsoft Entra ID account and the Container Apps SandboxGroup Data Owner role. Docker bills its pay-as-you-go plan on a personal Docker account, even inside an organization. bochka signs you in with GitHub, Google or an emailed code.

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