Freestyle vs Replit
Freestyle sells full Linux VMs that your own code creates for agents, with Docker, memory pause and forks. Replit is a place where a person describes an app, Replit Agent builds it, and Replit hosts it.
The companies and products
Freestyle
Freestyle sells full Linux virtual machines for AI agents, built for long running, complex tasks.
Each Freestyle VM is a KVM virtual machine with its own kernel, booted from an Ubuntu base snapshot with systemd, Docker and coding agent CLIs preinstalled. VMs can be paused with their memory, snapshotted while running, forked and woken by the next request, and every VM starts behind a default-deny firewall. It is built for teams that give each agent or each user its own machine, driven from a TypeScript SDK, a CLI or an API.
Replit
Replit is an AI app builder and hosting platform: you describe an app in chat, Replit Agent writes it, and Replit publishes it.
You work in a browser workspace where Replit Agent sets up the project, writes the code, tests it and fixes problems, with system packages managed by Nix. When the app is ready you publish it as an Autoscale, Static, Scheduled or Reserved VM deployment, with Postgres and object storage next to it. It is built for people and teams who want a working app, not for programs that need to create many machines by API, so this page compares the parts where the two overlap.
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. “40th cheapest of 345” means 39 of the other 344 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 | Freestyle: price rank | Replit: price rank | bochka: price rank |
|---|---|---|---|
| Software factory 100 at once · 4 vCPU / 8 GB · 2,200 sessions of 8 h a month Freestyle gives each agent a VM with Docker and systemd that code can start by API, while Replit's outside entry point is an MCP server that drives Replit Agent one app at a time; bochka adds faster CPUs and an API to steer the agents inside. | 241st of 367, with limits $3,311 a month | 181st of 367, with limits $2,000 a month | 3rd cheapest of 367 $634 a month |
| Always-on AI employees 50 machines 24/7 · 2 vCPU / 4 GB On Replit an always-on assistant is a Reserved VM that bills all month, and on Freestyle a VM bills until you pause it; a stopped bochka sandbox costs nothing. | 263rd of 366, with limits $4,195 a month | 202nd of 366, with limits $2,033 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 Freestyle fits short code runs well, with VMs that pause with their memory and wake on the next request; Replit's Autoscale is a web host, not a code runner. | 40th cheapest of 345 $482 a month | 228th of 345, with limits $146 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 Freestyle fits giving each user a VM that wakes on request, while Replit does not publish how many deployments can run at once; bochka adds a desktop and hosting on every machine. | 16th cheapest of 361 $1,358 a month | 233rd of 361, with limits $825 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 Freestyle can snapshot a running VM with its memory and boot copies from it, which suits rollouts that branch from one state; Replit has nothing like that. | 107th of 360, with limits $6,600 a month | 258th of 360, with limits $4,226 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 | 53rd cheapest of 364 $1,046 a month | 265th of 364, with limits $685 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 jobs that build containers need Docker, which Freestyle and bochka have on every VM and Replit's Nix-based environments do not document. | 168th of 377, with limits $625 a month | 275th of 377, with limits $425 a month | 4th cheapest of 377 $86 a month |
| 24/7 dev boxes 1 machine 24/7 · 4 vCPU / 8 GB A Replit workspace is a good place to code by hand, but it has no documented Docker or systemd; Freestyle and bochka both give a full VM with root. | 98th cheapest of 368 $151 a month | 165th of 368, with limits $109 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 Replit's VNC pane shows a desktop to a person, and on Freestyle you install the desktop and VNC yourself; bochka ships a 60fps desktop with computer use built in. | 234th of 369, with limits $940 a month | 190th of 369, with limits $619 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 | 257th of 367, with limits $482 a month | 229th of 367, with limits $317 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 | 278th of 346, with limits $482 a month | 234th of 346, with limits $217 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 | 183rd of 338, with limits $6,560 a month | 150th of 338, with limits $4,378 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 | 272nd of 360, with limits $482 a month | 208th of 360, with limits $215 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 | Freestyle | Replit | bochka |
|---|---|---|---|
| Kind of product | Full Linux VMs for agents, driven from a TypeScript SDK, a CLI or an API | AI app builder with browser workspaces and app hosting | Sandboxes you create, stop and fork by API, SDK or CLI |
| Isolation | Full KVM VM with its own kernel | Not documented; the security page says strong logical separation between users | Full VM with its own kernel on dedicated AMD Ryzen 9 9950X hosts |
| CPU benchmark (4 vCPU / 8 GB) | 9.64 runs/s | Not measured | 26.69 runs/s |
| Creating machines from code | Create, pause, fork and delete VMs by SDK, CLI or API | MCP server tools to create, update and publish apps; no API to start many machines | API, SDK and CLI to create, stop, resume and fork many sandboxes |
| Root, systemd, Docker, nested virtualization | Yes; systemd is pid 1, Docker runs from boot, full KVM support | System packages come from Nix; the docs do not describe Docker, systemd or /dev/kvm | Yes, with /dev/kvm for Android emulators and VMs |
| Pause and fork | Pause with memory and resume the same processes; clone a running VM | Workspace files and Agent checkpoints at milestones | Disk saved every minute and on stop; fork a running sandbox with its disk |
| Wake on request | A paused VM resumes on the next traffic that reaches it | Autoscale apps start on the first request and go idle after 15 minutes | No; a stopped sandbox is started by API |
| Desktop, browser and computer use | Guides to install GNOME or Xvfb, VNC and Chromium yourself | VNC pane that streams a desktop to your browser; no computer-use API | Linux desktop streamed at 60fps, Chromium and computer use built in |
| Coding agents | claude, codex, opencode and openclaw preinstalled, driven through exec or a terminal | Replit Agent, which you can also drive from an MCP client | Seven agents preinstalled, with a prompt, steer and events API |
| Keeping API keys out of the sandbox | Credentials injected at the edge for HTTPS headers, Postgres and S3 | Managed keys for OpenAI, Anthropic, Google and OpenRouter models; other keys are secrets in the app | Credentials proxy for model providers and any HTTPS API; switch a credential to another account when credits run out |
| Outbound rules | Default-deny firewall with allow rules by IP, VM, VPC or exact domain | Open internet; no allowlist documented | Open internet, no provider-side allowlist |
| Hosting and databases | HTTPS on style.dev names or your own domain; no hosted databases | Published apps on HTTPS domains with Postgres and App Storage built in | HTTPS URLs for up to 50 ports, token-protected; raw TCP; no hosted databases |
| Idle billing | A paused VM bills for its storage; no idle timeout unless you set one | A Reserved VM bills all month; Autoscale costs nothing while idle | A stopped sandbox costs nothing and keeps its disk |
| Regions | Not listed; the docs name a San Jose, US data center | North America, Europe, Asia, South America and Australia for published apps on Core and up | EU only (Germany, Finland, France), zero data retention |
Every feature Battleships tracks (43)
| Feature | Freestyle | Replit | bochka |
|---|---|---|---|
| Full VM (own kernel) | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Docker inside | Yes | No | Yes |
| Nested virtualization | Yes | No | Yes |
| Root | Yes | Not published | Yes |
| Systemd | Yes | No | Yes |
| Desktop GUI | No | Yes | Yes |
| Browser | No | No | Yes |
| Computer-use API | No | No | Yes |
| SSH | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Persistent disk | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Pause/resume | Yes | No | Yes |
| Automatic snapshots | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Fork/clone | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Live fork (no pause) | Yes | No | Yes |
| Memory fork | Yes | No | No |
| Custom image (Docker or snapshot) | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| ≥24 h sessions | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Idle auto-stop | Yes | Yes | No |
| Wake on request | Yes | Yes | No |
| HTTPS preview URLs | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Raw TCP inbound | Yes | Not published | Yes |
| Public IPv4 | No | No | No |
| Egress allowlist | Yes | No | No |
| Secret proxy | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Secret proxy for any API | Yes | No | Yes |
| Preinstalled agents | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Agent harness API | No | Yes | Yes |
| MCP server | No | Yes | No |
| GPU | Yes | No | No |
| Windows | No | No | No |
| Arm64 | No | Not published | No |
| Self-hosting | No | No | No |
| BYOC | No | No | No |
| Open source | No | No | No |
| Scoped API keys | Yes | Not published | Yes |
| Spend limits | Not published | Yes | Yes |
| Usage per sandbox (API) | No | Yes | Yes |
| Audit logs | Yes | Yes | No |
| SSO | Yes | Yes | No |
| SOC 2 | Not published | Yes | No |
| HIPAA | Not published | No | No |
| EU data residency | No | Yes | Yes |
| Zero data retention | Not published | Not published | Yes |
Performance
On the hpc-sandbox-benchmarks Node.js build-and-test loop at 4 vCPU / 8 GB, bochka did 26.69 runs per second and Freestyle did 9.64, so bochka finished about 2.8 times as much CPU work. Replit is not in that benchmark, so there is no comparable number for it. This test measures CPU speed only, not start time.
Node.js build-and-test loop at 4 vCPU / 8 GB, higher is better. Measured with the open hpc-sandbox-benchmarks suite. Replit has 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 | Freestyle, a month | Replit, 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 | $27 · Free | $122 · Pro $100 (annual) · with limits | $20 · $20/mo |
| One agent that never stops 4 vCPU / 8 GB, 50 GB disk, running 24/7 all month | $159 · Free | $122 · Pro $100 (annual) · 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 | $2,139 · Pro | $1,330 · Pro $1,000 (annual) · with limits | $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 | $581 · Pro | $403 · Pro $250 (annual) · with limits | $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 | $1,305 · Pro · with limits | $825 · Pro $1,000 (annual) · with limits | $2,000 · $2000/mo · with limits |
Freestyle: Freestyle bills per second for the vCPU, RAM and disk allocated to a VM, busy or idle, after monthly allowances that are hard stops on Free. Hobby and Pro set a $50 or $500 monthly minimum that counts as usage, and a paused VM bills only for storage.
Replit: Replit plans (Core $20, Pro from $100) turn into monthly credits for Agent work and hosting, then usage is pay-as-you-go. A Reserved VM has a fixed monthly price per size and bills busy or idle, while Autoscale charges only while it serves requests.
Replit: Plans start at $20 a month, and the whole fee is usage credit spent per second on running sandboxes. A stopped sandbox costs nothing and keeps its disk.
Limits in those scenarios
Replit is marked as not a fit in every scenario because it is an app platform: each always-on machine is one published Reserved VM that bills all month, and it does not document Docker or publish how many deployments can run at once. Freestyle fits four of the five scenarios, but 50 agents in parallel need Pro, and Pro's cap of 400 concurrent VMs is why 1,000 short jobs at once do not fit. Freestyle also has no idle timeout by default, so a VM bills until you pause it. bochka has no concurrency problem there, but its $2,000 plan queues starts above 90 a minute.
| Scenario | Freestyle | Replit | bochka |
|---|---|---|---|
| One coding agent, workdays | None that bite |
| None that bite |
| One agent that never stops | None that bite |
| None that bite |
| 50 agents in parallel | None that bite |
| None that bite |
| Sandboxes for your users | None that bite |
| None that bite |
| 1,000 short jobs at once |
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Which one should you use?
Use Freestyle when
your own code needs to give each agent or user a full VM, especially one that sleeps between requests and must resume with its memory, or sits behind a default-deny firewall.
- Machines your code creates. Useful for agent platforms: your program starts, pauses, forks and deletes full VMs by SDK, CLI or API.
- Memory pause and wake on request. Useful for VMs that sleep between requests: they resume the same processes and wake on the next incoming traffic.
- Docker and network controls. Each VM runs Docker and systemd behind a default-deny firewall, so you allow exactly what it may reach.
Use Replit when
you want Replit Agent to build a web app from a description and host it for you, with databases, sleeping when idle, or regions outside Europe.
- An app built and hosted for you. Useful if you want a working app from a description: Replit Agent builds, tests and publishes it for you.
- Hosting that costs nothing when idle. Useful for web apps with uneven traffic: Autoscale wakes on the first request and costs nothing while idle.
- Regions on five continents. Useful if your users are spread out: Replit publishes apps in North America, Europe, Asia, South America and Australia.
Where bochka fits
If what you are really running is coding or computer-use agents, Freestyle is the closer fit of the two, and bochka is built for the same job. bochka gives every agent a full VM on faster CPUs, a desktop and browser ready to use, and an API to drive the agents inside from outside.
Almost three times the CPU speed
Agents spend most of their time on installs, builds and tests. Freestyle did 9.64 runs per second to bochka's 26.69 and bills allocated vCPUs the whole time, and Replit has no comparable measurement.
A desktop and a browser, ready
A computer-use agent needs screenshots and clicks. On Freestyle you build GNOME or Xvfb, VNC and Chromium into your own snapshot, and Replit's VNC pane is for a person, with no API for an agent.
Agents you drive from outside
Freestyle starts agent CLIs through exec, so you parse their output yourself, and Replit's MCP server drives only Replit Agent. bochka has a prompt, steer and events API, and a credentials proxy that switches accounts when credits run out.
Use bochka when your agents do real work for hours: builds, tests, Docker, emulators, a desktop and a browser, on fast CPUs, with an API to drive the agents inside from outside. Compare it one to one: bochka vs Freestyle and bochka vs Replit.
Questions people ask
Is Freestyle cheaper than Replit?
It depends on the scenario, and Replit does not fit any of them as a sandbox. One coding agent on workdays comes to $27 on Freestyle against $122 on Replit, but one agent running all month is $159 on Freestyle and $122 on Replit. bochka comes to $20 and $26 for those two.
Which is faster, Freestyle or Replit?
We cannot say, because Replit is not in the CPU benchmark. Freestyle did 9.64 runs per second at 4 vCPU / 8 GB, and bochka did 26.69 on the same test.
Can Replit run Docker like Freestyle?
Replit's docs set up environments with Nix packages and do not describe running Docker inside a workspace or a published app. Freestyle VMs run Docker from boot with systemd as pid 1, and so does every bochka sandbox.
Can I create sandboxes from my own code on Replit?
Not in the way Freestyle allows. Replit's MCP server lets an MCP client create, update and publish apps through Replit Agent, but there is no API to start many machines. Freestyle and bochka both create VMs by SDK, CLI or API.
Which one has a desktop for computer-use agents?
Neither ships one ready for an agent. Freestyle has guides to install GNOME or Xvfb, VNC and Chromium yourself, and Replit's VNC pane streams a desktop to a person. bochka has a 60fps desktop, Chromium and computer use built in.
Where does my data run?
Freestyle does not list regions; its docs name a San Jose, US data center. Replit hosts data mainly on Google Cloud in the United States and publishes apps on five continents on Core and up. bochka runs only in the EU, in Germany, Finland and France.
Try bochka
Install the CLI, then run bochka new.
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