Namespace vs Unikraft Cloud
Namespace is a build and dev platform: CI runners, caches and Devboxes with Docker that stop after 4 to 24 hours. Unikraft Cloud turns a Dockerfile into a tiny microVM that wakes in milliseconds and sleeps when traffic stops, sold as small flat pools of running capacity.
The companies and products
Namespace
Namespace is a dev platform for fast builds, tests and coding environments: CI runners, build caches and Devboxes, on its own hardware.
Most of Namespace is CI: a faster drop-in for GitHub Actions runners, with Docker, Bazel, Turborepo and Nix caching. Its Devboxes are remote Linux and macOS machines with persistent storage, made for people and AI coding agents, and they also host sessions for Claude Managed Agents, Cursor Cloud Agents and Devin. It is a different kind of product from bochka, so this page compares the part where they overlap: a machine an agent works on.
- Products
- GitHub Actions runners, Docker, Bazel, Turborepo and Nix caching, Devboxes, and a compute API
- Hardware
- Its own hardware in its own racks: AMD EPYC for Linux and Windows, Apple M4 Pro or M5 Max for macOS
- Linux Devboxes
- Run from a container image you choose and include Docker; the docs do not say whether each one has its own kernel
- Funding
- Announced a $42M Series B
- Compliance
- Trust center lists SOC 2 Type II
Unikraft Cloud
Unikraft Cloud is a microVM cloud from Unikraft Inc. that runs any Dockerfile-based workload as a minimal Linux microVM with millisecond cold starts and scale-to-zero.
Your Dockerfile becomes the VM image at build time, and each instance runs on a heavily customized Firecracker VMM, so it boots in milliseconds and can go into standby when no traffic arrives. It is a general compute platform built for dense, bursty work such as HTTP services, headless browsers and agent fleets, sold as flat self-serve plans plus Enterprise dedicated hosts, on-prem and bring your own cloud. It is not a dev machine you log into: instances are reached through services, the CLI and a sandbox plugin for commands and files.
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. “80th cheapest of 377” means 79 of the other 376 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 | Namespace: price rank | Unikraft Cloud: 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 needs Docker and databases inside the sandbox; Namespace Devboxes include Docker but stop after at most 24 hours, and Unikraft bakes your Dockerfile into the VM itself. | 39th of 367, with limits $3,495 a month | Can't run it | 3rd cheapest of 367 $634 a month |
| Always-on AI employees 50 machines 24/7 · 2 vCPU / 4 GB | 303rd of 366, with limits $6,645 a month | Can't run it | 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 Short code runs that sleep between calls are the shape Unikraft is built for, but its self-serve pools are small; Namespace bills per minute with no plan fee. | 247th of 345, with limits $250 a month | Can't run it | 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 Sandboxes for your users fit on Namespace pay as you go but not on any self-serve Unikraft plan, whose largest pool holds 24 running instances; bochka runs hundreds at once on paid plans. | 284th of 361, with limits $2,068 a month | Can't run it | 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 | 356th of 360, with limits $9,012 a month | Can't run it | 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 | 282nd of 364, with limits $1,043 a month | Can't run it | 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 runners are Namespace's main product, with Docker, Bazel and Turborepo caches, while Unikraft documents no container runtime inside an instance; bochka runs CI jobs on full VMs with Docker and /dev/kvm. | 80th cheapest of 377 $765 a month | Can't run it | 4th cheapest of 377 $86 a month |
| 24/7 dev boxes 1 machine 24/7 · 4 vCPU / 8 GB Both are compromises for a box kept all month: a Namespace Devbox is shut down after at most 24 hours, and Unikraft has no SSH; bochka keeps a full VM up as long as you want. | 126th of 368, with limits $168 a month | 219th of 368, with limits $39 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 Namespace's screenshot and click API works on macOS Devboxes only, and Unikraft has no desktop built in; bochka streams a 60fps Linux desktop with Chromium. | 67th of 369, with limits $982 a month | Can't run it | 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 | 285th of 367, with limits $789 a month | Can't run it | 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 | 259th of 346, with limits $332 a month | Can't run it | 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 | 226th of 338, with limits $9,012 a month | Can't run it | 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 | 242nd of 360, with limits $339 a month | Can't run it | 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 Only Namespace fits: it runs macOS on Apple Silicon, while Unikraft Cloud and bochka run Linux only. | 6th cheapest of 36 $1,205 a month | Can't run it | Can't run it |
Key features
| Feature | Namespace | Unikraft Cloud | bochka |
|---|---|---|---|
| Isolation | Linux Devboxes run from a container image on Namespace's own hardware; the docs do not say if each has its own kernel | Minimal Linux microVM per instance on a customized Firecracker VMM | Full VM with its own kernel on dedicated AMD Ryzen 9 9950X hosts |
| CPU speed (Node.js build-and-test, 4 vCPU / 8 GB) | 21.79 runs/s | Not measured | 26.69 runs/s |
| Machine size | Devboxes billed by size in Devbox Minutes (a 4 vCPU / 8 GB one uses one a minute); instances share a vCPU and memory budget per plan | Plan pool shared by all running instances: 2 vCPU / 4 GiB, 8 vCPU / 8 GiB or 24 vCPU / 32 GiB | 4 vCPU / 8 GB by default, up to 16 vCPU / 32 GB per sandbox on the $100 plan and above |
| How long a session can run | Devboxes stop after 4, 5 or 24 hours by plan, even while you work | No published time limit; instances run until stopped or go into standby | No session cap on paid plans |
| Docker inside | Yes, Docker in Linux Devboxes | The Dockerfile becomes the VM image; no container runtime inside documented | Docker, systemd and root on every machine |
| Nested virtualization | /dev/kvm on Linux compute instances, not on macOS or Windows | Enterprise only, with a per-instance flag | /dev/kvm on every machine and plan |
| Idle stop and wake | Devboxes stop after an idle timeout (15 minutes to 8 hours) and start again when you connect | Standby after a 1 second idle cooldown by default; incoming traffic wakes it in milliseconds | Machines run until you stop them; disk saved every minute and on stop, and a stopped sandbox costs nothing |
| Fork and checkpoints | No fork; compute instances can suspend and resume with RAM kept | Checkpoint memory and volumes of a running microVM, then start new instances from it | Fork a running sandbox with its disk; snapshots every minute |
| Desktop and computer use | Screenshot and click API on macOS Devboxes only; VNC and RDP for compute instances | None built in; you can run your own headless browser from a Dockerfile | 60fps Linux desktop with Chromium, computer use and browser control |
| Reaching the sandbox | HTTPS URLs that need a Namespace login, TCP through a CLI port-forward; SSH into Devboxes; no public IP | Services on its load balancer: HTTP, HTTPS and TLS-wrapped TCP; no SSH yet; no public IP per instance | SSH, HTTPS URLs for up to 50 ports, token-protected; raw TCP; dedicated IPv4 or IPv6 |
| Outbound rules and keys | Egress policies by domain on every plan; headers injected from Namespace Vault outside the workload | Network shield filters traffic and injects secrets, Enterprise only, limited access | Open internet; credentials proxy for model providers and any HTTPS API on every plan |
| Coding agents | Hosts Claude Managed Agents, Cursor and Devin sessions through those partners; an MCP server for your own agent | None preinstalled; you bring the agent in your own image | Claude Code, Codex, OpenCode and more preinstalled, with a prompt, steer and events API |
| Operating systems | Linux, macOS on Apple Silicon, and Windows on Team plans and up | Linux only | Linux only; Wine for Windows apps |
| Regions and hosting | Several regions, nearest by default; region-exclusive residency on Enterprise | Dallas, Frankfurt, San Francisco, Singapore and Washington DC; on-prem and your own cloud on Enterprise | EU only (Germany, Finland, France), with EU data residency |
Every feature Battleships tracks (43)
| Feature | Namespace | Unikraft Cloud | bochka |
|---|---|---|---|
| Full VM (own kernel) | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Docker inside | Yes | No | Yes |
| Nested virtualization | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Root | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Systemd | Not published | Not published | Yes |
| Desktop GUI | Yes | No | Yes |
| Browser | No | No | Yes |
| Computer-use API | Yes | No | Yes |
| SSH | Yes | No | Yes |
| Persistent disk | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Pause/resume | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Automatic snapshots | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Fork/clone | No | Yes | Yes |
| Live fork (no pause) | No | Yes | Yes |
| Memory fork | No | Yes | 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 | Yes | No |
| Secret proxy | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Secret proxy for any API | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Preinstalled agents | Yes | No | Yes |
| Agent harness API | No | No | Yes |
| MCP server | Yes | No | No |
| GPU | No | Yes | No |
| Windows | Yes | No | No |
| Arm64 | Yes | Yes | No |
| Self-hosting | No | Yes | No |
| BYOC | No | Yes | No |
| Open source | No | No | No |
| Scoped API keys | Not published | Not published | Yes |
| Spend limits | Yes | Not published | Yes |
| Usage per sandbox (API) | No | No | Yes |
| Audit logs | Yes | Yes | No |
| SSO | Yes | No | No |
| SOC 2 | Yes | Yes | No |
| HIPAA | No | Yes | No |
| EU data residency | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Zero data retention | Not published | Not published | Yes |
Performance
In StarSling's public run of 2026-09-29, at 4 vCPU / 8 GB, bochka did 26.69 Node.js build-and-test runs per second and Namespace did 21.79, so the same build takes about a fifth longer on Namespace. Unikraft Cloud is not in that run, so there is no comparable CPU measurement for it. Unikraft states cold starts under 10 ms, which is its own figure and measures start time, not CPU speed.
Node.js build-and-test loop at 4 vCPU / 8 GB, higher is better. Measured with the open hpc-sandbox-benchmarks suite. Namespace measured on: Linux compute instance (unit-minutes, PAYG/overage $0.0015). Unikraft Cloud 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 | Namespace, a month | Unikraft Cloud, 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 | $50 · Devbox (pay as you go) | $39 · Hobby | $20 · $20/mo |
| One agent that never stops 4 vCPU / 8 GB, 50 GB disk, running 24/7 all month | $176 · Devbox (pay as you go) · with limits | $39 · Hobby | $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 | $2,198 · Devbox (pay as you go) | Can't run it | $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 | $1,214 · Devbox (pay as you go) | Can't run it | $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 | $3,237 · Devbox (pay as you go) | Can't run it | $2,000 · $2000/mo · with limits |
Namespace: Devboxes are billed in Devbox Minutes at $0.004 each, pay as you go on every plan: a 4 vCPU / 8 GB Devbox uses one a minute. Plan minutes on Team and Business cover runners and instances, not Devboxes, and stored files cost $0.20 per GB-month.
Unikraft Cloud: Unikraft charges a flat monthly fee for a pool of running capacity: free for 2 vCPU / 4 GiB, $39 for 8 vCPU / 8 GiB, $199 for 24 vCPU / 32 GiB, with sleeping instances not counted. It publishes no per-hour rate, so anything bigger is an Enterprise quote.
Unikraft Cloud: Plans start at $20 a month, and the whole fee is usage credit spent per second while a sandbox runs. A stopped sandbox costs nothing and keeps its disk.
Limits in those scenarios
Namespace's limit is time: a Devbox is shut down after 4, 5 or 24 hours by plan, so the agent that never stops has to restart at least once a day, and it does not publish an egress price. Unikraft's limit is size: every running instance shares one pool, so a single 4 vCPU / 8 GB agent fills the Team plan, and the 50 agents, user sandboxes and 1,000 short jobs fit no self-serve plan. bochka has no session cap and runs 100 sandboxes at once from its first paid plan, but at 1,000 short jobs at once its $2,000 plan queues starts.
| Scenario | Namespace | Unikraft Cloud | bochka |
|---|---|---|---|
| One coding agent, workdays |
|
| None that bite |
| One agent that never stops |
|
| None that bite |
| 50 agents in parallel |
|
| None that bite |
| Sandboxes for your users |
|
| None that bite |
| 1,000 short jobs at once |
|
|
|
Which one should you use?
Use Namespace when
you need macOS or Windows machines, faster GitHub Actions runners with build caches, or many pay-as-you-go Devboxes for work that fits in a day.
- macOS and Windows. Useful if you build iOS or Mac apps or test on Windows: Namespace runs macOS on Apple Silicon and Windows machines.
- CI runners and build caches. Useful if you want faster GitHub Actions: Namespace is a drop-in runner with Docker, Bazel and Turborepo caching.
- Pay as you go at any size. Useful if you need many machines without a contract: Devboxes bill per minute with no plan fee and no published Devbox concurrency limit.
Use Unikraft Cloud when
you run many small services or headless browsers that sleep most of the time and must wake in milliseconds, or need US or Asia regions or on-prem under Enterprise.
- Millisecond starts and scale-to-zero. Best for many small services that sleep most of the time and must answer the next request in milliseconds.
- Memory checkpoints. Useful if you want to clone a warm app: checkpoints save a running microVM's memory and start new instances from it.
- Regions and your own hardware. Useful for users in the US or Asia, or teams that want on-prem or their own cloud under an Enterprise contract.
Where bochka fits
Namespace is mostly a CI and dev machine platform, and Unikraft Cloud is a microVM platform for small services that sleep. If what you are really running is coding agents that work for hours on a whole Linux machine, bochka gives each one a full VM with Docker, /dev/kvm, a desktop and the agents built in, with no session cap and no sales call for a big fleet.
No clock and room to work
A Namespace Devbox is shut down after at most 24 hours, so a long agent run dies and your code must restart it. Unikraft has no time limit, but its Team pool is 8 vCPU and 8 GiB shared by every instance.
A whole machine with Docker and /dev/kvm
Unikraft documents no container runtime inside an instance, has no SSH yet and keeps nested virtualization for Enterprise. Namespace has Docker in Devboxes, but /dev/kvm only on compute instances, which stop after 3 to 24 hours.
A desktop and agents driven from outside
Neither ships a Linux desktop for computer use: Namespace's API works on macOS only and Unikraft has none. Neither preinstalls agents with a prompt, steer and events API; on Namespace a partner runs the agent loop.
Use bochka when your agents need a whole Linux machine for hours or days: a faster full VM with Docker and /dev/kvm, a 60fps desktop, coding agents you drive from outside, and big fleets without a sales call. Compare it one to one: bochka vs Namespace and bochka vs Unikraft Cloud.
Questions people ask
Is Namespace cheaper than Unikraft Cloud?
For one agent, Unikraft is cheaper: one coding agent on workdays is $39 on its Team pool against $50 on Namespace, and one that never stops is $39 against $176. For 50 agents, user sandboxes or 1,000 short jobs, no self-serve Unikraft plan is big enough, while Namespace fits pay as you go. bochka comes to $20 and $26 a month for the single agent and $317 for 50 agents.
Which is faster, Namespace or Unikraft Cloud?
For starts, Unikraft: its microVMs cold boot in milliseconds and wake on the next request. For CPU work there is no comparable figure for Unikraft; Namespace did 21.79 runs per second in StarSling's benchmark, and bochka did 26.69.
Can Namespace or Unikraft Cloud run Docker?
Namespace Linux Devboxes include Docker. Unikraft uses your Dockerfile to build the VM's filesystem, and its docs do not describe running a container runtime inside a running instance. Every bochka sandbox has Docker, systemd and /dev/kvm.
How long can a session run on each?
A Namespace Devbox stops after 4, 5 or 24 hours by plan, even while you work in it. Unikraft publishes no time limit, and instances run until stopped or go into standby. bochka has no session cap on paid plans.
Can I SSH into them?
You can SSH into a Namespace Devbox. Unikraft has announced SSH as coming soon, and today commands and files go through its sandbox plugin and CLI. Every bochka sandbox has SSH and an API.
Which one runs macOS?
Only Namespace, on Apple M4 Pro or M5 Max machines, and it runs Windows on Team plans and up. Unikraft Cloud and bochka run Linux only.
Try bochka
Install the CLI, then run bochka new.
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