Comparison with Other Solutions

This page compares Code Sandboxes with other popular code execution platforms: E2B and Modal.

Overview

Feature	Code Sandboxes	E2B	Modal
Open Source	✅ Yes (BSD-3)	✅ Yes (Apache-2)	❌ No
Self-hostable	✅ Yes	✅ Yes	❌ No
Cloud Offering	✅ Datalayer	✅ E2B Cloud	✅ Modal Cloud
Local Execution	✅ Yes	❌ No	❌ No
GPU Support	✅ Yes	❌ No	✅ Yes
Snapshots	✅ Yes	✅ Yes	✅ Yes
Jupyter Kernel	✅ Native	✅ Yes	❌ No

Feature Comparison

Sandbox Creation

Operation	Code Sandboxes	E2B	Modal
Create sandbox	Sandbox.create()	Sandbox()	Sandbox.create()
With timeout	Sandbox.create(timeout=60)	Sandbox(timeout=60000)	N/A
With GPU	Sandbox.create(gpu="T4")	N/A	Sandbox.create(gpu="T4")
From snapshot	Sandbox.create(snapshot_name="...")	Sandbox(template="...")	Sandbox.from_id("...")
Reconnect	Sandbox.from_id(id)	Sandbox.reconnect(id)	Sandbox.from_id(id)
List sandboxes	Sandbox.list()	N/A	Sandbox.list()

Code Execution

Operation	Code Sandboxes	E2B	Modal
Run code	sandbox.run_code(code)	sandbox.runCode(code)	sandbox.exec("python", "-c", code)
Streaming	on_stdout=callback	onStdout=callback	for line in proc.stdout
Variables	sandbox.get_variable(name)	sandbox.getVar(name)	N/A
Install packages	sandbox.install_packages([...])	sandbox.installPackages([...])	sandbox.exec("pip", "install", ...)

Filesystem Operations

Operation	Code Sandboxes	E2B	Modal
Read file	sandbox.files.read(path)	sandbox.files.read(path)	sandbox.read_file(path)
Write file	sandbox.files.write(path, content)	sandbox.files.write(path, content)	sandbox.open(path, "w")
List directory	sandbox.files.list(path)	sandbox.files.list(path)	sandbox.list_files(path)
Make directory	sandbox.files.mkdir(path)	sandbox.files.makeDir(path)	N/A
Upload	sandbox.files.upload(local, remote)	sandbox.files.upload(local, remote)	N/A
Download	sandbox.files.download(remote, local)	sandbox.files.download(remote, local)	N/A

Command Execution

Operation	Code Sandboxes	E2B	Modal
Run command	sandbox.commands.run(cmd)	sandbox.commands.run(cmd)	sandbox.exec(cmd)
Streaming exec	sandbox.commands.exec(*args)	N/A	sandbox.exec(*args)
Background process	sandbox.commands.spawn(cmd)	sandbox.process.start(cmd)	N/A
System packages	sandbox.commands.install_system_packages([...])	N/A	N/A

Lifecycle Management

Operation	Code Sandboxes	E2B	Modal
Set timeout	sandbox.set_timeout(seconds)	sandbox.setTimeout(ms)	N/A
Terminate	sandbox.terminate()	sandbox.close()	sandbox.terminate()
Force kill	sandbox.kill()	sandbox.kill()	N/A
Get info	sandbox.get_info()	N/A	N/A

Snapshots

Operation	Code Sandboxes	E2B	Modal
Create snapshot	sandbox.create_snapshot(name)	sandbox.pause()	sandbox.snapshot_filesystem()
List snapshots	sandbox.list_snapshots()	N/A	N/A
Restore	Sandbox.create(snapshot_name=...)	Sandbox(template=...)	Sandbox.from_id(...)

Architecture Comparison

E2B

E2B focuses on cloud-based code interpretation, primarily designed for AI assistants. It uses microVMs for isolation and provides a JavaScript/TypeScript SDK.

Pros:

• Simple API
• Good for AI chatbots
• Fast cold starts

Cons:

• Cloud-only
• No GPU support
• JavaScript-first (Python SDK is secondary)

Modal

Modal is a serverless platform for running Python code in the cloud. It's designed for ML workloads with strong GPU support.

Pros:

• Excellent GPU support
• Powerful for ML workloads
• Great parallelization

Cons:

• Cloud-only (no self-hosting)
• Closed source
• More complex API

Code Sandboxes

Code Sandboxes provides a unified API for local and cloud execution, with native Jupyter kernel support.

Pros:

• Open source and self-hostable
• Local and cloud execution
• Native Jupyter integration
• GPU support via Datalayer runtime
• Simple, consistent API

Cons:

• Newer project
• Smaller community

Migration Guides

From E2B

# E2B
from e2b_code_interpreter import Sandbox
sandbox = Sandbox(timeout=60000)
result = sandbox.runCode("print('hello')")
sandbox.close()

# Code Sandboxes
from code_sandboxes import Sandbox
with Sandbox.create(timeout=60) as sandbox:
    result = sandbox.run_code("print('hello')")

From Modal

# Modal
import modal
sb = modal.Sandbox.create(gpu="T4")
process = sb.exec("python", "-c", "print('hello')")
print(process.stdout.read())
sb.terminate()

# Code Sandboxes
from code_sandboxes import Sandbox
with Sandbox.create(variant="datalayer-runtime", gpu="T4") as sandbox:
    result = sandbox.run_code("print('hello')")
    print(result.stdout)

Choosing the Right Solution

Use Case	Recommended
AI chatbot code execution	Code Sandboxes or E2B
ML training with GPUs	Code Sandboxes or Modal
Local development/testing	Code Sandboxes
Self-hosted infrastructure	Code Sandboxes or E2B
Jupyter notebook workflows	Code Sandboxes
Serverless Python functions	Modal