Open-source and self-hosted agent sandboxes
7 agent sandboxes publish their runtime as open source or run on your own infrastructure: Steel, Browserless, Notte, Lightpanda, E2B Desktop, Cua and Anthropic Computer Use Reference. 4 are browsers and 3 are desktops. 5 ship an MCP server and 3 accept CDP connections. Read the linked licences before embedding a runtime in a hosted product; licence terms differ.
| Licence | Deployment | Self-host | CDP | MCP server | Computer-use API | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Browserless | browser | SSPL-1.0 or commercial | both | Yes | $0.181 | — | Yes | — | 2026-11-11 |
| Lightpanda | browser | AGPL-3.0 | both | Yes | $0.082 | Yes | Yes | — | 2026-11-11 |
| Notte | browser | SSPL-1.0 | managed | — | $0.011 | Yes | Yes | — | 2026-11-11 |
| Steel | browser | Apache-2.0 | both | Yes | $0.082 | Yes | Yes | — | 2026-11-11 |
| Anthropic Computer Use Reference | Linux desktop | MIT | self-hosted | Yes | — | — | — | Yes | 2026-11-11 |
| E2B Desktop | Linux desktop | Apache-2.0 | managed | — | — | — | — | Yes | 2026-11-11 |
| Cua | multi-OS | MIT (Spaces: FSL-1.1-MIT) | self-hosted | Yes | — | — | Yes | — | 2026-11-11 |
Hourly rates and calculation basis
Pricing methodUsage rates exclude plan fees unless stated. AgentCore is a resource example. Anchor is a calculator input. Read the basis before comparing.
| Sandbox | USD per hour | Basis and required plan |
|---|---|---|
| Steel | $0.08 | Vendor-stated $0.08/browser-hour on Scale ($250/mo + usage, $100 monthly usage credits). Launch $0/mo + $0.10/h. Proxy traffic and CAPTCHA extra; stealth Enterprise-only.Vendor source |
| Browserless | $0.18 | $0.18/h = (3,600 s ÷ 30 s/unit) × $0.0015/unit on Scale ($350/mo billed annually). Prototyping: 120 × $0.0020 = $0.24/h. Browser time only; reconnects restart unit rounding; proxy and CAPTCHA units extra.Vendor source |
| Notte | $0.01 | Vendor-stated $0.01/browser-hour, rounded by billing policy. Browser functions use a separate $0.05/h meter; residential proxies $10/GB and LLM tokens extra. Developer $20/mo.Vendor source |
Every sandbox in this list
All 36 sandboxesHow to read the columns
Methodology- Environment
- What the agent gets: a cloud browser (headless or headful), a full Linux desktop, a Windows desktop, a macOS VM, or a choice of several operating systems.
- Licence
- Open-source licence of the core runtime.
- Deployment
- Managed cloud service, self-hosted software, or both.
- Self-host
- Can run on your own infrastructure.
- Price per hour $/session-hr
- Lowest published usage rate on any self-serve plan, before plan fees, proxies and bandwidth unless the basis includes them. Conversions name their formula and tier. Resource-priced desktops name a published configuration; resource examples without a minimum stay empty.
- CDP
- Connect over the Chrome DevTools Protocol (WebSocket URL).
- MCP server
- An official MCP server for the product.
- Computer-use API
- Screenshot plus mouse and keyboard actions exposed as an API, for computer-use models (OpenAI CUA, Claude computer use, Gemini computer use).