Box
A cheap, on-demand virtual computer in the cloud that an AI coding agent can use to run code, install software and be reset or copied instantly, without you managing any servers.
🔗 Visit Box
Description
When an AI coding agent needs to actually run code — install dependencies, test a script, fork a working environment to try something risky — it needs a real computer to do that in, not just a chat window. Box gives you that: a full, persistent Ubuntu virtual machine you can spin up, SSH into, snapshot and fork in seconds, billed by the second rather than by the hour.
Box, built by ASCII (ascii.dev, backed by Founders Inc.), offers persistent Ubuntu VMs with full OS capabilities, SSH/SCP and HTTP API access, Docker pre-installed, disk-level snapshot forking, and pre-installed developer tools (VS Code, Chrome, GitHub CLI, Rust, Node.js, Bun) plus a 60fps virtual desktop and dedicated IPv4 addresses. It's controlled via a simple CLI (box new, box ssh, box fork, box stop) or Python/TypeScript SDKs, and is pitched as the cheapest option against E2B, GitHub Codespaces and Modal. Pricing starts at a $20/month minimum, converting to roughly 555 hours of 4 vCPU / 8GB compute, billed by the second beyond that. It's currently available in EU regions (Germany, Finland, France).
💬 Our review
The short version: if you're building an AI agent that needs a real, disposable computer to run and test code in, Box is a cheaper, no-frills alternative to E2B or Codespaces, as long as EU-only hosting isn't a dealbreaker for your users.
💰 Pricing
📊 Global score
🤖 AI-enriched data
$20/mois minimum par compte, converti en ~555 heures de calcul 4 vCPU/8GB, puis facturation à la seconde au-delà.
Pros
Positionné comme l'option la moins chère face à E2B, Codespaces et Modal
VM Ubuntu persistante complète, pas un simple conteneur limité
Fork par snapshot au niveau disque, utile pour tester sans risque
SDK Python/TypeScript et CLI simple
Cons
Disponible en Europe uniquement pour l'instant (Allemagne, Finlande, France)
Produit adossé à une plateforme plus large (ASCII), pérennité à surveiller
Pas de star count GitHub vérifiable, produit fermé
Marché avec des acteurs bien financés (E2B, Modal) qui peuvent baisser leurs prix