Key takeaways
- Market leader with 200M+ sandboxes started and 88% Fortune 100 adoption
- Open-source Firecracker microVMs provide hardware-level isolation for secure code execution
- Ephemeral-first architecture trades state persistence for maximum security and simplicity
FAQ
What is E2B?
E2B is an open-source cloud platform that provides secure sandboxed environments for AI agents to execute code, used by companies like Perplexity, Hugging Face, and Groq.
How much does E2B cost?
E2B offers a free Hobby tier with $100 initial credits. Pro tier is $150/month plus per-second usage costs (~$0.000028/s for 2 vCPUs).
Who competes with E2B?
Daytona, Modal, Runloop, CodeSandbox SDK, and Fly.io Sprites are direct competitors in the AI sandbox space.
Executive Summary
E2B is the market leader in AI agent sandboxes, providing open-source, secure cloud environments where AI agents can execute code safely. The platform has become the de facto standard for enterprise AI code execution, with 88% of Fortune 100 companies using the platform and 200M+ sandboxes started.
| Attribute | Value |
|---|---|
| Company | E2B |
| Founded | 2023 |
| Funding | $32M (Series A) |
| Employees | ~25 |
| Headquarters | San Francisco, CA (Czech founders) |
Product Overview
E2B provides cloud-based sandboxed environments specifically designed for AI agents to execute code. The platform uses Firecracker microVMs — the same virtualization technology powering AWS Lambda — to provide hardware-level isolation for running untrusted AI-generated code.
The company was founded by Vasek Mlejnsky (CEO) and Tomas Valenta (CTO), both from the Czech Republic. E2B has quickly become the infrastructure backbone for major AI companies including Perplexity, Hugging Face, Groq, and Manus.
Key Capabilities
| Capability | Description |
|---|---|
| Instant Sandboxes | Spin up isolated environments in ~150ms |
| Code Interpreter | Execute Python, JavaScript, and other languages |
| Custom Templates | Pre-configure environments with dependencies |
| File System Access | Read, write, and manage files within sandboxes |
| Terminal Access | Run shell commands and install packages |
| Network Access | Sandboxes can access the internet for APIs |
Product Surfaces / Editions
| Surface | Description | Availability |
|---|---|---|
| Python SDK | pip install e2b-code-interpreter | GA |
| JavaScript SDK | npm install @e2b/code-interpreter | GA |
| Go SDK | Native Go bindings | GA |
| CLI | Command-line management tools | GA |
| Desktop Sandbox | Virtual desktop for Computer Use | GA |
Technical Architecture
E2B uses Firecracker microVMs, the same technology powering AWS Lambda and Fargate. Each sandbox runs in complete isolation with its own kernel, providing hardware-level security boundaries.
┌─────────────────────────────────┐
│ E2B Platform │
├─────────────────────────────────┤
│ ┌─────────┐ ┌─────────┐ │
│ │ Sandbox │ │ Sandbox │ ... │
│ │ (μVM) │ │ (μVM) │ │
│ └────┬────┘ └────┬────┘ │
│ │ │ │
│ ┌────┴────────────┴────┐ │
│ │ Firecracker Host │ │
│ └──────────────────────┘ │
└─────────────────────────────────┘
Key Technical Details
| Aspect | Detail |
|---|---|
| Isolation | Firecracker microVMs (hardware-level) |
| Cold Start | ~150ms in same region |
| Max Duration | 1 hour (Hobby), 24 hours (Pro) |
| Persistence | Ephemeral by default (state destroyed) |
| Open Source | Yes (Apache 2.0) |
| Self-Hosting | Available via BYOC deployment |
Strengths
- Market dominance — 88% of Fortune 100, 200M+ sandboxes, 1M+ monthly SDK downloads; proven at scale
- Open source — Apache 2.0 license with active GitHub community; no vendor lock-in fear
- Security-first — Firecracker microVMs provide true hardware isolation; enterprise-grade security
- Fast cold starts — ~150ms startup time; competitive with serverless functions
- Model agnostic — Works with OpenAI, Anthropic, Mistral, Llama, or any LLM provider
- Custom templates — Pre-configure environments with dependencies, tools, and files
- Enterprise-ready — SOC2 compliant, BYOC deployment, custom domains
Cautions
- Ephemeral only — No persistent state between sessions; must rebuild environment each time
- No checkpoints — Cannot snapshot and restore sandbox state like competitors (Sprites, Runloop)
- Limited orchestration — Basic sandbox management; no built-in workflow orchestration
- Region constraints — Cold starts increase significantly outside primary regions
- No GPU support — CPU-only; ML workloads requiring GPUs need Modal or alternatives
- 1-hour limit on free tier — Hobby tier limited to 1-hour sessions; Pro needed for longer
Pricing & Licensing
| Tier | Price | Includes |
|---|---|---|
| Hobby | Free | $100 one-time credits, 1-hour sessions, 20 concurrent |
| Pro | $150/mo + usage | 24-hour sessions, 100 concurrent, custom CPU/RAM |
| Enterprise | Custom | BYOC, custom limits, dedicated support |
Usage costs (per second):
| Resource | Cost |
|---|---|
| 2 vCPU (default) | $0.000028/s (~$0.10/hour) |
| 4 vCPU | $0.000056/s |
| 8 vCPU | $0.000112/s |
| Memory | $0.0000045/GiB/s |
| Storage | 10-20 GiB included |
Licensing model: Open source (Apache 2.0) + usage-based cloud pricing
Hidden costs: Heavy concurrent usage can exceed included credits quickly; long-running sessions add up
Competitive Positioning
Direct Competitors
| Competitor | Differentiation |
|---|---|
| Sprites | Sprites offers persistent VMs with checkpoint/restore; E2B is ephemeral-first with faster starts |
| Daytona | Daytona has Computer Use and faster creation (90ms); E2B has stronger isolation (Firecracker vs Docker) |
| Modal | Modal supports GPUs and serverless Python; E2B is sandbox-focused with multi-language support |
| Runloop | Runloop offers disk snapshots and SWE-bench; E2B has larger ecosystem and Fortune 100 adoption |
When to Choose E2B Over Alternatives
- Choose E2B when: Security is paramount, you need enterprise compliance, or want the largest ecosystem
- Choose Sprites when: You need persistent state and checkpoint/restore capabilities
- Choose Daytona when: You need Computer Use (desktop automation) or fastest possible creation time
- Choose Modal when: You need GPU access for ML workloads
Ideal Customer Profile
Best fit:
- Enterprise teams needing secure AI code execution at scale
- AI companies building coding agents, data analysts, or research tools
- Organizations requiring SOC2 compliance and enterprise security
- Teams valuing open-source with large community and ecosystem
- High-throughput use cases (evals, benchmarks, parallel processing)
Poor fit:
- Teams needing persistent state between sessions
- ML/AI workloads requiring GPU access
- Use cases requiring checkpoint/restore for experimentation
- Budget-constrained projects with unpredictable usage
Viability Assessment
| Factor | Assessment |
|---|---|
| Financial Health | Strong — $32M raised, Series A from Insight Partners |
| Market Position | Leader — 88% Fortune 100, largest in category |
| Innovation Pace | Rapid — Regular releases, Desktop Sandbox, MCP support |
| Community/Ecosystem | Active — 6K+ GitHub stars, 1M+ monthly downloads |
| Long-term Outlook | Positive — Category leader with enterprise traction |
E2B has established itself as the default choice for AI agent sandboxes. With Insight Partners backing and Fortune 100 adoption, the company has strong runway and market validation. The main strategic question is whether ephemeral-first remains optimal as persistent approaches mature.
Bottom Line
E2B is the market leader in AI agent sandboxes, and for good reason. The combination of enterprise-grade security (Firecracker isolation), open-source transparency, and proven scale (200M+ sandboxes) makes it the safe choice for production deployments.
The trade-off is the ephemeral model — every session starts fresh. For many use cases (security-sensitive code execution, parallel evals), this is a feature. For others (long-running development, experimentation), competitors like Sprites or Runloop may be better fits.
Recommended for: Enterprise teams needing secure, scalable AI code execution with proven track record and compliance certifications.
Not recommended for: Teams requiring persistent state, GPU workloads, or checkpoint/restore for experimentation.
Outlook: E2B will likely add persistence and checkpoint features to stay competitive, while maintaining its security-first positioning. Expect deeper enterprise integrations and expanded regional availability.
Research by Ry Walker Research • methodology