Tangle vs Daytona: which sandbox for coding agents?
Pick Daytona for Windows and macOS desktops, GPU sandboxes, five SDK languages and compute in your own cloud. Pick Tangle for eight installed coding agents, one prompt call per task, and sandboxes, models and traces on one key.
Last checked November 10, 2026: each Daytona fact links the page it came from, read that day.
Pick Daytona when
- Your agent needs a Windows or macOS desktop as well as Linux. (daytona.io)
- You need a GPU inside the sandbox: Daytona has NVIDIA and AMD GPU sandboxes. (daytona.io/docs/en/sandboxes)
- Your code is in Ruby, Go or Java: Daytona has SDKs for those as well as Python and TypeScript. (daytona.io)
- Sandboxes must run on compute in your own cloud, with Daytona running the control plane. (daytona.io)
- A paused VM sandbox must keep its memory, or you fork a running state. (daytona.io/docs/en/persistence)
- Start time decides it: Daytona states sub-90 ms sandbox creation, and our measured times below are slower. (daytona.io)
- You want free compute credit to start. (daytona.io/pricing)
Pick Tangle when
- You want Pi, Hermes, Kimi Code or Prime Agent next to Claude Code, Codex, OpenCode and OpenClaw, installed in every sandbox. (tangle.tools)
- One prompt call gives the agent its task and returns the result, token usage and cost. (docs.tangle.tools/sandbox/cloud-agents)
- Sandboxes, model calls and traces go on one key and one balance. (tangle.tools#pricing)
- A fleet runs many agents under one budget, set in dollars, and the platform refuses any charge past it. (docs.tangle.tools/sandbox/agents-fleet)
- You keep Daytona as well: agent-runtime runs the same agent code on Daytona and on Tangle. (docs.tangle.tools/sandbox/other-providers)
Daytona and Tangle, row by row
| Feature | Daytona | Tangle |
|---|---|---|
| Coding agents | Default snapshots include the Claude Code, Codex, OpenCode and OpenClaw packages (daytona.io/docs/en/snapshots) | Claude Code, Codex, OpenCode, Pi, Hermes, OpenClaw, Kimi Code and Prime Agent installed in every sandbox (tangle.tools) |
| Model calls | Not found on the Daytona pages we read (daytona.io) | Tangle Router by default, billed to the same Tangle balance as the sandbox (docs.tangle.tools/sandbox/cloud-agents) |
| Isolation | Container sandboxes; Linux VM, Windows, GPU and macOS sandboxes (daytona.io/docs/en/sandboxes) | A container or a Firecracker microVM, chosen per sandbox (docs.tangle.tools/sandbox/security) |
| Stop and resume | Persistent by default; VM sandboxes pause and resume with memory, and container sandboxes keep their files across stop and start; GPU sandboxes are deleted on stop (daytona.io/docs/en/persistence) | Timers you set stop a sandbox; a stopped sandbox keeps its files until you delete it or its delete timer passes (docs.tangle.tools/sandbox/migrate-e2b) |
| Snapshots and forks | Cold snapshots of the filesystem; hot snapshots and forks with memory on VM sandboxes (daytona.io/docs/en/persistence) | Snapshot, revert, and split a running sandbox into copies (docs.tangle.tools/sandbox/snapshots) |
| Desktop | Linux, Windows and macOS desktops you control with code (daytona.io) | A desktop the coding agent controls through a hosted computer-use endpoint (docs.tangle.tools/sandbox/agents-mcp) |
| GPUs | NVIDIA and AMD GPU sandboxes (daytona.io/docs/en/sandboxes) | A GPU lease from a GPU cloud provider, attached while a command needs it, with a spend cap and a time cap (docs.tangle.tools/sandbox/gpu-leases) |
| MCP | An MCP server set up for Claude, Cursor and Windsurf (daytona.io/docs/en/mcp) | A local stdio MCP server for one sandbox, plus the hosted computer-use endpoint (docs.tangle.tools/sandbox/agents-mcp) |
| Secrets | Plaintext credentials stay outside the sandbox and are substituted at network egress (daytona.io) | Stored once; you choose whether the sandbox can read a secret or only the network proxy can (docs.tangle.tools/sandbox/secrets) |
| Network | Domain and IP allowlists or block all, set per sandbox on Tiers 3 and 4 (Tiers 1 and 2 use the organization's restrictions), and an outbound proxy set at create time (daytona.io/docs/en/network-limits) | Open, a strict allowlist, or blocked, changeable while the sandbox runs (docs.tangle.tools/sandbox/egress) |
| Getting a shell | SSH, a web terminal, VS Code in the browser and language-server support (daytona.io) | SSH, a PTY or a browser terminal (docs.tangle.tools/sandbox/terminals) |
| Run records | Traces, logs and metrics from inside sandboxes, exported over OpenTelemetry (daytona.io/docs/en/observability/otel-collection) | Every agent turn is traced, and an Intelligence report summarizes what the agent did (docs.tangle.tools/sandbox/observability) |
| Regions | Shared US and EU regions, plus dedicated and custom regions (daytona.io/docs/en/regions) | eu1 and us1 (tangle.tools/benchmarks) |
| Your own cloud | Customer-managed compute in your cloud, with Daytona's control plane (daytona.io) | Tangle hosts the sandboxes; on-premises hosting is planned. agent-runtime runs the same agent code on E2B, Daytona or any ComputeSDK cloud (tangle.tools/what-is-tangle) |
| SDKs | Python, TypeScript, Ruby, Go and Java (daytona.io) | TypeScript, Python (tangle-sandbox on PyPI) and the tangle CLI (docs.tangle.tools/sandbox/sdk-python) |
| Free start | Free compute credit included (daytona.io/pricing) | A Free plan with no included credit (tangle.tools#pricing) |
| Compliance | States it meets HIPAA, SOC 2 and GDPR standards (daytona.io) | A SOC 2 Type II examination covering June 14 to September 14, 2026; the report is in issuance (tangle.tools/security) |
Start times: our measurements, their published claims
| Tangle, measured | p50 | p95 | Runs | Failed |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| New sandbox, ready to use | 1.5s | 12s | 393 | 56 of 425 |
| Create, then run a first command | 1.7s | 8s | 74 | 3 of 77 |
| Claude Code's first reply, from create | 3.4s | 12s | 45 | 3 of 48 |
| Codex's first reply, from create | 3.3s | 18s | 44 | 3 of 47 |
Production runs from 2026-11-02 to 2026-11-09, the same rows tangle.tools/benchmarks draws.
- Daytona states "Sub 90ms sandbox creation from code to execution" on its home page. (daytona.io)
These are different tests, and we have not run Daytona through our benchmark.
Prices are on each pricing page
Tangle: plans and the rate card. Daytona: daytona.io/pricing.
Move from Daytona
The migration guide maps each Daytona call and setting to Tangle and shows a typical Daytona program on Tangle. Move from Daytona.