Tangle vs Modal: which sandbox for coding agents?
Pick Modal for GPU sandboxes, million-sandbox bursts, and inference and training on the same platform. Pick Tangle for eight coding agents, installed in every sandbox and needing no model key, and sandboxes that stop and resume with their files.
Last checked November 10, 2026: each Modal fact links the page it came from, read that day.
Pick Modal when
- You need very large bursts: Modal states it creates over a million sandboxes in under a minute and runs up to 1M at once. (modal.com)
- The sandbox needs a GPU: Modal runs GPU sandboxes on its gVisor runtime. (modal.com/docs/guide/sandboxes)
- You also serve or train models: Modal offers inference, training and sandboxes on one platform. (modal.com)
- You need Docker inside the sandbox: Modal's VM runtime runs it. (modal.com/docs/guide/sandboxes)
- You want capacity in many regions: Modal spans 20+ clouds and routes work to a region. (modal.com)
- You want free credit every month: the Starter plan includes monthly credits. (modal.com/pricing)
Pick Tangle when
- You want the coding agent already there: Claude Code, Codex, OpenCode, Pi, Hermes, OpenClaw, Kimi Code and Prime Agent are 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)
- A sandbox should stop and resume with its files, which it keeps until you delete it or its delete timer passes. (docs.tangle.tools/sandbox/migrate-e2b)
- Your coding agent needs no model key: Tangle Router is the default, billed to your Tangle balance. (docs.tangle.tools/sandbox/cloud-agents)
Modal and Tangle, row by row
| Feature | Modal | Tangle |
|---|---|---|
| Coding agents | Not stated in Modal's Sandboxes guide, which builds sandboxes from images you define (modal.com/docs/guide/sandboxes) | Claude Code, Codex, OpenCode, Pi, Hermes, OpenClaw, Kimi Code and Prime Agent installed in every sandbox (tangle.tools) |
| Model calls | Modal Inference serves open models on OpenAI-compatible endpoints, or your own inference stack (modal.com) | Tangle Router by default, billed to the same Tangle balance as the sandbox (docs.tangle.tools/sandbox/cloud-agents) |
| Isolation | gVisor, or a VM runtime for Docker, FUSE and kernel features; Modal chooses when you leave it unset (modal.com/docs/guide/sandboxes) | A container or a Firecracker microVM, chosen per sandbox (docs.tangle.tools/sandbox/security) |
| Stop and resume | A sandbox ends at a timeout you set, up to a cap in Modal's guide (modal.com/docs/guide/sandboxes) | 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 | Filesystem and Directory Snapshots; Memory Snapshots in alpha, kept 7 days (modal.com/docs/guide/sandbox-snapshots) | Snapshot, revert, and split a running sandbox into copies (docs.tangle.tools/sandbox/snapshots) |
| GPUs | GPU sandboxes on the gVisor runtime (modal.com/docs/guide/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) |
| Secrets | Secret injection, in beta: headers are added to outbound requests outside the sandbox, so the secret never appears in it (modal.com/docs/guide/sandbox-secret-injection) | Stored once; you choose whether the sandbox can read a secret or only the network proxy can (docs.tangle.tools/sandbox/secrets) |
| Run records | Logs and metrics for every sandbox, exportable to OpenTelemetry (modal.com) | Every agent turn is traced, and an Intelligence report summarizes what the agent did (docs.tangle.tools/sandbox/observability) |
| Regions | Capacity across 20+ clouds; Modal routes work to a region (modal.com) | eu1 and us1 (tangle.tools/benchmarks) |
| SDKs | Python, plus JavaScript and Go SDKs in beta (modal.com/docs/guide/sandboxes) | TypeScript, Python (tangle-sandbox on PyPI) and the tangle CLI (docs.tangle.tools/sandbox/sdk-python) |
| Free start | Monthly free credits on the Starter plan (modal.com/pricing) | A Free plan with no included credit (tangle.tools#pricing) |
| Compliance | Lists SOC 2 Type II and states it is HIPAA ready (modal.com) | 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.
- Modal states "Create over a million Sandboxes in under a minute, and run up to 1M concurrently" and "Sub-second starts on large custom images and at high concurrency". (modal.com)
- Modal's engineering post of 2026-07-16 reports sandbox start times under half a second at the median in its 1M-sandbox test, and says the tail is longer than it would like. (modal.com/blog/scaling-to-1-million-concurrent-sandboxes-in-seconds)
These are different tests, and we have not run Modal through our benchmark.
Prices are on each pricing page
Tangle: plans and the rate card. Modal: modal.com/pricing.
Move from Modal
The migration guide maps Modal Sandbox calls to Tangle, Python first. Move from Modal.