Tangle vs Runloop: which sandbox for coding agents?
Pick Runloop for devboxes you snapshot and branch, a credential gateway and MCP hub, SSH access, deployment in your own cloud, and agent evaluations beside the sandbox. Pick Tangle when you want Pi, Hermes, Kimi Code or Prime Agent installed in every sandbox, needing no model key, with one prompt call that returns the result, usage and cost.
Last checked November 10, 2026: each Runloop fact links the page it came from, read that day.
Pick Runloop when
- You need to branch a sandbox from saved state: Runloop snapshots devbox disk state and restores it into new devboxes. (runloop.ai)
- You need to run in your own cloud account: Runloop deploys into AWS, GCP or Azure. (runloop.ai)
- You need agents to call model APIs without holding keys: Runloop's Agent Gateways proxy AI API calls so agents never see raw credentials. (docs.runloop.ai/llms.txt)
- You need to evaluate agents next to the sandbox: Runloop pairs devboxes with evaluations. (runloop.ai)
Pick Tangle when
- You want Pi, Hermes, OpenClaw, Kimi Code or Prime Agent installed in every sandbox, next to Claude Code, Codex and OpenCode. (tangle.tools)
- Your coding agent needs no model key: Tangle Router is the default, billed to your Tangle balance. (docs.tangle.tools/sandbox/cloud-agents)
- One prompt call gives the agent its task and returns the result, token usage and cost. (docs.tangle.tools/sandbox/cloud-agents)
- 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)
Runloop and Tangle, row by row
| Feature | Runloop | Tangle |
|---|---|---|
| Coding agents | Public agent wrappers for Claude Code, Codex, OpenCode, Gemini CLI and DeepAgents, mounted on a devbox (docs.runloop.ai/docs/devboxes/agents/using-agents-api.md) | Claude Code, Codex, OpenCode, Pi, Hermes, OpenClaw, Kimi Code and Prime Agent installed in every sandbox (tangle.tools) |
| Isolation | Micro-VM devboxes with two layers of isolation, VM plus container (runloop.ai) | A container or a Firecracker microVM, chosen per sandbox (docs.tangle.tools/sandbox/security) |
| Stop and resume | Suspend saves the devbox disk and stops active compute; resume reloads the disk (docs.runloop.ai/docs/devboxes/lifecycle.md) | 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 | Snapshots of devbox disk state that restore into new devboxes for branching (runloop.ai) | Snapshot, revert, and split a running sandbox into copies (docs.tangle.tools/sandbox/snapshots) |
| Desktop | Browser and computer use for agents (runloop.ai) | A desktop the coding agent controls through a hosted computer-use endpoint (docs.tangle.tools/sandbox/agents-mcp) |
| GPUs | Devboxes list an optional GPU (docs.runloop.ai/llms.txt) | 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 Hub gives agents access to MCP tool servers without exposing credentials, and an MCP server exposes Runloop operations to AI tools (docs.runloop.ai/llms.txt) | A local stdio MCP server for one sandbox, plus the hosted computer-use endpoint (docs.tangle.tools/sandbox/agents-mcp) |
| Secrets | Encrypted account secrets injected at devbox runtime, and gateways so agents never see raw credentials (docs.runloop.ai/llms.txt) | Stored once; you choose whether the sandbox can read a secret or only the network proxy can (docs.tangle.tools/sandbox/secrets) |
| Network | Egress network policies per devbox (docs.runloop.ai/llms.txt) | Open, a strict allowlist, or blocked, changeable while the sandbox runs (docs.tangle.tools/sandbox/egress) |
| Getting a shell | SSH access, with scp and rsync, and interactive shells (docs.runloop.ai/llms.txt) | SSH, a PTY or a browser terminal (docs.tangle.tools/sandbox/terminals) |
| Run records | Monitoring, logging and interactive shells in a UI, with streaming execution logs (runloop.ai) | Every agent turn is traced, and an Intelligence report summarizes what the agent did (docs.tangle.tools/sandbox/observability) |
| Regions | Multi-region deployment for latency and data residency (runloop.ai) | eu1 and us1 (tangle.tools/benchmarks) |
| Your own cloud | Deploy to VPC runs Runloop infrastructure in your own cloud account (runloop.ai) | 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 and TypeScript SDKs and a CLI (runloop.ai) | TypeScript, Python (tangle-sandbox on PyPI) and the tangle CLI (docs.tangle.tools/sandbox/sdk-python) |
| Free start | Offers a free trial with no credit card required; see the pricing page for terms (runloop.ai/pricing) | A Free plan with no included credit (tangle.tools#pricing) |
| Compliance | Lists SOC 2 Type II and HIPAA (runloop.ai/pricing) | 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.
- Runloop states "10GB image startup time in <2s". (runloop.ai)
- Runloop states "Run 10k+ parallel sandboxes". (runloop.ai)
- Runloop states "ultra fast command execution at 100ms". (runloop.ai)
These are different tests, and we have not run Runloop through our benchmark.
Prices are on each pricing page
Tangle: plans and the rate card. Runloop: runloop.ai/pricing.