froog vs Fly.io Sprites
Sprites and froog are the closest match in this list: both give each agent a persistent Linux computer instead of a short-lived sandbox. They differ in how they bill and in what comes in the box.
froog and Fly.io Sprites side by side
| froog | Fly.io Sprites | |
|---|---|---|
| Isolation | Full KVM virtual machine, own kernel | Hardware-isolated microVM |
| Largest sandbox | Up to 8 vCPU, 16 GB memory, 111 GB disk | Not published; 100 GB volume |
| How long it runs | No limit: runs until you stop it, or until its auto-stop timer runs out (an hour by default, up to 30 days, or never) | No limit; sleeps when idle and wakes on a request |
| Snapshots and forks | Hourly automatic snapshots, named snapshots as templates, fork into many copies, restore in place (disk); warm resume with programs running for 10 min after a stop | Disk checkpoints in about a second; restore rewinds the same Sprite (forking into copies not documented) |
| Access | SSH, root (passwordless sudo), Docker, Chrome, a desktop in the browser (XFCE; Hyprland and Chromium on Omarchy), /dev/kvm, HTTPS URL for any port | sprite console, sprite exec, one HTTPS URL to port 8080 |
| GPUs | No | Not offered |
| Price | $0.0274 an hour for 4 vCPU / 8 GB, billed per second while running | $0.0385 per CPU-hour and $0.021875 per GB-hour of memory actually used, while awake; storage extra |
| 4 vCPU / 8 GB, all month | $20 | $240 at full use; much less when mostly asleep |
Fly.io Sprites figures are from its own pages, checked on November 12, 2026: fly.io/sprites, fly.io/pricing, docs.fly.io/sprites. The monthly line is 730 hours at list prices with the machine fully used, plan fees and credits not counted. Prices change; tell us if one is out of date. More providers on the pricing page.
When to pick which
Pick Fly.io Sprites if
- Your agent is asleep most of the time: Sprites charges no compute while idle and wakes automatically on a request.
- You already run on Fly.io.
Pick froog if
- Fork and templates: save a snapshot under a name and start many sandboxes from it (
froog fork box@ready try --count 5). - A predictable bill for machines that stay busy: $0.0274 an hour for 4 vCPU / 8 GB, whatever the CPU and memory use. While a Sprite is awake, 2 GB of memory in use alone costs $0.044 an hour.
- More in the box: a browser desktop, Chrome, Docker,
/dev/kvm, HTTPS URLs for any port, and seven coding agents installed.
Try froog in a minute
curl -fsSL https://froog.tech/install | sh
froog login
froog new my-box # ready when SSH works, about a minute
froog exec my-box -- uname -a
froog prompt my-box "write a hello world web server and run it on port 3000"
froog host my-box 3000 # an HTTPS URL for itQuestions
Is froog cheaper than Fly.io Sprites?
For sandboxes that stay busy, yes: a 4 vCPU / 8 GB froog VM is $20 a month, and the same use on Sprites is about $240. Sprites bills only CPU and memory actually used while awake, so a Sprite that sleeps most of the day can cost less.
Can I fork a froog sandbox like a Sprite checkpoint?
Yes, and into many copies. froog takes a snapshot every hour and when you stop; restore one in place, or fork any snapshot into new sandboxes. Saved snapshots work as templates for as many sandboxes as you like.
Do both keep their disk?
Yes. A stopped froog sandbox keeps its disk for 14 days, and saved snapshots are kept until you delete them.
7 days free: 25 hours of running time, 2 sandboxes at once. Then from $0.0137 an hour, billed per second.