Best Cloud Sandboxes for Claude Code and Codex Agents (2026), Compared

The best cloud sandbox for coding agents depends on who runs the agent. Claude Code cloud sessions are the default if you only use Claude, because the cloud VM costs nothing extra on a Claude plan. Northflank Cloud Harnesses run agents inside your own AWS, GCP, Azure, Oracle or CoreWeave account, with a microVM per agent. Conductor Cloud shares live workspaces with teammates. GitHub Codespaces gives personal accounts a free monthly quota. Coder self-hosts on infrastructure you already run. CloudCLI is a cheap hosted box from €7 a month. Ona is for large companies standardizing on Codex. Cloudroom runs Claude Code, Codex, Pi Agent and OpenCode from one desktop app, on your Mac or in the cloud, with cloud agents on the free plan.

TL;DR

• Best for one desktop app that runs Claude Code, Codex, Pi Agent and OpenCode on your Mac or in the cloud, with cloud agents on the free plan: Cloudroom.
• Best for Claude-only users: Claude Code cloud sessions.
• Best for running agents inside your own AWS, GCP, Azure, Oracle or CoreWeave account, self-serve, with a microVM per agent: Northflank Cloud Harnesses.
• Best for cloud workspaces you share live with teammates: Conductor Cloud.
• Best for a free monthly quota on a personal GitHub account: GitHub Codespaces.
• Best for self-hosting on infrastructure you already run: Coder.
• Best for a cheap hosted environment you open from a phone or browser: CloudCLI.
• Best for large companies standardizing on Codex: Ona.

Why run coding agents in a cloud sandbox

A cloud sandbox keeps your agent working after you close the laptop. The agent cannot break your computer, so you can let it run without approving every command. Each task gets its own clean environment, so a long refactor does not leak into your main checkout.

Sandbox, cloud environment or hosted agent

A cloud environment is a machine in the cloud where you run Claude Code or Codex yourself, and that is what this list covers. A sandbox API is a service developers call from their own code to build agent products, such as E2B and Daytona. A hosted agent is the vendor's own agent running for you, such as Codex cloud, Devin or Jules. Our cloud coding agents compared post covers those.

How I picked them

I tested Conductor Cloud myself. The other tools on this list come from their docs, pricing pages and repos, checked on October 20, 2026.

Cloud sandboxes compared

Last checked October 20, 2026, on each vendor's own site, docs or repository.

1. Cloudroom: best for one desktop app that runs Claude Code, Codex, Pi Agent and OpenCode on your Mac or in the cloud

Best for: one desktop app that runs Claude Code, Codex, Pi Agent and OpenCode on your Mac or in the cloud, with cloud agents on the free plan.

Cloudroom is an open-source desktop app for coding agents on macOS and Linux. Local threads run 9 harnesses, Cursor included. Cloud threads run Claude Code, Codex, Pi Agent, OpenCode, fx and Hermes, each in its own Linux sandbox and Git branch, on your own account with no token billing.

Teleport moves a Claude Code, Codex, Pi Agent or OpenCode thread between your Mac and the cloud. You can start a thread on your laptop, send it to the cloud, and close the lid.

It ranks first because it is the only tool here that runs those agents from one desktop app, with cloud agents on a free plan. Conductor Cloud needs Pro at $50 a month and does not run Pi Agent. Claude Code cloud sessions run Claude only, and Northflank, Codespaces, Coder, CloudCLI and Ona ship no local desktop app.

The free plan gives you 100 cloud agents and 25 hours of cloud compute every 30 days, plus unlimited local agents. Pro is $50 a month. The honest con is that several people cannot work inside the same thread today, and there is no Windows app.

2. Claude Code cloud sessions: best for Claude-only users

Best for: Claude-only users. The cloud VM costs nothing extra on a Claude plan, and you can start a session from the browser, the phone, the desktop app or the terminal.

A cloud session is a Claude Code session on Anthropic's infrastructure, or on an organization's self-hosted environment. It keeps running after you close your laptop. You can start a session at claude.ai/code, in the Code tab of the Claude mobile app, in the desktop app, or with claude --cloud in the terminal. Teleport pulls a cloud session back into your terminal. Bypass permissions mode is not available in cloud sessions.

It is available on Pro, Max and Team plans. Pro is $20 a month. The cloud VM costs nothing extra on top of your plan's usage limits.

The genuine pro is that it needs no extra subscription for Claude-only users. It is the wrong pick if you also want Codex or another harness, because it runs Claude models only.

3. Northflank Cloud Harnesses: best for running agents inside your own cloud account

Best for: running agents inside your own AWS, GCP, Azure, Oracle or CoreWeave account, self-serve, with a microVM per agent.

A Harness is an isolated cloud environment for a coding agent. It runs Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, OpenCode, Pi or your own agent in its own microVM by default. You work in a Harness through a web terminal, over SSH with the Northflank CLI, or from VS Code or Cursor over SSH. Files persist across pauses, and pausing stops compute billing. Team Harnesses let teammates share an environment at the same time.

Pricing is billed per second. CPU is $0.01667 per vCPU per hour. Northflank publishes its own list of best cloud environments and ranks itself first.

The genuine pro is compute inside an account you control. It is the wrong pick if you want a local desktop app, or a flat monthly price instead of billing per second.

4. Conductor Cloud: best for cloud workspaces you share live with teammates

Best for: cloud workspaces you share live with teammates.

Conductor is a proprietary Mac app that runs Claude Code, Codex, Cursor and OpenCode. You bring your own subscriptions and keys in the cloud too. Cloud workspaces support GitHub repositories only.

Cloud workspaces need Pro at $50 a month or Teams at $60 per user a month. There is no extra cloud compute fee today. I bought Pro on October 3, 2026. A cloud workspace loaded in about 3 to 4 seconds. Local model preferences did not carry over to the cloud. My full take is in the Conductor review.

Multiplayer is the genuine pro. It is the wrong pick if you do not use a Mac, or if you want Pi Agent, which Conductor does not run.

5. GitHub Codespaces: best for a free monthly quota on a personal GitHub account

Best for: a free monthly quota on a personal GitHub account.

Codespaces are cloud development environments for GitHub repositories. Each runs in its own VM and is built from a dev container. You open them in the browser or over SSH with the GitHub CLI. Claude Code or Codex installs like any other CLI tool.

Compute costs $0.18 an hour for 2 cores. It costs $0.36 an hour for 4 cores. An 8-core machine costs $0.72 an hour. A personal GitHub Free account gets 120 core hours a month, which is 60 hours on a 2-core machine. GitHub Pro gets 180 core hours. The idle timeout is 30 minutes by default, and you can change it. Every codespace stops after 12 hours at most, so a single run cannot go overnight.

The genuine pro is the free monthly quota. It is the wrong pick for agent runs longer than 12 hours.

6. Coder: best for self-hosting on infrastructure you already run

Best for: self-hosting on infrastructure you already run.

Coder is an open-source platform for self-hosted cloud development environments, defined as Terraform templates, on infrastructure you operate. It runs Claude Code, Codex, Cursor and other agents inside workspaces, and it is AGPL-3.0.

The Community edition is free. Premium is priced per user per year and unlocks Coder Agents, Coder's own agent. You pay for the infrastructure the workspaces run on.

The genuine pro is that the platform stays under your control, open source, on hardware you already have. It is the wrong pick if you do not want to operate a platform or write Terraform templates.

7. CloudCLI: best for a cheap hosted environment you open from a phone or browser

Best for: a cheap hosted environment you open from a phone or browser.

CloudCLI offers hosted cloud environments plus an open-source web and mobile UI under AGPL-3.0. It runs Claude Code, Cursor CLI, Codex, Gemini CLI and OpenCode. Direct SSH access lets you continue in VS Code or Cursor.

Hobby is €7 a month for 1 environment with 2 CPU cores and 4 GB of RAM. Team is €39 a month for 5 environments and 5 members.

The genuine pro is the low starting price. It is the wrong pick if you want a native desktop app or compute inside your own cloud account.

8. Ona: best for large companies standardizing on Codex

Best for: large companies standardizing on Codex.

Ona, formerly Gitpod, runs Ona's own agent, Codex and other agents in the cloud for enterprises. It adds policies, permissions and network controls. It runs in Ona's cloud or your own VPC. OpenAI announced on June 11, 2026 that it will acquire Ona to give Codex persistent cloud environments.

Ona's site says "Ona is now part of OpenAI". Pricing is contact sales only.

The genuine pro is enterprise control over agents, from a company that is now part of OpenAI. It is the wrong pick if you want a self-serve price you can start today.

Sandbox APIs for builders

E2B gives you Firecracker microVM sandboxes controlled through SDKs. Hobby is free with a one-time $100 usage credit and Pro is $150 a month plus usage. Hobby sessions last up to 1 hour, and Pro sessions up to 24 hours.

Daytona provides sandboxes for AI-generated code, with $200 in free compute and up to $50,000 in credits for startups.

Modal bills per second for CPUs and GPUs, and Starter includes $30 a month in free credits.

Vercel Sandbox gives Hobby 5 active CPU hours a month, and Pro pays $0.128 per active CPU hour.

Which one fits you

• If you want one desktop app for Claude Code, Codex, Pi Agent and OpenCode, with free cloud agents, use Cloudroom.
• If you only use Claude, use Claude Code cloud sessions.
• If you want agents inside your own AWS, GCP, Azure, Oracle or CoreWeave account, use Northflank Cloud Harnesses.
• If you want to share live cloud workspaces with teammates, use Conductor Cloud.
• If you want a free monthly quota on a personal GitHub account, use GitHub Codespaces.
• If you want to self-host on infrastructure you already run, use Coder.
• If you want a cheap hosted box you open from a phone or browser, use CloudCLI.
• If you are a large company standardizing on Codex, use Ona.

The short version

Cloudroom ranks first because it runs Claude Code, Codex, Pi Agent and OpenCode from one desktop app, locally or in the cloud, with cloud agents on the free plan. Claude Code cloud sessions stay the default for Claude-only users.

I work at Cloudroom, so weigh that as you read.

You can create a free Cloudroom account, read how to keep Claude Code running with the laptop closed, see cloud coding agents compared, or read the best Claude Code GUI.