Blaxel
Last verified 2026-07-26
Blaxel's play is idle economics: ~25ms resume from hibernation, zero compute cost while a sandbox is paused, and full memory/process state preserved on wake. Tiered XS to XL sizing. An official OpenAI Agents SDK provider.
Key specs
| Isolation | microVM |
| Cold start | 25ms |
| Price / vCPU-hr | $0.083 |
| Pricing model | Tiered + usage |
| GPU | No |
| Session limit | Persistent (hibernation) |
| Persistence | Hibernate/resume with memory + processes |
| Languages | Python, JavaScript/TypeScript |
| MCP support | Yes |
| Integrations | OpenAI Agents SDK |
| Deployment | Managed cloud |
| Free tier | Free tier |
| Resume time | ~25ms |
| Tier range | $0.083 to $1.32/hr |
Strengths
- ~25ms resume
- $0 idle compute
- State preserved on wake
Trade-offs
- Smaller ecosystem
- Newer entrant
Best for: Bursty agent workloads where idle cost dominates the bill.
How Blaxel works
Blaxel runs sandboxes as microVMs and builds everything around hibernation. When a sandbox goes idle it pauses, and a wake takes about 25ms with memory and running processes intact, so an agent picks up exactly where it left off. Compute costs nothing while paused. Sizing runs in tiers from XS to XL, it speaks Python and JavaScript or TypeScript, supports MCP, and is an official OpenAI Agents SDK provider. The design fits bursty agent work that sits idle between bursts, where the idle bill would otherwise dominate.
Pricing in practice & watch-outs
The economics only pay off if your workload is genuinely bursty. Blaxel charges nothing for compute while a sandbox hibernates, so if agents spend most of their time waiting, the idle savings are real. Run them flat out and you are back to paying by the tier, which ranges from $0.083 to $1.32 per vCPU-hour depending on size. Two caveats worth weighing: this is a newer entrant with a smaller ecosystem than the established options, so expect fewer integrations and less community material. If your sandboxes rarely idle, the headline pitch does less for you.
Head-to-head
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