Kubi vs E2B

Both give an agent its own Linux machine with a desktop. E2B is built for many short jobs that pause with their memory and wake on the next request; Kubi is built for a desktop an agent keeps for weeks, and costs far less to leave on.

Checked 2026-11-12Prices in USD before tax unless markedEvery row links to its source

Where Kubi stands out

Three differences that decide most choices between Kubi and E2B.

A month left on for $20, not $392

A 4 vCPU, 8 GB sandbox on E2B costs $0.33 an hour, and running one past 24 hours needs the $150 Pro plan: $391.78 for a month. A persistent Kubi screen of the same size is $20 at the founding price.

No session cap

E2B stops a run after 1 hour on Hobby and 24 hours on Pro unless your code pauses and resumes it. A Kubi screen has no timeout and no idle shutdown; it runs until you stop it.

A person can take over

E2B streams its desktop over VNC. Kubi adds Take control: a person presses one button, and the agent's calls get a clear 409 until they hand it back.

The two products

Kubi

Kubi rents Linux desktops to AI agents. Each screen is its own virtual machine with 4 vCPU, 8 GB of memory and a 50 GB disk, Debian with a GNOME desktop and two browsers. An agent sees the screen, clicks, types, runs commands and moves files through one API, a TypeScript SDK or a hosted MCP server. A person watches live and takes control with one click. A persistent screen runs until you stop it, at one address with its disk kept, for $20 a month at the founding price. A disposable one runs by the minute for $0.035 an hour.

E2B

E2B calls itself the AI agent cloud: an API that gives each agent session an isolated Linux machine. Every sandbox is a Firecracker microVM started from a snapshot, so it starts fast and can pause and resume with its memory. E2B Desktop adds an Ubuntu 22.04 desktop with XFCE, VNC streaming and an SDK for clicks, typing and screenshots. Its runtime is open source, and Enterprise runs it in your own cloud.

Side by side

What each offers for a 4 vCPU, 8 GB machine, from E2B's own pages on 2026-11-12.

	Kubi	E2B
Machine	4 vCPU, 8 GB, 50 GB disk, its own VM	1 to 8 vCPU, 1 to 8 GiB; 20 GiB disk on Pro
Left on a month, 4 / 8	$20 founding, $25 list, running or stopped	$391.78 with Pro ($150 + 730 h at $0.33)
By the hour, 4 / 8	$0.035 an hour by the minute; $0.003 stopped	$0.33 an hour by the second; paused free
How long it runs	Runs until you stop it; no idle shutdown	Up to 1 h (Hobby) or 24 h (Pro) per run; 5 min default timeout
Pause with memory	Stop keeps the disk; no memory pause yet	Pause keeps memory and files, kept indefinitely
Desktop	GNOME desktop, Chromium and Firefox	Ubuntu 22.04 with XFCE, VNC stream
Computer-use API	Screenshot, act, exec and files over one API	Desktop SDK: click, type, scroll, screenshot
Take control	Live view and Take control; agent calls wait	VNC stream; no lock between person and agent
History	Every call with its screenshot, 30 daysAt launch	Not published
Templates	5 templates and 3 snapshots a screen included	Templates from a Docker image; snapshots in code
Region	EuropeAt launch	US by default; EU cluster through support
Free start	$5 of credit once, with a card	$100 of credit once, no card

At launch: built and tested on Kubi's lab, and promised once the production servers run.

What it costs

Four common jobs, each priced from the public price lists with the cheapest plan that runs it.

Job	Kubi, a month	E2B, a month
One agent that never stops4 vCPU, 8 GB, running all month	$20	$391.78Pro, with a pause and resume every 24 h
One agent on workdays8 hours a day, 22 days, files kept	$20Persistent; disposable would be $7.82	$208.29Pro, since a run is longer than 1 h
Evals and short runs100 runs of 30 minutes a month	$1.75Disposable, by the minute	$16.56Hobby; the $100 credit covers months
Ten agents, always on10 machines of 4 / 8 all month	$200	$2,567.76Pro

Kubi. Persistent screens are $20 a month each at the founding price ($25 list), running or stopped. Disposable screens are $0.035 an hour while running, charged by the minute, and $0.003 an hour stopped: 176 hours running and 554 stopped is $6.16 + $1.66 = $7.82; 50 hours is $1.75.

E2B. E2B bills $0.000014 per vCPU-second and $0.0000045 per GiB-second while a sandbox runs, so 4 vCPU and 8 GiB is $0.3312 an hour; disk is free and a paused sandbox costs nothing. A run longer than 1 hour needs Pro at $150 a month: 730 hours is $150 + $241.78; 176 hours is $150 + $58.29. Fifty hours of one-hour runs fit Hobby at $16.56.

Limits to know

E2B Pro caps one run at 24 hours; an always-on agent has to pause and resume at least once a day, and its code sets that up.
E2B's default timeout is 5 minutes and the default on timeout is kill, so a sandbox created with defaults is gone after 5 minutes.
E2B Pro includes 20 GiB of disk; more is not self-serve. A Kubi screen has 50 GB.
Kubi has no memory pause yet: a stopped screen keeps its disk and boots again on start. Kubi runs Linux only, with no GPU.

Which one should you use?

Use E2B when

your agents run many short jobs that sleep between requests, or you need the US, open source or your own cloud.

Memory pause and wake on request
A paused sandbox keeps its memory, costs nothing, and resumes in about a second on the next call.
Open source and your own cloud
Its runtime is open source, and E2B Enterprise runs in your infrastructure.
A free start
Hobby costs $0 with $100 of one-time credit and no card.

Use Kubi when

your agent lives on one desktop for days or weeks, and a person needs to watch it and step in.

Left on for $20 a month
One flat price per screen, running or stopped, at one address with its disk kept.
Take control
Watch live and take the mouse with one click; the agent's calls wait until you hand it back.
Built for computer use
Screenshots, clicks and typing are the API, with a hosted MCP server for Claude Code, claude.ai and ChatGPT.

Questions people ask

Is Kubi cheaper than E2B?

For a machine left on, yes: a 4 vCPU, 8 GB screen is $20 a month on Kubi at the founding price, and $391.78 on E2B Pro. For short runs Kubi's disposable screens cost $0.035 an hour against E2B's $0.33. E2B can cost less when sandboxes stay paused most of the time, and its $100 one-time credit covers small use.

Can an E2B sandbox run for a month?

Not in one run. E2B caps continuous runtime at 1 hour on Hobby and 24 hours on Pro. Pausing and resuming resets the clock and keeps memory, so a long-lived agent pauses at least once a day. A Kubi screen has no cap.

Does E2B have a desktop for computer use?

Yes. E2B Desktop is an Ubuntu 22.04 sandbox with XFCE and VNC streaming, driven through its Desktop SDK. Kubi's screens run GNOME with Chromium and Firefox, and add a hosted MCP server and Take control.

Can I pause a Kubi screen with its memory like E2B?

Not yet. Stopping a Kubi screen keeps its disk, and start boots it again. A persistent screen is usually left running, which costs the same as stopped.