K8E vs Other Sandbox Platforms
How K8E compares to mainstream sandboxes for AI agents:
| K8E đ | E2B | Daytona | agent-sandbox (k8s-sig) | DIY gVisor/Firecracker | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Self-hosted, single binary | â <100MB | â ī¸ Heavy (per-env VM images) | â | â needs a K8s cluster | â you build it |
| Isolation runtimes | â gVisor / Kata / Firecracker â pluggable | Firecracker microVMs | â microVM/containers | K8s RuntimeClass (gVisor/Kata/âĻ) | one runtime |
| E2B SDK compatibility | â native (official SDKs unmodified) | â native | â own API | â | â build your own API |
| Agent CLI + skill surface | â
k8e-sandbox-cli (+ dsh plugin tools) | SDK only | CLI + SDK | CRDs only | â |
| Warm pool (sub-500ms claims) | â built-in, adaptive sizing | â managed | â ī¸ | â ī¸ manual scaling | â roll your own |
| Expose agent services via gateway URL | â
expose + live allow-hosts egress policy | â hosted URLs | â ī¸ | â roll your own Ingress | â |
| Content-addressed snapshots | â incremental restore + registry | â hosted | â ī¸ | â | â |
| Per-session network policy (eBPF) | â Cilium, live-configurable | managed (fixed) | â ī¸ | â ī¸ NetworkPolicy | hand-written |
| PTY terminals for agents | â
first-class (spawnTerminal) | â | â | â | â |
| License | Apache 2.0 | Apache 2.0 (hosted core paid) | Apache 2.0 | Apache 2.0 | â |
When to choose K8E
- You want E2B-style sandboxes but self-hosted â same official SDKs, your infrastructure, no per-seat pricing.
- Your agents need a rich tool surface beyond "run code": PTY terminals, snapshots, service exposure, and live egress policy â all through one audited gateway.
- You want pluggable isolation (swap gVisor â Kata â Firecracker per session) instead of being locked to one microVM stack.
- You need air-gapped / on-prem deployment â everything ships in one binary, no external control plane.