HEAD-TO-HEAD · PRICES VERIFIED 2026-08-27
Self-host Firecracker (Hetzner) vs Northflank
Across 3 benchmark profiles, Northflank prices lower in 2 of 3 — by up to ~98% where the gap is widest. Both rows use identical workload inputs and USD list rates from the capture-dated catalog; verify current rates via each vendor's source link.
Monthly Cost Across Realistic Benchmarks
Rate Card Snapshot
| Vendor | $/vCPU-hr | $/GiB-hr | Billing granularity | Concurrency note |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Self-host Firecracker (Hetzner) | — | incl. | — | Bounded only by host capacity — the point of self-hosting. |
| Northflank | $0.0167 | $0.0083 | per-second | No hard concurrency cap published; predefined plans from 0.1 shared vCPU / 256 MB to dedicated GPU tiers, custom plans available. |
Fit Notes
- Self-host Firecracker (Hetzner) — Skip if usage is bursty or spiky — the host bills 24/7 whether sandboxes run or not; below roughly half utilization the managed providers win on total cost and you still own the pager.
- Northflank — Skip if you need agent-native session semantics (snapshot/pause-resume) — Northflank is general container platform pricing applied to long-running services and jobs, not a purpose-built agent sandbox SDK.
Self-host Firecracker (Hetzner)
StrengthsNorthflank
StrengthsRun your own workload through the full interactive calculator, or browse all pairs on the comparisons hub.
Frequently Asked Questions
Which is cheaper, Self-host Firecracker (Hetzner) or Northflank?
Across 3 benchmark profiles, Northflank prices lower in 2 of 3 — by up to ~98% where the gap is widest. Both rows use identical workload inputs and USD list rates from the capture-dated catalog; verify current rates via each vendor's source link.
How were these Self-host Firecracker (Hetzner) vs Northflank costs computed?
Both vendors run identical workload profiles (sandbox-hours × vCPU/RAM) through the same engine using each vendor's captured USD list rates; the full methodology is on the agent-sandbox-pricing tool page.