AI · alternatives · 2026
24 alternatives to box
Simple computers for agent w/ full VMs
Below are 24 products that do a similar job, ranked by how close each is in meaning and then by launch-day votes. Prices are shown for the 3 we have checked on their own sites, 3 of them free or with a free tier.
- 1
Buda▲197Run a full AI agent team in the cloud — no hardware, no setup. Persistent memory, browser automation, parallel agents. The OpenClaw alternative built for teams. Start free.
May 2026 · buda.im · its alternatives →
- 2Agent 37▲401
Hey HN, I noticed there are 1,000+ MCP skills on GitHub with zero way for creators to charge for them. So I built Agent37. Selling Claude skills today means asking customers to download your skill, set up Claude Code on their laptops, configure MCP servers, and pray it works. No trial, no updates, often you're just handing over the source. Agent37 lets creators upload a skill, share a link, and anyone can try it instantly (no Claude account needed). Built-in Stripe, creators keep 80%. Looking for feedback on the approach. Would you use something like this?
Mar 2026 · agent37.com · its alternatives →
- 3
Agent Sandboxfree tier, from $0.00025/mo▲97Your agent's personal remote computer and drive
Feb 2026 · agentsandbox.co · its alternatives →
- 4
The stack: two agents on separate boxes. The public one (nullclaw) is a 678 KB Zig binary using ~1 MB RAM, connected to an Ergo IRC server. Visitors talk to it via a gamja web client embedded in my site. The private one (ironclaw) handles email and scheduling, reachable only over Tailscale via Google's A2A protocol. Tiered inference: Haiku 4.5 for conversation (sub-second, cheap), Sonnet 4.6 for tool use (only when needed). Hard cap at $2/day. A2A passthrough: the private-side agent borrows the gateway's own inference pipeline, so there's one API key and one billing relationship…
Mar 2026 · georgelarson.me · its alternatives →
- 5
Sandboxes aren't enough. Give your agent a real computer and get back to building.
2017 · fly.io · its alternatives →
- 6
Give coding agents a disposable Linux VM, not your laptop - clawkwork/clawk
Jul 2026 · github.com · its alternatives →
- 7
Replicas▲239Hey HN! I'm Connor, creator of Replicas. I'm a heavy Codex/Claude Code user, and I wanted to hand off tasks to agents like I would to an engineer - kick something off before work, let it scaffold while I'm at lunch, even come back to a ready PR. The problem: existing alternatives use workspace VMs that are black boxes. I have no access to any of them - they can't run tests, read logs, or use tools like the Playwright MCP (which I use to verify agents actually fixed what they claim to fix). Replicas gives agents real cloud workspaces where they can: - Run your test suite and read the…
Jun 2026 · replicas.dev · its alternatives →
- 8
Boxes.devfree tier, from $19/mo▲112Hi HN, we’re Nick and Drew, and we’re building boxes.dev – the first cloud-only agentic dev environment (ADE) that gives every Codex and Claude Code agent its own cloud computer. We’re two engineers who previously built Gem (co-founder/CTO and first hire), and we spent the last year coding almost exclusively using Codex and Claude Code. It’s been a huge change to how we code, and it’s been exhilarating seeing the models keep getting better – but we eventually realized that developing on localhost was holding us back: - Git worktrees are clunky to set up and use for parallelizing work -…
Jun 2026 · boxes.dev · its alternatives →
- 9
Cloudchipr▲138Cloud costs observability,management and automation platform
Jan 2026 · cloudchipr.com · its alternatives →
- 10
OpenComputerfree tier, from $20/mo▲181The easiest way to deploy a managed agent.
Jul 2026 · opencomputer.dev · its alternatives →
- 11
Spin up secure sandboxes in ~100 ms
Nov 2025 · hopx.ai · its alternatives →
- 12
Give your agent a machine to hack on and pay by the second. Use it for coding agents, kernel development, or inference optimization.
Sep 2026 · tama.computer · its alternatives →
- 13OC
CloudBot gives you a fully configured AI employee with its own cloud computer in one click. Built on OpenClaw. What you get: - Full Ubuntu desktop environment in the cloud - Pre-installed AI agent that sees the screen and controls the computer - 24/7 availability - your AI keeps working while you sleep - Uses your own API keys for AI models - Starting at $69/month The AI can use VS Code, browse the web, run terminal commands, manage files - anything you'd do on a real desktop. I wake up to completed code reviews, finished research reports, and updated documentation. Built this…
Feb 2026 · cloudbot-ai.com · its alternatives →
- 14
- 15
Skip the setup and run OpenClaw & Hermes, fully managed
Aug 2026 · cloudways.com · its alternatives →
- 16
- 17
Hi HN, we built SuperHQ, an open source app that runs AI coding agents in isolated microVM sandboxes instead of directly on your machine. Each agent gets its own VM with a full Debian environment. You mount your projects in, writes go to a tmpfs overlay so your host is never touched, and you get a diff view to accept or discard changes. API keys never enter the sandbox. We also just launched remote.superhq.ai which acts as a remote control for SuperHQ, allowing you to access your workspaces and agents from anywhere.
Apr 2026 · github.com · its alternatives →
- 18
Production Agents in Google Cloud in Minutes
Dec 2025 · github.com · its alternatives →
- 19
- 20
Aether▲26Since coding agents like Claude Code and Codex came out, I've been pretty obsessed with them. It's hard not to when you're getting a 20x discount on inference. I've also been frustrated by them a lot. I hated walking around with my laptop lid open while connected to a hotspot on my phone, having to tediously accept commands so I don't lose my root directory, and running out of RAM when running multiple agents that were spinning up dev servers in different worktrees at once. A lot of people would say existing cloud agents are the solution to this, as none of the above problems apply to any…
Jul 2026 · runaether.dev · its alternatives →
- 21
Three AI agents. One API key. One click Windows launcher.
May 2026 · giganticdadpants.gumroad.com · its alternatives →
- 22
We build the agents so your team doesn't have to.
Jun 2026 · rapidclaw.dev · its alternatives →
- 23
Worknet▲10AI agents that build and run your company autonomously
Jun 2026 · getworknet.ai · its alternatives →
- 24
Hey HN, Chatbots are amazing at conversation. They suck at getting shit done while you’re sleeping, in a meeting, or at the beach. So I built Computer Agents: real AI coworkers that each get their own isolated computer in the cloud. What actually happens when you create one: It boots its own persistent workspace (files, code, memory, everything survives forever) You give it a goal + tools/skills It runs 24/7 on cron, webhooks, or just “keep working until done” You get results via email, Telegram, or just check back whenever No more “remember this for next time.” It literally…
Feb 2026 · computer-agents.com · its alternatives →
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Ranked by how close each launch is in meaning, then by votes. Prices were read from each product’s own site when checked and can change. Refine with your own description →