Both are open source security options with comparable terms, so the choice comes down to which model of the problem you prefer — compare the descriptions below rather than the licence.
Google's user-space kernel. Intercepts syscalls before they reach the host, without paying for a full VM.
Fast to start, but 10-30% overhead on I/O-heavy work. Good for compute-bound agent code; reach for a microVM if the threat model is serious.
AWS microVMs — a separate Linux kernel per sandbox, booting in about 125ms.
The default answer for running code a model wrote. Under 5 MiB overhead per VM, so per-task disposable sandboxes are affordable.
| gVisor | Firecracker | |
|---|---|---|
| Licence | Open source | Open source |
| Pricing | open source | open source |
| Self-hostable | Yes | Yes |
| Languages | Any language | Any language |
| Install | # runsc — see https://gvisor.dev/docs/user_guide/install/ | — |
| Keys required | None | None |
| Job within the layer | sandbox | sandbox |
Both are open source security options with comparable terms, so the choice comes down to which model of the problem you prefer — compare the descriptions below rather than the licence. gVisor: Google's user-space kernel. Intercepts syscalls before they reach the host, without paying for a full VM. Firecracker: AWS microVMs — a separate Linux kernel per sandbox, booting in about 125ms.
gVisor can run on your own infrastructure. Firecracker can run on your own infrastructure.
gVisor is open source (open source). Firecracker is open source (open source).
Every page here answers to Accept: text/markdown and returns the same content at roughly a tenth the tokens. No separate site, no toggle — same URL.
curl -s -H "Accept: text/markdown" https://newagent.build/compare/gvisor-vs-firecracker