Cua vs E2B (2026): which should you pick?
As of Nov 13, 2026, Cua grades higher than E2B: 2.2 against 1.8 out of 4.0.
Checked Nov 12, 2026 and Nov 13, 2026 · graded Nov 12, 2026 and Nov 13, 2026 by ToolGPA
Cua grades higher on value for money and the free plan. E2B grades higher on platforms. They get the same grade on features and ease of use.
Price, platforms and features side by side. The table says where each price was read and when.
Cua
Shared desktops on your own computers for you and your AI agents
Which one is for you
Pick Cua if
- Fits if you want to watch and take over what a coding agent does on a computer
- Works for developers who already own or rent the machines to run it on
Look elsewhere if
- Watch out: Cua does not rent computers, so the VMs are billed by your cloud provider
- Skip it if you are not on Apple silicon with macOS 26 and want a Mac Space
- Not for you if you need audit history or SSO today, which are listed as coming soon or not included
- Too light for phones, as there is no mobile app
- Watch out: anonymous usage data is collected by default, per the vendor's FAQ
Pick E2B if
- Fits if you build agents that run code and need an isolated place to run it
- Works for a developer who wants a $100 credit before paying
Look elsewhere if
- Pricey if you move to Pro: $150 a month before any sandbox usage
- Watch out: a default 2 vCPU sandbox is billed at $0.000028 a second and memory separately
- Tight if you scale: 600 or 1,100 concurrent sandboxes add $500 or $1,000 a month
- Not for you if you need a free allowance that renews, as the $100 credit does not
- Skip it if you want a no-code product, as it is used through SDK and API
How we grade them
| 2.2GPACuaFair | 1.8GPAE2BWeak | |
|---|---|---|
| Value for money | B$15 a month billed yearly ($18 monthly) is under the category's cheaper quarter of $19. Your cloud provider bills the VMs on top, because Cua does not rent computers. | DPro is $150 a month plus usage by the second, far above the $52 where the dearest tenth begins. |
| Free plan and trial | BThe free plan has Spaces, Teleport and sharing, for up to 2 computers at once and 20 remote hours a month. No trial, but a person can live on it. | CHobby is a one-time $100 credit with no card, and credits do not renew, so it is a trial and not a free plan. |
| Features | CSpaces, Teleport, shared control and a driver for agents. The listing shows gaps: expiring share links and audit history are coming soon, and SSO and audit export are not included. | CSandboxes, snapshots, pause, bring-your-own-cloud and MCP tools, though Hobby caps sessions at 1 hour and 10 concurrent sandboxes. |
| Ease of use | DNo store rating on record. It is a developer tool with a driver, agent connections and your own machines to set up; Mac Spaces need macOS 26 on Apple silicon. | DNo store rating on record. It is used through the SDK and API, with a console beside it. |
| Platforms and integrations | CMac, Windows (a preview) and Linux only, with Claude Code, Codex, Cursor and Docker connections. Nothing for phones. | BWeb only, with six integrations, Python and JavaScript SDKs and bring-your-own-cloud. |
| Best for | sandboxed computers for AI agents | secure sandboxes for running AI-written code |
The GPA is the average of the five grades: an A is 4 points, an F is none. The full reasons are on each tool's page: Cua and E2B. How we grade
Price against what you get
Cua starts at $15 a month and scores 1.7 out of 4 on features, ease of use and platforms. E2B starts at $150 a month and scores 2.0.
E2B scores higher, and starts $135 a month higher: the question is whether the extra is worth that to you. Of the other AI agents on the chart, 13 score higher than Cua for less, and 73 score higher than E2B for less.
Features, ease of use and platforms, averaged
What paid plans start at, a month (each step along is roughly double) →
- The best score at each price
- Has a free plan
- No free plan
Where they differ
- Cua also covers remote desktop.
At a glance
| Cua | E2B | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free plan | Free trial |
| Starts at | $15 per month, billed annually ($18 billed monthly) | $150 per month, plus per-second sandbox usage |
| Free plan | Free: Spaces on every computer you connect, Teleport, sharing with named people, and the relay for up to 2 computers at once and 20 remote hours a month. | None |
| Free trial | None listed | Free Hobby tier with a one-time $100 usage credit, no credit card required. Credits do not renew. |
| Web | ||
| macOS | ||
| Windows | ||
| Linux | ||
| Made by | Cua AI, Inc. | FoundryLabs, inc. (E2B) |
| Price read from | cua.ai | e2b.dev |
| Checked | Nov 13, 2026 | Nov 12, 2026 |
Worth knowing
Cua
- Cua does not rent computers: Spaces run on machines you own or rent, and your cloud provider bills those VMs.
- Running a Mac Space needs macOS 26 or later on Apple silicon; the Windows app is a preview.
- Share links that expire and 90-day audit history are listed as coming soon, and SSO and audit export as not yet included.
- There is no trial. Anonymous usage data is collected by default, per the vendor's FAQ.
E2B
- Usage is billed separately from the plan: for example a default 2 vCPU sandbox costs $0.000028 per second and 4 GiB of memory $0.000018 per second.
- The free Hobby tier is a one-time $100 credit, not a renewing allowance, and caps sessions at 1 hour and 10 concurrent sandboxes.
- Going from 100 to 600 or 1,100 concurrent sandboxes adds $500 or $1,000 a month on top of Pro.
- It is infrastructure for developers: there is a web console but the product is used through the SDK and API.
Key features
Cua
- Spaces
- A Space is a full desktop, a virtual machine or container, that agents can use and people can watch, running on your Mac, your own computers or your own cloud.
- Teleport
- Packs an app's session (open tabs, profile, sign-ins) into a bundle and moves it into a Space after the user approves it on a consent screen.
- Shared control
- Share a Space with named people as viewer or editor. Each person and each agent gets its own cursor, so someone can step in and hand the desktop back.
- Cua Driver
- An MIT-licensed driver that lets an agent operate native apps on macOS, Windows and Linux without taking over the user's cursor or keyboard.
- Agent connections
- Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, Gemini CLI, Cline, Kiro and OpenClaw connect through the Cua MCP server.
E2B
- Isolated sandbox per session
- Each agent session gets its own microVM with a shell, filesystem, network and an optional browser or desktop.
- Snapshots and pause
- Sandboxes start from a snapshot, and a sandbox can be paused and resumed from the same state.
- Python and JavaScript SDKs
- The sandbox is created and controlled from code with the e2b package for Python or npm.
- Bring your own cloud
- The same SDK works on E2B Cloud in the US, EU and APAC or inside your own AWS, GCP or Azure account.
- MCP tools inside the sandbox
- The site says more than 200 MCP servers can be called from inside a sandbox, and secrets are scoped per sandbox.
- Per-second usage billing
- Running sandboxes are charged by the second for vCPUs and memory, so cost follows run time and size.
Plans
Cua
Free$0
No account needed to start. Up to 2 computers in use at once and 20 remote hours a month through the relay.
Pro$15
per month, billed annually ($18 billed monthly)
For one person: up to 5 computers in use at once and 200 remote hours a month. Billed $180 a year.
Teams$25
per seat / month, billed annually ($30 billed monthly)
1 to 100 seats. Each seat adds 5 computers at once and 200 remote hours to a shared pool, plus shared team computers, roles and device approval.
E2B
Hobby$0
One-time $100 usage credit, sessions up to 1 hour, 10 concurrent sandboxes and the default sandbox CPU and RAM. Usage is charged against the credit.
Pro$150
per month, plus usage billed by the second
Sessions up to 24 hours, 100 concurrent sandboxes (expandable to 1,100 with add-ons at +$500 and +$1,000 a month) and custom sandbox CPU and RAM.
EnterpriseCustom
Committed usage, custom billing, multi-day sessions, bring-your-own-cloud. The page says it starts at a $2,000 monthly commit.
Ways to pay less
Cua
- Annual discount
Two months free on yearly billing
Pro is $180 a year ($15 a month) against $18 a month; Teams is $300 per seat a year against $30 per seat a month.
E2B
- Startups
$20,000 in credits and Pro for early-stage startups
A one-time $20,000 in credits plus the Pro tier for startups under three years old that have raised less than $5M.
Common questions
Which is cheaper, Cua or E2B?
As of Nov 13, 2026, Cua is cheaper to start with: $15 a month, against $150 a month for E2B. Cua starts at $15 per month, billed annually ($18 billed monthly), and E2B starts at $150 per month, plus per-second sandbox usage.
Which has a free plan, Cua or E2B?
As of Nov 13, 2026, only Cua has a free plan. E2B does not, though it has a free trial.
Which platforms do Cua and E2B run on?
As of Nov 13, 2026, only Cua lists macOS, Windows and Linux apps and only E2B lists a web app. A platform missing from a listing is one its maker's pages did not mention.
More comparisons
How this page was made
- The verdict at the top follows a fixed rule. When both tools are in the same category and either is in our top three for it, the verdict follows that ranking: the higher-placed tool is our pick. The top three weigh who each tool suits as well as its grades, so a pick can go against the GPA. Otherwise the page does not pick one and says which grades higher: the higher GPA first; on a tie, the one with a free plan, then the one that starts cheaper in dollars a month, counted the same way for both; if they are still level, what the choice depends on.
- The grades are our own, from each tool’s review or report card. The GPA is their average.
- Prices, plans and platforms come from each tool’s listing. The table above says where each price was read and when.
- The differences and the answers to the questions are worked out from those listings.