Context Agent Sandboxes

Overview

Context Agent Sandboxes gives organizations a way to run AI-agent tasks in isolated environments on their own cluster. It suits teams that need to govern access to company data and destinations; the strongest reason to choose it is its combination of permission controls and audit records, while short-lived sandboxes rule it out for workflows that need persistent files.

Key features

Each task starts in a fresh sandbox, which is destroyed after its idle window—30 minutes by default. That clean slate limits what can carry between tasks, but persistent storage is not available, so teams must arrange for needed files and outputs to pass through the supported gateway steps.

Sandboxes run as non-root container pods with capabilities dropped, a seccomp profile, and no cluster service-account token. Administrators can select open, domain-allowlist, or workspace-only network access, with allowlist decisions logged. The supervised preset requires human approval for commands and pauses connections outside the allowlist for a decision. That provides useful oversight, though approval requirements add friction to agent workflows.

Drive is not mounted in the sandbox. Files are fetched through a permission-checking gateway, and outputs must be pushed explicitly. Standing secrets are kept out of the sandbox; credentials are injected at the edge after authorization. An append-only audit log records commands, files, connections, and permission decisions, including the actor and decision maker. These controls favor deliberate, reviewable work over unrestricted file and network access.

Context lists more than 180 integrations across data, documents, communication, CRM, ITSM, finance, and identity, as well as remote MCP servers. It states that it holds SOC 2 and ISO 27001 certifications and provides reports on request. Basic support through standard channels during business hours is included in every agreement; Enterprise support is set per order.

Pricing

The Free plan costs nothing and includes sandboxes for one agent at a time. It is a useful starting point, but its single-agent cap limits concurrent work.

Plus costs $20 a month, billed per person per month, and allows three agents at a time; sandbox time is not metered. It fits a person who needs more concurrent agents without a sandbox-time charge.

Pro costs $200 a month, billed per month, and allows 10 agents at a time, with 25,000 monthly credits for model usage and unmetered sandbox time. It is the more suitable paid tier for higher concurrency and included model credits, though the price is a substantial step up from Plus.

Enterprise has custom pricing and includes a custom enterprise deployment running in your own cloud. Enterprise customers pay their cloud provider for compute, unlike Context-plan sandbox time, which is not metered. Teams considering this option should weigh their cloud compute costs and confirm support terms set per order.

Platforms

Context Agent Sandboxes supports Linux, macOS, Windows, web, and self-hosted use. Enterprise sandboxes run on the customer's Kubernetes cluster and can be installed through KOTS on EKS or AKS, including with an air-gapped bundle. API or CLI access is available.

Who it's for

This is a strong fit for organizations that want agent tasks separated on their cluster and need to control network access, mediate file access, and retain an audit trail. It is a weaker fit for teams that need persistent sandbox storage, unrestricted agent access, or a high number of concurrent agents on the free tier.

Pros and cons

• Pros: Per-task fresh sandboxes and non-root container isolation reduce carryover between tasks and limit the sandbox's privileges.
• Pros: Network choices, human approvals, gateway-mediated files, and edge-injected credentials give administrators several ways to govern agent access.
• Pros: The append-only audit log records actions and permission decisions with the people involved, supporting review of agent activity.
• Cons: No persistent storage means sandbox files do not remain available as durable task state.
• Cons: The free plan permits only one agent at a time, and Enterprise pricing is custom, making the cost of higher-scale deployment less predictable.
• Cons: Explicit file transfers and supervised approvals can slow workflows that need frequent data exchange or unattended execution.

Alternatives

For a different sandbox approach, ANY.RUN has a free Community plan with supported Windows, Android, and Ubuntu environments and also offers a free trial. Choose it when those environments are the priority.

Daytona offers a free tier and pay-as-you-go pricing with 5 GiB of storage free before storage charges. It may suit readers whose first concern is a storage allowance rather than Context's task-isolation controls.

Docker Desktop has a free Personal plan that includes Docker Desktop, Docker Engine and Kubernetes, Docker Hub, Docker Scout, and Docker Debug; its Pro plan costs $9 a month. Consider it when those Docker tools are the better match.

Northflank offers a free Sandbox plan with two free services, one free database, two free cron jobs, and always-on compute. It is worth considering when those free resources are more relevant to the workload.

Anthropic Sandbox Runtime is a free alternative for Linux, macOS, Windows, and self-hosted use.

microsandbox has a free monthly plan with 5 vCPU-hours, 20 memory GiB-hours, 20 disk GiB-hours, and up to three sandboxes, each capped at 1 vCPU and 512 MiB of memory. Its stated resource allowances make it a more concrete option for small, quota-bounded workloads.

CAPE Sandbox is a free, open-source self-hosted project with an online demonstration instance.

crun is a free OCI container runtime for Linux and self-hosted use.

Browse more options in Sandbox Software.

Verdict

Choose Context Agent Sandboxes if your organization needs per-task isolation, controlled access to files and credentials, and an audit trail, especially for deployment on its own Kubernetes cluster. The main trade-off is the absence of persistent storage, alongside plan-based concurrency limits and custom Enterprise pricing. Teams that need durable sandbox state or want broader free-tier capacity should compare alternatives before committing.