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Daytona vs RunsOn
Daytona creates dev environments on any infra, focusing on development rather than CI job execution.
DaytonaSet up a development environment on any infrastructure, with a single command.
RunsOnShockingly cheaper CIWhich to pick
Pick Daytona if you want…
- Self-hosted sandbox environments
- On-demand dev environments
- A free, open-source tool
- Integrations with Python, TypeScript or Ruby (on Daytona's list, not RunsOn's)
Pick RunsOn if you want…
- Cheap, scalable CI on AWS
- Integrations with GitHub Actions, CloudFormation or Terraform (on RunsOn's list, not Daytona's)
Side by side
- What it is
- Daytona:Daytona is an open-source dev environment manager that creates secure, elastic sandboxes for code and AI agent execution.
- RunsOn:RunsOn runs GitHub Actions jobs on on-demand AWS EC2 instances, cutting CI cost and latency.
- Best for
- Daytona:Self-hosted sandbox environments
- RunsOn:Cheap, scalable CI on AWS
- Who it’s for
- Daytona:Developers and teams needing isolated, reproducible environments for any infrastructure.
- RunsOn:Engineering teams that self-host CI on AWS and use GitHub Actions.
- Pricing
- Daytona:Open source
- RunsOn:Paid
- Plans
- Daytona:—
- RunsOn:Starter €300/ year per year · Enterprise €3,600/ year per year · Free (non-commercial) free
- Open source
- Daytona:Yes, 71,707 GitHub stars
- RunsOn:Yes, 1,339 GitHub stars
- Works with
- Daytona:Python, TypeScript, Ruby, Go, Java
- RunsOn:GitHub Actions, CloudFormation, Terraform
Daytona features
- Sandboxes. Isolated full composable computers that spin up in under 90 ms and retain state.
- Agent tools. Programmatic APIs and SDKs for code execution, filesystem ops, and lifecycle management.
- Human tools. Dashboard, web terminal, SSH and VNC access for interactive sessions.
- Platform controls. Governance, API keys, audit logs and OpenTelemetry for organizations.
- System tools. Hooks, webhooks and network limits for custom lifecycle events.
- Multi-language SDKs. Client libraries for Python, TypeScript, Ruby, Go and Java.
RunsOn features
- Dynamic instance selection. Specify CPU, RAM, architecture or GPU in a label and RunsOn launches the matching EC2 spot or on-demand instance.
- Fast job startup. Typical 30 s from queued to running; warm pools can reduce latency to under 6 s.
- Unlimited machine types. Any EC2 instance type, including x64, ARM64 and GPU, can be used per job.
- S3-backed caching. Add extras=s3-cache to use an unlimited S3 bucket in your VPC for cache storage.
- Nested virtualization. KVM for Linux and Hyper-V for Windows enable Android emulators, VM-based e2e tests and Windows containers.
- Per-job isolation. Each job runs on a fresh VM that is terminated when the job finishes, keeping data private.
Daytona vs RunsOn FAQ
Is Daytona or RunsOn free?+
Daytona is free and open source. RunsOn has a free plan (Free (non-commercial)) and paid plans.
Is Daytona or RunsOn open source?+
Yes, both are open source: Daytona (daytonaio/daytona on GitHub) and RunsOn (runs-on/runs-on on GitHub, MIT license).
Do Daytona and RunsOn integrate with the same tools?+
Their integration lists don't overlap: Daytona lists Python, TypeScript, Ruby, Go and 1 more; RunsOn lists GitHub Actions, CloudFormation and Terraform.
On DevHunt
Based on each tool's website and DevHunt data. Details may change; check the official sites.