E2B
E2B gives AI agents isolated sandboxes on Firecracker microVMs with fast startup, several languages, and self-hosted or bring-your-own-cloud deployment. Sessions are capped at 24 hours, and it is aimed mainly at enterprise use.
Alternatives / Modal
2 open-source alternatives
2 Best Open Source Modal Alternatives in 2026
Looking for an open source Modal alternative? We compared 2 open source platforms for running AI-generated code by license, isolation, and deployment. E2B is a sandbox runtime, and Beam is a broader GPU compute platform.
Written by Maxime DERAME
Last updated:
Best Modal alternatives at a glance
| Alternative | Best for | License |
|---|---|---|
| E2B | Firecracker sandboxes for agents | Apache-2.0 |
| Beam | GPU workloads and sandboxes | AGPL-3.0 |
How we chose these Modal alternatives
We looked for open-source tools that run code and GPU workloads on demand like Modal. We verified each project's license, recent activity, stars, and self-hosting in its repository. We left out OpenComputer because we could not match its repository to the product described. See our methodology for the full criteria.
Beam
Beam is a GPU compute platform for inference, task queues, and sandboxes, defined in Python, with memory snapshots that restore GPU containers quickly and the option to run on your own cloud accounts. It is broader than a pure sandbox tool.
License details
E2B is Apache-2.0. Beam is AGPL-3.0.
Maintenance status
Both had commits within days of this update.
Why look for a Modal alternative?
Modal is a proprietary serverless platform billed by compute time, so your code and data run on its infrastructure. Open-source alternatives can run in your own cloud, but they cover only parts of Modal, such as sandboxes or GPU task execution.
e2b.dev
E2B is an Apache-2.0 open-source runtime that gives AI agents isolated sandboxes for running code, using Firecracker microVMs with fast startup. It supports several languages and can be self-hosted or run in your own cloud, with sessions limited to 24 hours.
14.5K1.1KApache-2.0Self-hosted
Pricing: Free open-source SDK; hosted sandboxes are paid.
- Firecracker isolation
- Multi-language support
- Self-hosted and BYOC options
- Sessions capped at 24 hours
- Self-hosting is demanding
beam.cloud
Beam is an AGPL-3.0 platform for running inference, task queues, and sandboxes on GPUs, defined in Python. It restores GPU containers from memory snapshots and can run on your own AWS, GCP, or bare-metal accounts. It is broader than a pure sandbox tool.
1.8K173AGPL-3.0Self-hosted
Pricing: Free open-source core; hosted usage is paid.
- GPU workloads with fast restores
- Bring your own cloud
- Python-defined infrastructure
- AGPL-3.0 license
- Broader than a code sandbox
Compare Modal alternatives
| Alternative | Type | License | Self-hosted | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| E2B | Agent sandbox | Apache-2.0 | Yes | Running agent code |
| Beam | GPU compute | AGPL-3.0 | Yes (own cloud) | Inference and GPU tasks |
Which one should you choose?
Want fast isolated sandboxes for agents
E2B uses Firecracker microVMs with multi-language support.
Want GPU workloads too
Beam combines inference, task queues, and sandboxes on GPUs.