Lelantos vs Modal: EU-native, Firecracker-isolated sandboxes
Every Lelantos sandbox runs in the EU by default on Firecracker microVMs, where Modal's EU is plan-gated and gVisor-isolated. From the EU: 394 ms start (vs 1412 ms), $2.78/day (vs $5.73), and the e2b SDK as a drop-in.
The spine of the move
EU-native by default
Every Lelantos sandbox runs in the EU. Modal gates EU regions behind a plan and routes I/O over 2 MiB through us-east, a real GDPR footnote for EU workloads.
Firecracker microVM, not gVisor
Lelantos isolates each sandbox in a hardware-virtualized Firecracker microVM. Modal uses gVisor, a user-space kernel. The microVM is a stronger boundary for untrusted code.
Faster from the EU
From Copenhagen, Lelantos starts in 394 ms at p50 versus Modal 1412 ms.
Cheaper and E2B-compatible
Lelantos is $2.78 per day versus Modal $5.73, and it runs the e2b SDK directly, where Modal is Python-first with its own API.
Lelantos vs Modal, the cells that matter
| Dimension | Lelantos | Modal |
|---|---|---|
| EU data residency | native, default | plan-gated; >2 MiB I/O via us-east |
| Isolation | Firecracker microVM | gVisor (user-space kernel) |
| Start time (EU p50) | 394 ms | 1412 ms |
| Resume (EU p50) | 368 ms | not available (no memory-snapshot in SDK) |
| Cost / day (2 vCPU, 4 GiB) | $2.78 | $5.73 |
| E2B-compatible API | yes, drop-in | no (Python-first own API) |
| Compliance | GDPR; SOC2 on roadmap | SOC2 + HIPAA |
The honest note
Modal carries more compliance today: it holds SOC2 Type II and offers a HIPAA BAA, where Lelantos is GDPR-aligned with SOC2 on the roadmap. If a SOC2 or HIPAA attestation is a hard requirement right now, Modal has it. We lead on EU residency, isolation depth, speed from the EU, cost and E2B compatibility.
Questions people ask
- Does Lelantos run in the EU?
- Yes. Every Lelantos sandbox runs in the EU by default. Modal offers EU regions, but they are plan-gated, and Modal routes I/O over 2 MiB through us-east, which is a real GDPR footnote.
- How is Lelantos isolation different from Modal?
- Lelantos runs each sandbox in a Firecracker microVM, a hardware-virtualized boundary. Modal uses gVisor, a user-space kernel. The microVM is a stronger isolation boundary for untrusted code.
- Is Lelantos faster than Modal?
- From the EU, yes: Lelantos starts in 394 ms at p50 versus Modal 1412 ms, measured from Copenhagen on 2026-06-17, create to first command, 20 runs per provider.
- Is Lelantos cheaper than Modal?
- Yes. At 2 vCPU and 4 GiB over 24 hours, Lelantos costs $2.78 per day versus Modal at $5.73 per day.
- Is Lelantos E2B-compatible, unlike Modal?
- Yes. Lelantos runs the e2b SDK directly as a drop-in. Modal is Python-first with its own API and is not E2B-compatible.
EU-native sandboxes on Firecracker, for $2.78 a day
$50 free credit. No credit card to start. Every sandbox runs in the EU on a microVM.