How Tesser compares
Last updated October 26, 2026
Where each mark in the table on the home page comes from.
Syncs from your existing checkout
Codespaces ✗ · Coder ✓ · E2B ✗ · Tesser ✓
A codespace clones the repository from GitHub, and you edit that copy (GitHub). Coder Desktop syncs a local folder with a workspace both ways, on macOS and Windows (Coder). Files reach an E2B sandbox when your code uploads them through the SDK (E2B). Tesser syncs changed files from the checkout you or your agent is working in before each command (Syncing).
Port forwarding to localhost
Codespaces ✓ · Coder ✓ · E2B ✗ · Tesser ✓
Codespaces forwards ports to localhost through VS Code or gh codespace ports forward (GitHub). Coder does it with coder port-forward (Coder). E2B serves each port at a URL on its own domain (E2B). Tesser forwards every port a box declares (See any branch at localhost).
Service routing across machines
Codespaces ✗ · Coder ✗ · E2B ✗ · Tesser ✓
Codespaces and Coder run your services together on one machine, and reaching a service in another codespace or workspace is up to the network you set up. E2B sandboxes reach each other through their public URLs (E2B). A Tesser manifest declares a dependency as a localhost port, such as 5001 = "api", and Tesser routes that port to the api box you wired or to the org's shared instance of api, so your app's URLs stay the same (Connect a frontend to a backend).
No session time limit
Codespaces ✗ · Coder ✓ · E2B ✗ · Tesser ✓
A codespace stops after 30 idle minutes by default (GitHub), and after 12 hours even while in use (GitHub). An E2B sandbox runs for up to 1 hour at a time on Hobby and 24 hours on Pro (E2B). Coder stops a workspace on a schedule you set and delays the stop while someone is connected (Coder). A Tesser box stays awake while in use and sleeps when idle, with no time limit (Sleep, wake, and removal).
Fully managed
Codespaces ✓ · Coder ✗ · E2B ✓ · Tesser ✓
GitHub runs Codespaces, and E2B runs its own cloud. Coder is self-hosted: you run its control plane and database and keep them upgraded (Coder). We run Tesser's control plane, and its machines too unless they run in your AWS account (Run boxes in your own AWS account).
Runs in your own AWS account
Codespaces ✗ · Coder ✓ · E2B ✓ · Tesser ✓
Codespaces runs only on GitHub's machines (GitHub). Coder runs wherever you install it. E2B runs in your AWS, GCP, or Azure account on its Enterprise plan (E2B). On the Team plan, Tesser runs boxes in your AWS account and we host the control plane (Run boxes in your own AWS account).
Building it yourself
Stripe, Shopify, Uber, and Slack built their own, with machine images, file sync, port routing, idle shutdown, and warm pools. On the Team plan, Tesser runs in your own AWS account.
Something wrong or out of date? Email jeffrey@tesser.sh.