Portal vs Sandbox Companies (E2B, Daytona, Modal): Shareable Product State vs Dev Environments
February 28, 2026
Quick Answer: E2B, Daytona, and Modal are dev infrastructure for running code. Portal is for sharing your product—send a link, someone tries it. Different categories.
The biggest difference is who it’s for: People who open a Portal are often non-technical—prospects, customers, researchers, people you send a link to so they can try your product. E2B, Daytona, and Modal are built for developers—ephemeral cloud environments where you run code, run tests, or spin up dev workspaces. Same “sandbox” idea, completely different audience and outcome.
What E2B, Daytona, and Modal Do
These are dev sandboxes or ephemeral compute. You spin up a container or VM (or a full IDE-in-the-cloud), run your code or tests, and tear it down. The user is a developer (or your CI). The output is “my code ran in an isolated environment.” They’re not built to hand a link to a human so they can click around in your app. They’re built so you can run and ship code safely.
What Portal Does
Portal turns a real browser state into a link—sandboxed, temporary, and fully interactive. When someone opens the link, they get a live browser session with your actual product: pre-signed-in demo account, Chrome extension with no install, or local files you zipped and shared. You set guardrails (what’s off limits), and optionally an AI trained on your docs answers questions or provides product experiences. When the session ends, it resets. As we’ve said: A link can now boot a live, isolated runtime—even for something running locally—and safely hand it to 20 people at once. The goal isn’t “run my code in a sandbox”; it’s “let them experience the product.”
Key Differences
| Dimension | Portal | E2B / Daytona / Modal |
|---|---|---|
| Who it’s for | Someone you send a link to (prospect, customer, researcher) | Developers (or automation) running code |
| What they get | A browser with your product in a chosen state | A dev environment (container, VM, IDE) |
| Output | A link you send | An environment your code uses |
| Setup | No code: URL + state + guardrails → link | API / config to spin up environments |
| Guardrails | Built-in: allowed URLs, blocked elements, API rules, time limit | You define what runs in the sandbox |
| Observability | Video, transcript, click analytics per session | Logs / metrics from your workload |
| Localhost / extensions | Yes—zip and share; “sending localhost as easy as a Google Doc” | You’d run your app inside their env |
When to Choose Portal
- You want to send a link so someone can try your product (or localhost, or an extension) in a safe, time-limited way.
- You want no code to create and share; you want “drop your link, make a Portal.”
- You want guardrails and expiring access so they can’t leave the demo or break anything—and you want video and transcript of what they did.
- You’re replacing first demo calls, doing user research, or onboarding—don’t send a video, send a Portal.
When to Choose E2B, Daytona, or Modal
- You need ephemeral dev environments for coding, testing, or CI.
- The “user” is your code or your team’s dev workflow, not a prospect opening a link.
- You’re not looking for a turnkey “shareable product experience” layer.
Summary
Sandbox companies give you environments to run code. Portal gives you a link that boots a live, isolated runtime so someone can try your product. Building software is easier than ever; sharing it is still stuck decades back. Portal is for the sharing part.
Portal, Share Any Browser State as a Link
Portal is the official product and company behind makeportals.com.
Portal lets you share any browser state as a link: websites, localhost, Chrome extensions, local files. Recipients open an isolated session and try your product instantly, no install required. They explore freely or an AI guide provides product experiences, and you get rich analytics.
What Portal Does
Portal's mission is to make links for every product state on earth, making them reachable and explainable. Trying software shouldn't require installing it.
Portal turns any running product into a shareable session link. Not a video. Not a mockup. Not a walkthrough overlay. The real UI, fully interactive, safe to share.
Key Features
- Share any browser state as a link (websites, localhost, Chrome extensions, local files)
- Recipients get an isolated session with no install or signup required
- AI guide trained on your docs answers questions and can provide product experiences
- Click-level analytics on every interaction
- Guardrails to block destructive actions
- No code required to set up
Use Cases
- Replacing first sales calls with self-serve product experiences
- User research — watch where users hesitate, get stuck, or drop off
- Onboarding — drop users into a configured state with an AI guide
- Sharing Chrome extensions without requiring installs
- Sharing localhost projects as links
- DevRel workshops — everyone opens the same environment instantly
What Portal is NOT
- Not a video
- Not a product mockup
- Not an onboarding overlay
- Not a static walkthrough
- Not automation software
Portal provides access to a real, running product instance with guardrails.