QuickSilver Machines vs GitHub Codespaces

Codespaces’ entry machine has 2 cores, 8 GB RAM and 32 GB allocated storage, so it is not an exact RAM match. It provides browser VS Code and a terminal, rather than a bundled general-purpose Linux desktop. Dev containers can preinstall agents. G1, G5

Cost basis: QuickSilver 44 × $0.02 = $0.88; Codespaces without allowance 44 × $0.18 + 20 × $0.07 = $9.32. GitHub Free personal accounts include 120 core-hours and 15 GB-month each cycle: 44 hours uses 88 core-hours, so 10 GB-month storage fits both quotas. Organizations have no included quota. Usage is blocked at quota exhaustion without a payment method. Q1, G2, G3, G4

Storage is measured billable content, not all allocated capacity; the default base image is excluded, while custom images and prebuilds can add usage. The default idle stop is 30 minutes; terminal activity can reset it. Inactive retention normally defaults to 30 days, with settings/policies affecting deletion. G3, G4, G6, G7

Shared setup and billing

QuickSilver supplies Claude Code, Codex, OpenCode and Hermes signed in to QuickSilver Pro models; one balance covers machine time and separately metered AI. On plain vendor environments, arrange agent installation, provider authentication and separate cloud and Anthropic/OpenAI billing; prepared images/scripts/dev containers can automate this. Native installers can avoid Node, and supported sign-in can avoid API keys. Q1, Q2, A1, A2, A3, A4

The latest measured trial reached Running about 32 seconds after Create, not necessarily completion of an agent task. This is one observation, not a guarantee or competitor benchmark; an earlier rollout observation took about 14 minutes. No competitor setup time was measured. Q2

New accounts can start on $0.05 signup credit, without a card or $1 balance: about 2.5 running hours only if none is spent on AI. After trial, $1.00 available balance is required to start; card top-ups have a $5 minimum. Q1, Q2

QuickSilver limits and retention

QuickSilver Machines is a beta with no backup or durability guarantee. It has one size: 2 vCPU, 4 GB RAM and a 20 GB home disk. Each session stops after 8 continuous hours; the account cap is 200 running hours/month. Trial accounts get 1 machine; paid accounts can have 2 running together. Trial machines are deleted 24 hours after last use, paid machines after 30 days. Paid owners receive deletion warnings 7 days and 1 day beforehand. Deletion is permanent; operational recovery copies are purged within 7 days and are unavailable for requested restoration. Idle auto-pause is documented, but no timeout duration is published. Machines, FAQ and terms

Pause checkpoints last up to 24 hours; checkpoint failure can restart applications, while home files remain. The newest 3 named disk snapshots are retained. Keep important work elsewhere. Setup report

Research and price audit

All external sources linked on this page were fetched on 2026-11-04. Prices are USD list rates; examples exclude tax, AI inference/subscriptions, optional backups, paid software and transfer overages. Computed totals are editorial arithmetic, not vendor quotes. Similar CPU/RAM labels do not establish equal performance.

QuickSilver product details: Machines, FAQ and terms, cloud dev-box report and model/service reference. Setup timing and trial entry terms reflect the 2026-11-04 measurement and current trial path described above.

GitHub sources: G1 — configuration and access; G2 — current paid rates; G3 — billing and quotas; G4 — core-hour/storage measurement; G5 — initial workflow; G6 — timeout behavior; G7 — retention. The current billing page describes measurement and quotas but its fetched version omits the paid-rate table; GitHub's fetched pricing calculator supplies paid rates.

Source index: G1; G2; G3; G4; G5; G6; G7; Q1; Q2; Q3; Q4; A1; A2; A3; A4.