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Anycloud vs DevPod for persistent development VMs

Updated October 2026

Choose DevPod when you want a devcontainer.json workflow, repository-based workspaces, and IDE integration. Choose an Anycloud VM when you already have a compatible published development image and want explicit VM sizing plus container and host SSH access.

Compare workspace setup

DevPod creates workspaces from a repository, local path, or Docker image. It uses devcontainer.json and can open the workspace in an IDE. When recreating a container, its project directory and mounted volumes are preserved; other container changes are lost.

Anycloud VMs use a supplied image on one on-demand cloud host. Anycloud does not install development tools into that image. Include the tools you need, along with /bin/sh and POSIX sleep, and allow the entrypoint, command, and working directory to be overridden.

Launch and access the Anycloud VM

Assuming the CLI and a named AWS credential are configured:

anycloud vm ghcr.io/example/dev:latest \
  --credentials <aws-credential> --vm-type t3.large
anycloud ssh <vm-id>
anycloud ssh <vm-id> --host

Keep files in /workspace. It is mounted on the container and host and survives container recreation and host reboot. Terminating the VM destroys the workspace; back up anything that must outlive it.

The container receives the host Docker socket. Treat the VM as a single-user development environment with host control, not an isolation boundary for untrusted code. Choose a separate sandbox when that boundary is required.

Sources