head to head · open source
Dokku vs sandboxd
Dokku has 32,147 GitHub stars, 2,075 forks, 36 open issues and last shipped yesterday. sandboxd has 946 stars, 60 forks, 14 open issues and last shipped 12 days ago. Dokku leads on adoption by 3,298% (32,147 vs 946 stars). Dokku is written in Go under MIT; sandboxd is written in Go under MIT. Dokku has attracted 6% as many forks as stars, sandboxd 6%. Dokku was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 2 topic tags (docker, paas), so they are genuine substitutes rather than adjacent tools.
Two open source projects, one decision. Both are free and self-hostable — the differences are community size, license terms, language stack and release pace.
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Side by side
| Dokku | sandboxd | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 32K | ★ 946 |
| License | MIT | MIT |
| Written in | Go | Go |
| Last push | 2026-09-20 | 2026-09-09 |
| Forks | ⑂ 2.1K | ⑂ 60 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick Dokku if
- You weight community size — 32K stars and counting
- You want the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches Go
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick sandboxd if
- You want the sandboxd feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches Go
- You evaluated both and sandboxd fits your workflow better
About Dokku
Dokku is a self hosted Platform as a Service (PaaS) that runs on a single server using Docker containers. It enables developers to deploy applications using familiar workflows like git push , mimicking the simplicity of Heroku while running entirely under the user’s control. Dokku lives in the DevOps and infrastructure automation ecosystem, targeting teams that want PaaS convenience without relying on cloud vendor lock in.
read the full Dokku overview →
About sandboxd
sandboxd is an open source, self hosted AI app builder that runs a coding agent inside isolated sandboxes on your own server and gives every generated app its own live preview URL, and it is built for developers and teams who want the prompt to app workflow of hosted builders without giving up their infrastructure, code, or data.
read the full sandboxd overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Dokku or sandboxd more popular?
Dokku has 32,147 GitHub stars and sandboxd has 946. Dokku has the larger community by that measure.
Are Dokku and sandboxd free?
Both are open source. Dokku is licensed under MIT and sandboxd under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Dokku and sandboxd?
Dokku is written in Go and sandboxd in Go. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, Dokku or sandboxd?
Choose Dokku if you want the larger community (32,147 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose sandboxd if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.