head to head · open source
Dokku vs sandboxd
Dokku has 32,220 GitHub stars, 2,098 forks, 36 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. sandboxd has 976 stars, 69 forks, 14 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Dokku leads on adoption by 3,201% (32,220 vs 976 stars). Dokku is written in Shell under MIT; sandboxd is written in Go under MIT. Dokku has attracted 7% as many forks as stars, sandboxd 7%. sandboxd 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 | ★ 976 |
| License | MIT | MIT |
| Written in | Shell | Go |
| Last push | 2026-11-03 | 2026-11-04 |
| Forks | ⑂ 2.1K | ⑂ 69 |
| 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 Shell
- 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 Docker powered mini Heroku. The smallest PaaS implementation you've ever seen. Sponsors Become a sponsor and get your logo on our README on GitHub with a link to your site. [Become a sponsor] Backers Support us with a monthly donation and help us continue our activities. [Become a backer] [ ](
read the full Dokku overview →
About sandboxd
sandboxd Open source, self hosted AI app builder. Prompt it and a coding agent builds real apps in isolated sandboxes on your server — each live at a preview URL. You own the infra, code, and data. MIT. 🔥 Trend of the Day on Trendshift Prompt → a real, running app on your server, at its own URL. See it in action 👇 1 · Build from a prompt — an agent builds it in an isolated sandbox, live at a preview URL. 2 · Or run an existing app — n8n, Ghost, Grafana… 80+ curated apps, one click. 3 · Or drive the API — every action is a /v1 call, headless & scriptable. ▶ Try the live demo Click around a real console with…
read the full sandboxd overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Dokku or sandboxd more popular?
Dokku has 32,220 GitHub stars and sandboxd has 976. 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 Shell 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 (32,220 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose sandboxd if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.