I just launched SandyWP. It’s a tool that lets you spin up a WordPress sandbox in seconds.

Let me tell you why I built it.

The Trigger

I use WordPress sandboxes a lot. Reproducing client issues, testing plugins, demoing things to people.

My go-to was InstaWP. I love it. Vikas (the founder) has built something really good. I’m a genuine fan.

But my free account hit the limit. It said I had reached the maximum number of free site creations. The only way to keep creating sandboxes was to upgrade.

No hate to InstaWP. It make sense to drop free tier when you have all those fancy feature already. Plus you have some VC pushed you to more profit. So I totally understand.

Then, I looked at TasteWP as an alternative. The free version is fine. But it does not have the kind of features InstaWP has.

So I started thinking: why not just build my own?

The Problem With Existing Tools

Every paid competitor I looked at charges around $2 per sandbox site.

That adds up fast if you create a lot of them.

I wanted something cheaper. Much cheaper.

With SandyWP, the cost works out to around $0.50 to $0.70 per sandbox depending on which plan you are on.

That is a big difference if you are creating sandboxes regularly.

What SandyWP Does

You go to sandywp.com, create a sandbox, and you get a full WordPress installation in seconds. No hosting setup. No credit card for the free tier.

You get real wp-admin access. You can install plugins, test themes, break things.

A few things I made sure to include:

  • Built-in file editor so you can edit files directly without FTP
  • GitHub integration for deploying plugins and themes with one click
  • PHP configuration controls (memory limits, upload sizes, execution time)
  • Multiple WordPress and PHP version support
  • Site cloning via the SandyWP Cloner plugin
  • Snapshot templates you can share with a public link
  • More to come..

The free tier gives you 2 sandboxes with 7-days expiration. Good enough for quick testing.

If you need more, the Plus plan is $7 a month for 10 sandboxes. Pro is $17 for 25. Max is $27 for 50.

Why I Think This Is Worth Building

WordPress development still requires a lot of sandbox work. Reproducing bugs, onboarding clients, teaching, testing updates before they go live.

Most tools in this space are either free but limited, or paid but expensive.

I want SandyWP to sit in the middle. Affordable enough that you don’t think twice about spinning up a sandbox, but feature-rich enough that you actually want to use it.

Still early days. But if you work with WordPress regularly, give it a try at sandywp.com.