About Sandstorm
Sandstorm is a self-hostable platform for running web apps on a server you control. It is built as a security-hardened web app package manager, so you can install apps that create documents, spreadsheets, blogs, git repositories, task lists and more, much as you would install apps on a phone.
Each app is packaged and isolated, which is intended to make running your own server safer and easier than managing each application by hand. The documentation explains how it works and the security practices involved, how to install it and how developers package apps. Sandstorm runs on any x86-64 Linux system, and a public demo lets you try it. The topics mention Cap'n Proto, seccomp and decentralization.
The code is JavaScript-based and open source, and the repository lists the license as Other. Documentation is on docs.sandstorm.io, and the community discusses on a mailing list. It suits individuals and small groups who want a personal cloud with a one-click app model.
Key features
- Install web apps like phone apps
- Security-hardened app sandboxing
- Docs, spreadsheets, blogs and git repos
- Runs on any x86-64 Linux system
- App packaging for developers
- Public demo instance
Good fit for
- →A personal cloud server
- →Running small team productivity apps
- →Packaging web apps for easy self-hosting
- Built with
- JavaScript
- Tags
- self-hosted
- personal-cloud
- app-platform
- sandbox
- productivity
- linux
- package-manager
- javascript
Sandstorm: questions and answers
- What is Sandstorm used for?
- Sandstorm is a self-hostable web productivity suite that works as a security-hardened package manager for web apps, letting you install documents, blogs, git repos and more on your own server. It is a good fit for a personal cloud server, running small team productivity apps and packaging web apps for easy self-hosting.
- Is Sandstorm open source?
- Yes. Sandstorm is open source under a custom licence. Its source code is on GitHub at sandstorm-io/sandstorm and is written mainly in JavaScript.
- Is Sandstorm free?
- Yes. Sandstorm is open source, so the software itself is free to use under the terms of its own licence.
- Can I self-host Sandstorm?
- Yes. Sandstorm can be self-hosted on your own server or infrastructure.
- What are some alternatives to Sandstorm?
- Similar open-source tools in the Hosting & PaaS category include 1Panel, Coolify and Dokploy. SaaS products in the same category include Cloudflare Workers, Deno Deploy and DigitalOcean.
- Is Sandstorm actively maintained?
- Yes. The most recent commit to Sandstorm was on 27 September 2026. The project has 7.1k stars on GitHub.
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