Frequently asked questions
Everything about running sandboxes in the browser: plans, pricing, security and supported runtimes. Can't find it here? Ask us.
General
What is BrowserPod?
BrowserPod runs full development sandboxes entirely inside the browser, compiled to WebAssembly. There's no server-side compute to provision, so environments boot in milliseconds and run on the device that opened them.
How is that different from a cloud sandbox?
Cloud sandboxes provision a VM or container in a data centre, which you pay for and wait on. BrowserPod's sandboxes run on the client device, so there's no infrastructure to size, no cold-start roundtrip, and no per-seat or idle-capacity bill.
Who is behind BrowserPod?
BrowserPod is built by Leaning Technologies, the team behind WebVM, CheerpX, Cheerp and CheerpJ, WebAssembly tooling trusted by organisations worldwide.
How do I get started?
Create an account in the BrowserPod console and spin up your first sandbox. No credit card required. The Free plan includes 1,000 hours of compute every month.
Pricing & billing
Is it really free to start?
Yes. The Free plan is free forever and includes 10,000 tokens a month, enough for up to 1,000 hours of compute, with no credit card required.
How is compute billed?
By the hour, in tokens. A live sandbox costs 10 tokens per hour, billed in hourly blocks, and nothing is charged while no sandbox is running.
Can I use the Free plan for commercial work?
No. The Free plan covers personal projects and non-commercial use cases. Commercial usage starts on the Pro plan at $20 per month, with overage at $0.01 per hour.
Can I add more tokens mid-month?
Yes. Top-ups are $10 per 10,000 tokens on any paid plan, and Pro usage beyond your allocation is simply charged at $0.01 per hour.
Do you offer discounts?
We grant up to 100,000 tokens per month to open-source projects and up to 10M tokens to early-stage startups. Both are a short application away.
Security & data
Does my code or data leave the device?
Your code and files stay on the device and are never uploaded to BrowserPod servers in order to run. Outbound network requests from a pod are proxied through BrowserPod infrastructure.
How does it isolate untrusted code?
Agent-written or third-party code is confined by the browser's security model: it cannot reach the local filesystem or make unauthorised network calls from inside a sandbox.
Which domains can a pod reach?
By default a pod can reach the npm and yarn registries, GitHub, and the major AI provider APIs. This list will be expanded over time.
Can a pod reach my own domains?
Pro and Enterprise plans can add custom outbound domains beyond the default list. Enterprise also covers SSO and self-hosting for organisations with stricter requirements.
Runtime & frameworks
What can I run inside a sandbox?
Node.js, Rust and Python (preview) today, with Go and Ruby on the roadmap. You can install packages from npm, clone repositories with git, and manage files from a bash shell.
Which frameworks does it work with?
BrowserPod runs your existing toolchain. No rewrites required. Popular JavaScript frameworks and build tools work out of the box.
Can I expose a running service publicly?
Yes. Portals let you expose a service running inside a sandbox on a public URL, so anyone can try it in their own browser.
How many sandboxes can run at once?
Unlimited. Because sandboxes run on the device that opened them, there's no server-side pool to exhaust and no concurrency quota to raise.
Ready to get started?
Spin up your first sandbox in minutes. No credit card required.