Sandstorm
Hacker ApprovedRanked 4 of 6 self-hosting platforms by recommenders
Free open-source platform for running web apps yourself with proper sandboxing and an easy interface. Critics cite slow cold starts, high memory use, and an app library some find unappealing.
Free open-source platform for running web apps yourself with proper sandboxing and an easy interface. Critics cite slow cold starts, high memory use, and an app library some find unappealing.
14 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 10
- criticize it
- 4
- approval share
- 71%
Recommended in 5 of 13 months
- November 2025: not recommended
- December 2025: not recommended
- January 2026: not recommended
- February 2026: recommended
- March 2026: not recommended
- April 2026: not recommended
- May 2026: recommended
- June 2026: not recommended
- July 2026: not recommended
- August 2026: recommended
- September 2026: recommended
- October 2026: recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it carries the badge
- 10 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, met.
- 2.5 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 5 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Good for personal self-hosting
“It was a beautiful thing that tried to thread the needle between personal, self-hosted software”
Comment from 5 Aug 2026 in “Cloudflare OS: an open platform for agents, apps, and work” “as someone who definitely will still be running Sandstorm at home”
Comment from 5 Aug 2026 in “Cloudflare OS: an open platform for agents, apps, and work” Important, inspiring concept
“I think Sandstorm as a concept, improbably, is more important now than it was a decade ago.”
Comment from 13 Oct 2026 in “A New Era for Sandstorm” “sandstorm is a really interesting and inspiring piece of software”
Comment from 5 Aug 2026 in “Cloudflare OS: an open platform for agents, apps, and work”
What people warn about
Each mark is one comment
Poor experience in practice
“I tried once, with Sandstorm, and like I said, it didn't work well.”
Comment from 5 Aug 2026 in “Cloudflare OS: an open platform for agents, apps, and work” “it didn't work well, because of cold start times and memory usage”
Comment from 5 Aug 2026 in “Cloudflare OS: an open platform for agents, apps, and work”
Other self-hosting platforms people recommend
The four most recommended other self-hosting platforms, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Criticize | Approval | Months | Owned | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Umbrel | 20 | 14 | 59% | 6 | — | — |
| Zo Computer | 15 | 7 | 68% | 6 | — | Approved |
| Cloud in a Bottle | 14 | 10 | 58% | 1 | — | — |
| SandstormThis page | 10 | 4 | 71% | 5 | — | Approved |
| Cloudron | 6 | 0 | 100% | 5 | — | — |
What people said
16 of the 17 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“I think Sandstorm as a concept, improbably, is more important now than it was a decade ago.”
“realistically not a lot of progress has been made”
“did need deep integration with the apps”
“another project that was open-sourced (sandstorm) and is under active development”
“much like Sandstorm, browsing the library of pre-built apps kind of leaves me cold”
“It was very intuitive and easy to use for a non-technical user like myself.”
“Sandstorm was great because it did proper sandboxing”
“as someone who definitely will still be running Sandstorm at home”
“sandstorm is a really interesting and inspiring piece of software”
“we also ran workerd inside a Sandstorm grain and not only did it work”
“I tried once, with Sandstorm, and like I said, it didn't work well.”
“It was a beautiful thing that tried to thread the needle between personal, self-hosted software”
“there is not a sophisticated access control system available to self-hosted users”
“it didn't work well, because of cold start times and memory usage”
“Sandstorm without self hosting has no interest though.”
“I want it to feel like the Sandstorm.io marketplace”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.