Try It Out

We can't recommend this enough: test early and test often. It's a great way to identify potential issues with your integration, and it also gives you ample opportunities to get familiar with Braintree.

The Braintree sandbox

The sandbox is a test environment that is almost identical to our production environment. Within your sandbox, you can create users and roles, run transactions using test credit card numbers, and explore the full functionality of the Braintree gateway by using our sandbox testing values in the sandbox Control Panel or via the API.

Get started by signing up for a Braintree sandbox account!

Sandbox versus production

There are a few key differences to keep in mind:

	Sandbox	Production
Login URLs	https://sandbox.braintreegateway.com/login	https://www.braintreegateway.com/login
Payment methods accepted	Test credit cards/payment methods	Real credit cards/payment methods
Processor responses	Triggered by specific test values	Returned by processing banks
Hardware resources	No dedicated hardware resources – can't withstand high transaction volumes	Dedicated hardware resources – can withstand high transaction volumes
Purge and delete capabilities	Can purge transactions, Vault records, payment methods, addresses, subscriptions, and sub-merchants	Must manually delete Vault records, payment methods, addresses, and subscriptions; must manually suspend sub-merchants; can't delete transactions
Webhooks	Triggered by specific test values	Triggered by actual events in the gateway
Processing options and settings	Standard processing options are displayed	Processing options may be limited based on account setup
Disputes	Chargebacks can be created in the Control Panel, and you can simulate winning or losing a dispute	The way you manage chargebacks depends on your account setup – not all accounts have disputes available in the Control Panel
Location	Determined by the country selection made at the time of signup	Determined by the country in which your business is registered
Recurring Billing	Limited to 100,000 active subscriptions	Unlimited number of subscriptions

Your sandbox business location will default to the country from which you access the Braintree homepage, unless you manually change the country selection before signing up. Sandbox processing options, currencies, and features can vary by country.

important
Your sandbox account is not linked to your production account in any way. Nothing created in the sandbox will transfer to production. This includes processing options and recurring billing settings. Your login information, merchant ID, and API keys will also be different.

Testing currencies

When you set up your sandbox for the first time, your account will default to processing with a single currency setup – usually with the major currency in your region. If you’d like to test other currencies, you can create new merchant accounts in the sandbox and specify which currency you would like to test for each one.

Log into the sandbox Control Panel
Click on the gear icon in the top right corner
Click Business from the drop-down menu
Scroll down to the Merchant Accounts section
Click the New Sandbox Merchant Account button
Enter a merchant account ID – this can be whatever you’d like to name it
Check any of the desired boxes to:
- Set the new merchant account as your default account
- Accept PayPal payments
Select the currency you'd like to test in
Click the Save button

Keep in mind – while the sandbox is designed to simulate how the gateway functions in production, there can be some differences. For example: in the sandbox, everyone can manage disputes within the Control Panel; in production, your location and account setup will determine how you manage disputed transactions. If you have any questions about limitations in production, feel free to contact us.

Switching from sandbox to production

Once you're ready to start accepting real payments, your developers can begin your production integration.

Next Page: Explore the Control Panel →