Sandbox and live environments

Paddle has two environments with completely separate credentials, data, and dashboards:

• Sandbox accounts for building and testing integrations.
• Live accounts for accepting real payments.

They largely behave in the same way, so you can be sure an integration against sandbox works when you go live, with some differences on sandbox for testing.

For partners, the key thing to know is that everything you create is scoped to one environment. This includes sellers that you onboard. We recommend creating a sandbox and live account for each seller, then creating and updating data in both environments.

Separate base paths

The Paddle API has two separate base paths for sandbox and live:

Both environments expose the same API and endpoints. You select one by the base URL you call.

Sellers exist per environment

You can use the partner API to create an account for a seller in your platform. A seller you create in sandbox isn't visible in live, and the reverse is true too.

To onboard a new seller, we recommend creating a sandbox and live account for them at the same time by making two successive calls to the Paddle API: one to sandbox, and one to live. For example:

• POST https://sandbox-api.paddle.com/accounts to create a sandbox account
• POST https://api.paddle.com/accounts to create a live account

Paddle returns an id for the seller in each response. You should create a record for this seller in your database and store both the sandbox and live IDs against this record.

Frame sandbox as test mode

Testing is an important part of a seller integration. Sellers need to be able to open a pricing page, complete a checkout, and make sure their integration works end to end. They can use test cards, so they're not spending any real money.

We recommend framing sandbox as "payments test mode" in your platform UI. For example, you might let sellers toggle between test and live mode for payments, swapping the API keys and data they're using when they do.

Sandbox doesn't require verification, so sellers can start integrating and testing right away. For live accounts, sellers need to provide some information about who they are and what they sell before they can start accepting real payments.

Sync data across environments

Since data in each environment is isolated, you need to create and update entities in both environments to keep them in sync. For an optimal experience, we recommend syncing:

• Products and prices
• Discounts
• Seller account settings

In your platform, we recommend presenting one set of products, prices, and discounts to sellers. This means they don't need to think about data in Paddle because they see one catalog that they maintain in your platform.

When you create products, prices, or discounts, create or update them both in sandbox and live by making two successive calls.

Products, prices, and discounts have a different Paddle ID in each environment. To match sandbox and live entities, attach your own identifier using the import_meta field when creating or updating entities. For example:

{
  "data": {
    "id": "pro_01gsz4t5hdjse780zja8vvr7jg",
    "name": "AeroEdit Pro",
    "tax_category": "standard",
    "type": "standard",
    "description": "Designed for professional pilots, including all features plus in Basic plus compliance monitoring, route optimization, and third-party integrations.",
    "image_url": "https://paddle.s3.amazonaws.com/user/165798/bT1XUOJAQhOUxGs83cbk_pro.png",
    "custom_data": null,
    "status": "active",
    "import_meta": {
      "imported_from": "your-platform-name",
      "external_id": "your-internal-id"
    },
    "created_at": "2026-02-23T12:43:46.605Z",
    "updated_at": "2026-04-05T15:53:44.687Z"
  },
  "meta": {
    "request_id": "ccb21d76-1e13-4a5e-afb8-0f4c9f20ac07"
  }
}

You should create a record for each product, price, and discount in your database and store both sandbox and live Paddle IDs against them.

Your external_id stays constant across environments, so you can resolve a Paddle entity back to your own records by listing products, prices, and discounts using the external_id query parameter. For example:

Differences between sandbox and live

Core functionality is the same in both environments, with some differences in sandbox for testing:

For a full list of differences, see Sandbox.