FAQ
Short answers about pricing, hosting, isolation, persistence, networking and what pols does not do yet.
How is pols billed?
Per running second, at the list price of the sandbox’s size, from €0.02 per hour for small to €0.16 per hour for xlarge. Stopped sandboxes are not billed, and they keep their disks. pols usage shows your usage and its estimated cost for the current month. During the early-access phase we invoice by hand.
Where do my sandboxes run?
On dedicated servers we operate at Hetzner in Germany. Sandbox disks, the control plane and its database are all there. Login emails are sent through Lettermint, which processes them in the EU. See Architecture.
Is a sandbox a container?
No. Every sandbox is a virtual machine (QEMU/KVM) with its own kernel, systemd and network interface. Docker runs inside it like on any server. Each org’s sandboxes live in their own isolated project on the host.
How fast does a sandbox start?
pols new returns a running sandbox in about ten seconds; most of that is the VM booting. Forks and sandboxes from templates take about as long, because copying the disk takes well under a second.
Is my data kept when I stop a sandbox?
Yes. Stopping keeps the disk; resuming boots the same disk again. Processes and memory are not kept: a resumed sandbox starts fresh from its disk, like a computer that was shut down. Deleting a sandbox removes its disk for good. See Data retention.
Are sandbox disks backed up?
Not yet. A disk lives on one host, on mirrored NVMe drives, and is not copied anywhere else. Keep anything you cannot lose in git or another store outside the sandbox.
Does a sandbox stop by itself when I forget it?
No. A sandbox runs until you stop it, or until your org uses up its monthly sandbox-hours. Stop sandboxes you are not using.
Can I restrict what a sandbox can reach on the internet?
Yes, when you create it: choose --egress allowlist with the CIDR prefixes it may reach, or --egress none. See Network egress.
Can I run a web server and open it in my browser?
Yes. Let the server listen on 0.0.0.0 and publish its port with pols host. You get an HTTPS address under on.pols.so, private by default. See Published ports.
Can several people share an org?
Every account currently gets an org of its own. Share sandboxes with someone by giving them a login link to a port or the desktop, or by registering their SSH key with pols ssh-key add.
Which operating systems does the CLI support?
Linux and macOS, on amd64 and arm64. The install script picks the build for your machine and checks it against the published SHA-256 sums. On other systems, use the REST API.
Can I choose another Linux distribution?
Every sandbox starts from Ubuntu 24.04. To start from your own setup, install what you need in a sandbox and save it as a template.
Does pols have GPUs?
No. Sandboxes have virtual CPUs only.
How do I report a problem?
Write to team@peweo.com. Include the sandbox ID and the error code if you have them.