generated: '2026-10-08'
method: searched
source: https://developer.vonage.com/en/messages/concepts/messages-api-sandbox
docs:
- https://developer.vonage.com/en/messages/concepts/messages-api-sandbox
- https://api.support.vonage.com/hc/en-us/articles/11679887237276-What-is-the-Messages-API-sandbox-rate-limit
- https://github.com/Vonage/vonage-cli#mock-server
description: 'The Messages API Sandbox is a quick way to try out sending messages via certain messaging channels
  using the Vonage Messages API. It does not need any external accounts to be set up with providers (such as WhatsApp
  Business Account). Channels: WhatsApp, Viber, Facebook Messenger, Instagram. Recipients must first be allow-listed
  per API key; the Sandbox uses a different API endpoint from the production Messages API (shown in the Dashboard).'
modes:
- name: Messages API Sandbox
  scope: Messages API only (WhatsApp, Viber, Facebook Messenger, Instagram)
  how: 'Dashboard > Messages API Sandbox: add your number/ID to the channel allow-list, configure Inbound and Status
    webhook URLs, then send to the Sandbox endpoint'
  pricing: The Messages API Sandbox is free to use. A monthly fair usage limit of 100 messages/month applies. If
    this is exceeded, your message requests will return a 429 HTTP error .
  rate_limit: The Messages API Sandbox has a rate limit of one message per second.
  constraints:
  - Allow-listed numbers and IDs are associated with specific Vonage API keys.
  - It is not intended to be used as part of a QA or staging environment for testing your integration before going
    live.
  - WhatsApp 24-hour window still applies; WhatsApp templates are not enabled for the Sandbox
- name: CLI mock server (Prism)
  scope: SMS API (more APIs planned)
  how: vonage mock sms — downloads the latest OpenAPI specification for the SMS API from the Vonage Developer Portal
    and starts a Prism mock on localhost:4010 (--port, --host, --download-only, --latest)
  source: https://github.com/Vonage/vonage-cli
environments:
  production: api.nexmo.com / rest.nexmo.com / api-{region}.vonage.com
  sandbox: a separate Messages API Sandbox endpoint shown in the Dashboard; not a general sandbox for the other
    APIs
key_formats:
  note: The same API key and secret are used for sandbox and production; there is no test-mode key prefix.
test_values:
  note: No fixed test phone numbers, test codes or hosted test tokens are published; you allow-list your own real
    number per channel.
time_simulation: null
triggers:
  webhook_retries: 'Inbound and Status webhooks are retried on a per-notification basis in the Messages API Sandbox.
    Any non-200 response to a webhook will prompt Vonage to retry periodically at intervals of increasing length:
    5, 10, 20, 40, 80, 160, 320, 640 seconds'
gaps:
- no sandbox for Voice, Verify, Video, Numbers or Account; those run against production with real spend
- no test credentials or magic numbers
- no time simulation