Sandbox features to discover
Your Recurly sandbox is a full-featured environment where you can build, test, and refine your setup before a single real transaction runs. From plans and promotions to payment gateways and dunning policies, everything you configure here can travel with you to production. Dig in, experiment freely, and get comfortable — that's exactly what the sandbox is for.
TipTo keep testing after you go live without affecting your production site, create a mirrored sandbox development account. As you test, apply all changes to both environments to maintain parity.
Core configuration
Start here. These settings form the foundation of your Recurly site — get them right in sandbox and the rest of your configuration will fall into place cleanly.
| Feature | What to explore |
| Site settings | Configure the core settings for your Recurly site — account and billing information, timezone, key contacts, IP allowlist, and site-level customizations, all from one central location. |
| Business entities | Control how your business appears on invoices. Business entities support brand recognition, global flexibility, tax compliance, and operational scalability across multiple business units. |
| Billing models | Recurly's flexible billing models let you configure your product offerings to fit your business requirements — from simple recurring charges to complex usage-based structures. |
Plans, pricing, and promotions
This is where your product offering takes shape. Define what customers subscribe to, how much they pay, and what incentives you offer to win and retain them.
| Feature | What to explore |
| Plans and add-ons | Define the subscription plans your customers can sign up for, including billing frequency, pricing, and any optional add-ons that extend or enhance a base plan. |
| Item catalog | Build a reusable catalog of standard and bundled offerings. Items can be attached to multiple plans as add-ons, making it easy to manage inventory-based or combined product offerings. |
| Coupons and discounts | Create discount codes for promotions, sales, and special offers. Test different coupon types in sandbox to confirm they apply correctly before you start sharing them with real customers. |
Payments and compliance
Before you go live, you need to understand how money moves through Recurly. This section covers the configuration that connects your business to your customers' payment methods — and keeps you compliant along the way.
| Feature | What to explore |
| Payment gateway | Payment gateways are how Recurly accepts payments and deposits funds into your merchant bank account. Take time to understand how gateways work and how to configure yours correctly before going live. |
| Currencies | Most merchants use a single currency, but Recurly supports multiple currencies if you're serving a global audience. If you operate in the EU, review the GDPR guidelines as part of your currency setup. |
| Taxes | Configure tax settings to comply with the regulations imposed by your local tax authorities. Getting this right in sandbox means you won't be caught off guard when real invoices start going out. |
| Invoice settings | Make sure your customers receive timely notifications and that your invoice modification settings match your billing requirements. |
Integration and communication
Connect Recurly to your systems and set up the customer-facing communications that keep subscribers informed — and less likely to churn.
| Feature | What to explore |
| Hosted Pages | Recurly's Hosted Pages are a lightweight integration option for teams without developer resources, or for anyone who wants to go live quickly while a more robust custom integration is in development. |
| Developer documentation | Use the developer documentation to connect Recurly to your systems via the API, Recurly.js, or webhooks. Share this with your technical team early so they can plan the integration alongside your sandbox setup. |
| Email templates | Set up clear, on-brand communication with your subscribers. Well-crafted email templates are one of the most effective tools for reducing involuntary churn and recovering revenue before it's lost. |
Revenue recovery and access
Two things that are easy to overlook during sandbox setup — and costly to ignore in production: a dunning policy that recovers failed payments before subscribers churn, and user access controls that keep your team working at the right permission level.
| Feature | What to explore |
| Dunning management | Dunning is the process of contacting customers to collect on unpaid invoices after a failed payment. Set a customer-friendly dunning policy in sandbox to maximize revenue recovery without damaging subscriber relationships. |
| User access | Manage user invites and permission levels from the Users page in the Admin section. Configure appropriate access levels before go-live so your team is set up correctly from day one. |
Updated 12 days ago