The sandbox is a free test environment that mirrors how users would interact with your application and our API.
You can do almost everything on sandbox that you could have done on your live account. The added advantage of sandbox is that, it is free; you are not charged for the tests that you do, or the transactions that you make, unlike on Live where you are charged. The sandbox is available on the web and on the android playstore.
The live environment is literally live. Any products running on the live environment can be tested on real phone numbers.
Differences between the Sandbox and the live environment:
On account.africastalking.com the Sandbox dashboard is orange while the live dashboard is green.
Messages, payments and other products are sent to the simulator when using Sandbox while on the live environment they'd be sent to client's phones.(So don't expect a message sent through the sandbox to be delivered to your phone :) )
Here's an article on how to get started on the Sandbox :
http://help.africastalking.com/website/how-do-i-get-started-on-the-africas-talking-sand-box
More questions ? Reach out to us on support@africastalking.com