---
title: Testnet
description: Test your smart contracts and apps
sidebar_position: 2
---

## About testnet

The testnet is a separate blockchain from the Stacks mainnet analogous to a staging environment. It's a network used by developers to test their apps, smart contracts, or changes to the protocol in a production-like environment. It produces blocks at roughly the same rate as mainnet; about 1 block every 10 minutes on average. The Stacks testnet is rarely reset.

### Faucet

The testnet faucet provides you with free Stacks Token (STX) to test with. These are not the same as STX on mainnet and have no value. You can get STX from the faucet on the [Stacks Explorer Sandbox](https://explorer.stacks.co/sandbox/faucet?chain=testnet), or using the [API](https://docs.hiro.so/api#tag/Faucets).

To get STX tokens from within the Explorer Sandbox, navigate to the "Faucet" tab on the left and click "Request STX" button.

![](/img/stx_faucet.png)

You can also try out [Stacking](stacking) by clicking on `I want to stack`.

:::note The Explorer Sandbox requires you to login with a Stacks wallet
:::

### Testnet API

The hosted Stacks Blockchain API for the testnet is available at this base URL:

```shell
https://stacks-node-api.testnet.stacks.co/
```

![](/img/api_testnet_status.png)
