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Hosting Providers

Managed hosting services for running Fediverse instances.

Mastodon Hosting​

Masto.host​

Dedicated Mastodon hosting.

PropertyValue
Websitemasto.host
PricingFrom €6/month
FeaturesFull management, backups

Features:

  • Automatic updates
  • Custom domains
  • S3 media storage
  • Email delivery

Fedihost​

Mastodon and other platforms.

PropertyValue
Websitefedihost.co
PricingFrom $6/month
PlatformsMastodon, Pleroma, Pixelfed

Spacebear​

Multi-platform hosting.

PropertyValue
Websitespacebear.ee
PricingFrom €9/month
PlatformsMastodon, PeerTube, Pixelfed

Features:

  • Estonian hosting
  • Multiple platforms
  • Custom domains

Multi-Platform​

Cloudplane​

Various Fediverse platforms.

PropertyValue
Websitecloudplane.org
PricingFrom $5/month
PlatformsMultiple

Hetzner + Managed​

Many providers offer setup on Hetzner:

  • Lower ongoing costs
  • More control
  • Manual updates

Self-Hosting Options​

VPS Providers​

ProviderStarting PriceNotes
Hetzner€4/monthPopular in EU
DigitalOcean$6/monthEasy setup
Linode$5/monthGood support
Vultr$5/monthMany locations
OVH€4/monthEU-based

Requirements by Platform​

PlatformMinimum RAMStorageNotes
GoToSocial256MB10GBLightest option
Pleroma512MB20GBLightweight
Mastodon2GB40GB+Full featured
Pixelfed2GB50GB+Media heavy
PeerTube4GB100GB+Video storage

Docker Hosting​

Railway​

Container-based deployments.

PropertyValue
Websiterailway.app
PricingUsage-based
EaseOne-click deploys

Fly.io​

Edge deployments.

PropertyValue
Websitefly.io
PricingFree tier + usage
EaseCLI-based

Render​

Managed containers.

PropertyValue
Websiterender.com
PricingFrom $7/month
EaseGit integration

Comparison​

Managed vs Self-Hosted​

AspectManagedSelf-Hosted
CostHigher monthlyLower ongoing
SetupInstantHours/days
MaintenanceIncludedYour responsibility
ControlLimitedFull
ScalingProvider handlesManual
BackupsIncludedDIY

When to Choose Managed​

  • First-time instance admins
  • Small communities (< 100 users)
  • Limited technical expertise
  • Want to focus on community

When to Self-Host​

  • Technical expertise available
  • Larger communities
  • Cost optimization needed
  • Custom modifications required

Setup Guides​

Quick Start with GoToSocial​

Lightest option for personal use:

# On a small VPS — get the latest release from Codeberg:
# https://codeberg.org/superseriousbusiness/gotosocial/releases
wget https://codeberg.org/superseriousbusiness/gotosocial/releases/download/v0.21.2/gotosocial_0.21.2_linux_amd64.tar.gz
tar -xzf gotosocial_0.21.2_linux_amd64.tar.gz
./gotosocial server start

Docker Compose​

Most platforms provide Docker Compose files:

version: '3'
services:
  app:
    image: ghcr.io/mastodon/mastodon:v4.5  # pin a specific version in production
    # ... configuration
  db:
    image: postgres:14
  redis:
    image: redis:alpine

Object Storage​

For media files, consider:

ProviderPricingNotes
Wasabi$7/TBS3 compatible
Backblaze B2$5/TBCheap egress
Cloudflare R2$15/TBNo egress fees
MinIOSelf-hostFree

See Also​