Self-hosted alternatives, and the VPS they actually need
Self-hosted alternatives and VPS sizing, checked against official requirements. Every requirement and price links to its official source, checked in October 2026. No invented benchmarks.
VPS sizing guides
- Best VPS for self-hosting: plan specs vs official app requirementsWhich VPS plan fits Immich, Nextcloud, n8n, Coolify or Jellyfin? We compare Hostinger, Hetzner, Vultr and DigitalOcean plan specs against each app's official requirements.
- Best VPS for n8n: plans that meet n8n's own sizing guidancen8n's own sizing example is 320 MB–2 GB RAM and a 512 MB–4 GB SSD database. See which Hostinger, Hetzner, Vultr and DigitalOcean plans meet it, with sources.
- n8n hosting requirements (from the official docs)Self-hosted n8n requirements from the official docs: 320 MB–2 GB memory, 512 MB–4 GB SSD for the database, SQLite or PostgreSQL, Docker setup and what drives memory use.
- Best VPS for OpenClaw: official requirements vs plan specsOpenClaw Gateway needs at least 1 vCPU, 1 GB RAM and ~500 MB disk; 2 GB+ is recommended. Compare VPS plans against the official numbers and security advice.
- Nextcloud VPS requirements (official figures)Nextcloud's official requirements: 128 MB RAM per process (512 MB recommended), MariaDB or PostgreSQL, 64-bit, supported PHP versions, and how AIO deploys. With VPS plan specs.
- Jellyfin VPS requirements: what the docs say (and why a plain VPS is tricky)Jellyfin recommends 8 GB RAM and a 100 GB SSD, and says servers without GPUs are not recommended. What that means for a typical VPS, with sources.
- Coolify vs Dokploy: a fact-based comparisonCoolify vs Dokploy side by side from official docs: RAM/CPU/disk minimums, containers installed, Docker vs Docker Swarm, ports, licenses and GitHub stars. Plus VPS plan fit.
Self-hosted alternatives
- Self-hosted alternatives to Google PhotosSelf-hosted alternatives to Google Photos compared by license, GitHub stars and official server requirements: Immich needs 6 GB RAM, PhotoPrism 3 GB. Which VPS fits.
- Self-hosted alternatives to NotionSelf-hosted Notion alternatives compared by license, GitHub stars, container count and published RAM needs: AFFiNE (2–4 GB), AppFlowy Cloud (11 services), Docmost (3).
- Self-hosted alternatives to Google DriveSelf-hosted Google Drive alternatives compared: Nextcloud, Seafile, ownCloud and Syncthing by license, GitHub stars and official requirements (Seafile CE: 2 GB RAM, 2 cores).
Requirements cheat sheet
| App | RAM (min) | CPU cores (min) | Disk (min) | Containers / services | GitHub stars | License | Spec source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Immich | 6 GB (rec. 8 GB) | 2 (rec. 4) | — | 4 services in the official compose file (immich-server, immich-machine-learning, redis/valkey, database) | 116,780[1] | AGPL-3.0 | [2][3] |
| PhotoPrism | 3 GB | 2 | — | 2 default services (photoprism, mariadb) plus optional profiles (ollama, open-webui, watchtower) in the official compose file | 40,332[1] | AGPL-3.0 | [4][5] |
| Seafile CE | 2 GB | 2 | 10 GB | Docker deployment integrates Seafile, Redis, MariaDB, SeaDoc and Caddy (5 services) | 15,353[1] | GPL-2.0, GPL-3.0, AGPL-3.0, Apache-2.0 | [6] |
| Jellyfin | 4 GB (rec. 8 GB) | not published | 100 GB | Single application container (media and config mounted as volumes) | 58,304[1] | GPL-2.0 | [7] |
| n8n | 320 MB (rec. 2 GB) | not published | — | Default Docker install: 1 container with SQLite. Official withPostgres compose: 3 services (postgres, n8n, n8n-runner) | 208,160[1] | Apache-2.0, Commons-Clause | [8][9][10][11] |
| OpenClaw Gateway | 1 GB (rec. 2 GB) | 1 (rec. 2) | 0.5 GB | Runs as a Node.js service (systemd unit) rather than a compose stack by default | 392,683[12] | MIT | [13][14] |
| AFFiNE | 2 GB (rec. 4 GB) | rec. 4 | 1.5 GB | 4 services in the official compose file (affine, affine_migration [one-time job], redis, postgres) | 73,732[15] | custom (GitHub reports NOASSERTION) | [16][17] |
| Coolify | 2 GB | 2 | 10 GB | 4 services in the production compose file (coolify, postgres, redis, soketi) | 63,367[18] | Apache-2.0 | [19][20] |
| Dokploy | 2 GB | not published | 30 GB | Installer creates dokploy and dokploy-postgres Swarm services plus a dokploy-traefik container (3) | 37,913[21] | custom (GitHub reports NOASSERTION) | [22][23] |
Directory: 1,356 self-hosted apps
Browse 84 categories from the awesome-selfhosted dataset, for example Photo Galleries, Wikis, Automation, File Transfer & Synchronization, Password Managers, Media Streaming - Video Streaming.
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Sources (checked October 2026)
- awesome-selfhosted-data (CC BY-SA 3.0) — https://github.com/awesome-selfhosted/awesome-selfhosted-data
- Immich docs: Requirements — https://docs.immich.app/install/requirements
- Immich official docker-compose.yml (latest release) — https://github.com/immich-app/immich/releases/latest/download/docker-compose.yml
- PhotoPrism docs: Setup / System Requirements — https://docs.photoprism.app/getting-started/
- PhotoPrism official compose.yaml — https://dl.photoprism.app/docker/compose.yaml
- Seafile Admin Manual: System requirements — https://manual.seafile.com/latest/setup/system_requirements/
- Jellyfin docs: Selecting Appropriate Hardware — https://jellyfin.org/docs/general/administration/hardware-selection/
- n8n docs: Prerequisites (sizing example) — https://docs.n8n.io/deploy/host-n8n/deploy-as-an-oem-integration/prerequisites
- n8n docs: Fix memory issues — https://docs.n8n.io/deploy/host-n8n/configure-n8n/scaling/fix-memory-issues
- n8n docs: Choose n8n's database — https://docs.n8n.io/deploy/host-n8n/configure-n8n/choose-n8ns-database
- n8n-hosting: docker-compose withPostgres — https://raw.githubusercontent.com/n8n-io/n8n-hosting/main/docker-compose/withPostgres/docker-compose.yml
- GitHub: openclaw/openclaw — https://github.com/openclaw/openclaw
- OpenClaw docs: FAQ – providers, hardware, and hosting — https://docs.openclaw.ai/help/faq-first-run/providers-and-hosting
- OpenClaw docs: Linux server / VPS — https://docs.openclaw.ai/vps
- GitHub API: toeverything/AFFiNE — https://github.com/toeverything/AFFiNE
- AFFiNE docs: Self-host requirements — https://docs.affine.pro/self-host-affine/install/requirements
- AFFiNE docs: Docker Compose (recommended) — https://docs.affine.pro/self-host-affine/install/docker-compose-recommended
- GitHub: coollabsio/coolify — https://github.com/coollabsio/coolify
- Coolify docs: Self-hosted installation — https://coolify.io/docs/get-started/installation
- Coolify production docker-compose — https://cdn.coollabs.io/coolify/docker-compose.prod.yml
- GitHub: Dokploy/dokploy — https://github.com/Dokploy/dokploy
- Dokploy docs: Installation — https://docs.dokploy.com/docs/core/installation
- Dokploy install.sh — https://dokploy.com/install.sh