Appwrite Hosting on Your Own VPS
Backend services for web and mobile apps — auth, databases, storage and functions.
Size a server for Appwrite
Every stop is a real configuration you can deploy. Priced per month and billed monthly, exclusive of 18% GST.
What Appwrite is
Appwrite is a backend-as-a-service you can self-host: databases, authentication, file storage, serverless functions and messaging, with SDKs for most web and mobile platforms. It targets the same problem as Firebase, with the difference that you can run it yourself.
That distinction matters for mobile in particular. Firebase is convenient and its pricing scales with usage in ways that can surprise; more importantly, its data lives where Google puts it. Appwrite on your own VPS puts user records and uploaded files in a region you choose.
It is a multi-container deployment — the API, a database, Redis, and workers for functions and messaging — orchestrated by Docker Compose. Lighter than Supabase, considerably heavier than PocketBase. Functions in particular deserve thought: each runtime is a container image, and they consume disk and memory in proportion to how many runtimes you enable.
“Appwrite is an MCP and agent-first, open-source platform for building and scaling apps.”
Why run Appwrite on a VPS
User data and uploads in a region you choose.
No per-user or per-request pricing.
Root access for Docker, storage and the function runtimes.
Disk that can be extended as uploads and runtime images accumulate.
Appwrite features
Databases with collections and attribute-level permissions
Authentication with many OAuth providers
File storage with transformation and encryption
Serverless functions in several runtimes
Realtime subscriptions
SDKs for web, Flutter, Android, iOS and server platforms
Messaging for email, SMS and push
Appwrite hosting requirements
The recommended starting point for Appwrite, not a hard floor — size it on the sliders.
| Memory | 8 GB — the API, database, Redis and function workers together |
|---|---|
| CPU | 4 vCPU |
| Storage | 80 GB; uploads and function runtime images both consume it |
| Operating system | Ubuntu 22.04 LTS |
| Installs on | Ubuntu 24.04 LTS, Ubuntu 22.04 LTS, Debian 13 (Trixie), Debian 12 Bookworm, AlmaLinux 9, AlmaLinux 8, Rocky Linux 9, Rocky Linux 8 |
| Ready in | About 10 minutes |
| Smallest server | 2 vCPU · 4 GB memory · 30 GB disk |
How deployment works
Appwrite is deployed with its Docker Compose stack behind TLS on your own domain. Enable only the function runtimes you actually use — each is a container image, and enabling all of them consumes disk and memory for no benefit. The storage volume and the database need separate backup consideration.
What people run it for
Mobile app backends
Auth, data and storage with first-class Flutter and native SDKs.
Leaving Firebase
A comparable feature set on infrastructure you control.
Data residency
User records and uploads kept in a required jurisdiction.
Serverless functions
Event-driven code without a per-invocation bill.
Appwrite hosting questions
Related applications
Supabase Hosting Postgres with auth, storage and realtime APIs, on your own server. 
PocketBase Hosting A single-binary backend with SQLite, auth and realtime — remarkably light. 
Redis Hosting In-memory cache, sessions and queues, priced as memory rather than per gigabyte. 
Portainer Hosting A web interface for Docker — containers, images, volumes and networks, without living in the CLI. 
Elasticsearch Hosting Full-text search and log analytics, with heap and retention under your control. Deploy Appwrite on your own server
Root access, your choice of size, and no container between you and the application.