Jellyfin VPS requirements: what the docs say (and why a plain VPS is tricky)
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Jellyfin itself is a single container, but transcoding video is heavy. The official hardware guide is blunt about CPU-only servers.
Official hardware guidance
| App | RAM (min) | CPU cores (min) | Disk (min) | Containers / services | GitHub stars | License | Spec source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 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 | [2] |
- RAM: 8 GB recommended for the average deployment; 4 GB may be enough on a Linux server without a GUI[2].
- Storage: 100 GB of SSD for the OS, Jellyfin's files and the transcode cache — media storage comes on top[2].
- GPU: the guide says servers without GPUs are not recommended because CPU-only transcoding is very demanding[2].
What this means for a VPS
None of the general-purpose plans we track include a GPU. Measured only on RAM (4 GB minimum, 8 GB recommended) and the 100 GB SSD figure:
| Plan | vCPU | RAM | Disk | Price (checked October 2026) | Meets Jellyfin minimum | Meets recommended | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hostinger — KVM 1 | 1 | 4 GB | 50 GB NVMe | $6.49/mo promo, paid upfront; renews at $11.99/mo[3] | No | No | View plan |
| Hostinger — KVM 2 | 2 | 8 GB | 100 GB NVMe | $8.79/mo promo, paid upfront; renews at $14.99/mo[3] | Yes | Yes | View plan |
| Hostinger — KVM 4 | 4 | 16 GB | 200 GB NVMe | $12.99/mo promo, paid upfront; renews at $28.99/mo[3] | Yes | Yes | View plan |
| Hostinger — KVM 8 | 8 | 32 GB | 400 GB NVMe | $25.99/mo promo, paid upfront; renews at $49.99/mo[3] | Yes | Yes | View plan |
| Hetzner — CX23 (Cost-Optimized) | 2 | 4 GB | 40 GB NVMe | from €5.99/mo excl. VAT; hourly billing with monthly cap; listed as not available in some locations at check time[4] | No | No | View plan |
| Vultr — Cloud Compute Regular 1 vCPU / 1 GB | 1 | 1 GB | 25 GB SSD | $5.00/mo[5] | No | No | View plan |
| Vultr — Cloud Compute High Performance 1 vCPU / 2 GB | 1 | 2 GB | 50 GB NVMe | $12.00/mo[5] | No | No | View plan |
| Vultr — Cloud Compute Regular 2 vCPU / 4 GB | 2 | 4 GB | 80 GB SSD | $20.00/mo[5] | No | No | View plan |
| Vultr — Cloud Compute High Performance 2 vCPU / 4 GB | 2 | 4 GB | 100 GB NVMe | $24.00/mo[5] | Yes | No | View plan |
| Vultr — Cloud Compute High Performance 4 vCPU / 8 GB | 4 | 8 GB | 180 GB NVMe | $48.00/mo[5] | Yes | Yes | View plan |
| DigitalOcean — Basic 1 GiB | 1 | 1 GB | 25 GB SSD | $6.00/mo GiB as listed[6] | No | No | View plan |
| DigitalOcean — Basic 2 GiB / 1 vCPU | 1 | 2 GB | 50 GB SSD | $12.00/mo GiB as listed[6] | No | No | View plan |
| DigitalOcean — Basic 4 GiB / 2 vCPU | 2 | 4 GB | 80 GB SSD | $24.00/mo GiB as listed[6] | No | No | View plan |
| DigitalOcean — Basic 8 GiB / 4 vCPU | 4 | 8 GB | 160 GB SSD | $48.00/mo GiB as listed[6] | Yes | Yes | View plan |
| DigitalOcean — Basic 16 GiB / 8 vCPU | 8 | 16 GB | 320 GB SSD | $96.00/mo GiB as listed[6] | Yes | Yes | View plan |
“Meets” is a mechanical comparison of the plan's listed vCPU/RAM/disk against the published figures cited on this page — not a performance test. Your apps, users and data add load on top. GiB (DigitalOcean) and GB are treated as equal here.
Even where a plan “meets” these figures, the GPU recommendation is not met. Also check bandwidth: streaming uses transfer, and Vultr, for example, charges $0.01/GB beyond the included amount[5].
Exposure to the internet
Jellyfin's hardware guide states that Jellyfin Server is not designed to be exposed directly to the internet and should stay behind a properly configured firewall or other secure network environment[2].
Other media servers: multimedia streaming directory · video streaming directory.
FAQ
How much RAM does Jellyfin need?
Can I run Jellyfin on a VPS without a GPU?
How much disk does Jellyfin need?
Sources (checked October 2026)
- awesome-selfhosted-data (CC BY-SA 3.0) — https://github.com/awesome-selfhosted/awesome-selfhosted-data
- Jellyfin docs: Selecting Appropriate Hardware — https://jellyfin.org/docs/general/administration/hardware-selection/
- Hostinger VPS hosting pricing — https://www.hostinger.com/vps-hosting
- Hetzner Cloud Cost-Optimized plans — https://www.hetzner.com/cloud/cost-optimized
- Vultr pricing — https://www.vultr.com/pricing/
- DigitalOcean Droplet pricing — https://www.digitalocean.com/pricing/droplets