Nextcloud VPS requirements (official figures)
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Nextcloud doesn't publish one total RAM number. It publishes memory per PHP process and says the total depends on users, apps, files and activity — so this page shows the official figures and lets you size from there.
What the Nextcloud admin manual says
- Memory: minimum 128 MB per process, recommended 512 MB per process[1].
- The built-in Updater needs at least 256 MB[1].
- Total memory depends on the number of users, apps, files and server activity[1].
- Database: MariaDB/MySQL or PostgreSQL recommended; SQLite only for testing and minimal setups[1].
- Platform: 64-bit CPU, OS and PHP strongly recommended[1].
| App | RAM (min) | CPU cores (min) | Disk (min) | Containers / services | GitHub stars | License | Spec source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nextcloud | not published | not published | — | All-in-One: 1 master container that then starts the other containers | 37,182[2] | AGPL-3.0 | [1][3] |
Deploying with All-in-One (AIO)
The official AIO compose file starts 1 master container, which then creates and manages the other Nextcloud containers[3].
Plans to consider
Because Nextcloud has no single total, we don't mark plans as “meets” or “doesn't meet”. For orientation, here are listed specs (checked October 2026):
| Plan | vCPU | RAM | Disk | Price (checked October 2026) | Meets published minimum of… | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hostinger — KVM 1 | 1 | 4 GB | 50 GB NVMe | $6.49/mo promo, paid upfront; renews at $11.99/mo[4] | n8n, OpenClaw Gateway, AFFiNE, Dokploy | View plan |
| Hostinger — KVM 2 | 2 | 8 GB | 100 GB NVMe | $8.79/mo promo, paid upfront; renews at $14.99/mo[4] | Immich, PhotoPrism, Seafile CE, Jellyfin, n8n, OpenClaw Gateway, AFFiNE, Coolify, Dokploy | View plan |
| Hostinger — KVM 4 | 4 | 16 GB | 200 GB NVMe | $12.99/mo promo, paid upfront; renews at $28.99/mo[4] | Immich, PhotoPrism, Seafile CE, Jellyfin, n8n, OpenClaw Gateway, AFFiNE, Coolify, Dokploy | View plan |
| Hostinger — KVM 8 | 8 | 32 GB | 400 GB NVMe | $25.99/mo promo, paid upfront; renews at $49.99/mo[4] | Immich, PhotoPrism, Seafile CE, Jellyfin, n8n, OpenClaw Gateway, AFFiNE, Coolify, Dokploy | 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[5] | PhotoPrism, Seafile CE, n8n, OpenClaw Gateway, AFFiNE, Coolify, Dokploy | View plan |
| Vultr — Cloud Compute Regular 1 vCPU / 1 GB | 1 | 1 GB | 25 GB SSD | $5.00/mo[6] | n8n, OpenClaw Gateway | View plan |
| Vultr — Cloud Compute High Performance 1 vCPU / 2 GB | 1 | 2 GB | 50 GB NVMe | $12.00/mo[6] | n8n, OpenClaw Gateway, AFFiNE, Dokploy | View plan |
| Vultr — Cloud Compute Regular 2 vCPU / 4 GB | 2 | 4 GB | 80 GB SSD | $20.00/mo[6] | PhotoPrism, Seafile CE, n8n, OpenClaw Gateway, AFFiNE, Coolify, Dokploy | View plan |
| Vultr — Cloud Compute High Performance 2 vCPU / 4 GB | 2 | 4 GB | 100 GB NVMe | $24.00/mo[6] | PhotoPrism, Seafile CE, Jellyfin, n8n, OpenClaw Gateway, AFFiNE, Coolify, Dokploy | View plan |
| Vultr — Cloud Compute High Performance 4 vCPU / 8 GB | 4 | 8 GB | 180 GB NVMe | $48.00/mo[6] | Immich, PhotoPrism, Seafile CE, Jellyfin, n8n, OpenClaw Gateway, AFFiNE, Coolify, Dokploy | View plan |
| DigitalOcean — Basic 1 GiB | 1 | 1 GB | 25 GB SSD | $6.00/mo GiB as listed[7] | n8n, OpenClaw Gateway | View plan |
| DigitalOcean — Basic 2 GiB / 1 vCPU | 1 | 2 GB | 50 GB SSD | $12.00/mo GiB as listed[7] | n8n, OpenClaw Gateway, AFFiNE, Dokploy | View plan |
| DigitalOcean — Basic 4 GiB / 2 vCPU | 2 | 4 GB | 80 GB SSD | $24.00/mo GiB as listed[7] | PhotoPrism, Seafile CE, n8n, OpenClaw Gateway, AFFiNE, Coolify, Dokploy | View plan |
| DigitalOcean — Basic 8 GiB / 4 vCPU | 4 | 8 GB | 160 GB SSD | $48.00/mo GiB as listed[7] | Immich, PhotoPrism, Seafile CE, Jellyfin, n8n, OpenClaw Gateway, AFFiNE, Coolify, Dokploy | View plan |
| DigitalOcean — Basic 16 GiB / 8 vCPU | 8 | 16 GB | 320 GB SSD | $96.00/mo GiB as listed[7] | Immich, PhotoPrism, Seafile CE, Jellyfin, n8n, OpenClaw Gateway, AFFiNE, Coolify, Dokploy | View plan |
Storage is usually the real constraint for a file server: compare the disk column with the size of the files you plan to store.
Lighter alternatives
Seafile CE publishes a concrete minimum (2 GB RAM, 2 cores, 10 GB disk)[8]. See self-hosted Google Drive alternatives and the file sync directory.
FAQ
How much RAM does Nextcloud need?
The Nextcloud admin manual specifies a minimum of 128 MB and a recommended 512 MB per process, and notes the Updater needs at least 256 MB. Total memory depends on users, apps, files and activity.
Which database should I use for Nextcloud?
MariaDB/MySQL or PostgreSQL. The manual says SQLite is only for testing and minimal instances.
How many containers does Nextcloud AIO use?
You start one master container from the official compose file; it then creates and manages the other containers.
Sources (checked October 2026)
- Nextcloud Admin Manual: System requirements — https://docs.nextcloud.com/server/latest/admin_manual/installation/system_requirements.html
- awesome-selfhosted-data (CC BY-SA 3.0) — https://github.com/awesome-selfhosted/awesome-selfhosted-data
- Nextcloud All-in-One compose.yaml — https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nextcloud/all-in-one/main/compose.yaml
- 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
- Seafile Admin Manual: System requirements — https://manual.seafile.com/latest/setup/system_requirements/