Best VPS for Discourse in 2026

Discourse is the most popular open-source forum platform. Modern design, real-time updates, trust levels, built-in moderation — it's what community forums should be. Self-hosting means you own your community data and skip the $100/month hosting fee.

Why Self-Host Discourse?

Factor	Discourse Hosted (Standard)	Discourse Hosted (Business)	Self-Hosted
Price	$100/mo	$300/mo	~$6-15/mo
Storage	100GB	500GB	Your disk
Staff users	Unlimited	Unlimited	Unlimited
Plugins	Official only	Official + some	Any plugin
Custom themes	Limited	Yes	Full access
CDN	Included	Included	You configure
Backups	Automatic	Automatic	You manage

At $100/month for the cheapest hosted plan, self-hosting Discourse pays for itself almost immediately. A $6/month VPS does the job for most communities.

VPS Requirements

Discourse is a Ruby on Rails app backed by PostgreSQL and Redis. It's heavier than static site generators but manageable.

RAM (Critical)

• Discourse minimum: 2GB (absolute floor, will swap)
• Comfortable for small communities: 4GB
• Active community (1000+ daily users): 8GB
• Multiple Discourse containers or heavy plugins: 16GB
• Discourse uses PostgreSQL + Redis + Sidekiq workers — all memory-hungry
• 2GB is the official minimum but 4GB is strongly recommended

CPU (Moderate)

• 2 vCPU handles most communities fine
• Sidekiq background jobs (emails, notifications) need CPU headroom
• Rebuilding the container is CPU-intensive (happens during updates)
• 4+ vCPU for communities with 5000+ daily active users

Storage (Moderate)

• Base install: ~5GB
• Growth depends on uploads (images, attachments)
• 40GB works for small communities
• 80-100GB for communities with heavy image/file uploads
• SSD/NVMe required — PostgreSQL performance depends on it

Network

• Low bandwidth for text-heavy forums
• Increases with image uploads and CDN-miss traffic
• 1Gbps is plenty

Best VPS for Discourse

1. Hostinger KVM2 (Best Overall) ⭐

$5.99/mo | 2 vCPU, 8GB RAM, 100GB NVMe

8GB RAM gives Discourse room to breathe with PostgreSQL, Redis, and Sidekiq all running. 100GB NVMe handles years of community content. The best price-to-performance ratio for Discourse hosting.

Best for: Most communities, worry-free resources

→ Get Hostinger VPS

2. Hetzner CX22 (Best Budget)

€3.99/mo | 2 vCPU, 4GB RAM, 40GB NVMe

Meets Discourse's recommended specs at the lowest price. 4GB RAM runs a small-to-medium community without swapping. 40GB NVMe is enough if your community isn't upload-heavy.

Best for: New communities, tight budgets

→ Get Hetzner VPS

3. Contabo VPS M (Best Value)

€9.49/mo | 6 vCPU, 16GB RAM, 200GB NVMe

16GB RAM lets you run Discourse with heavy plugins, ElasticSearch for better search, and still have headroom. 200GB NVMe stores years of uploads. Six vCPUs make container rebuilds fast.

Best for: Large communities, plugin-heavy setups, 5000+ users

→ Get Contabo VPS

4. Hetzner CPX31 (Best Performance)

€14.49/mo | 4 vCPU, 8GB RAM, 160GB NVMe

Dedicated AMD EPYC vCPUs give consistent performance during traffic spikes and container rebuilds. 160GB NVMe handles large upload libraries.

Best for: Active communities needing reliable response times

→ Get Hetzner VPS

5. Vultr Cloud Compute (Best Global Coverage)

$24/mo | 2 vCPU, 4GB RAM, 80GB NVMe

32 data centers worldwide. Place your forum close to your community for lower latency. Good option if your users are concentrated in a specific region outside US/EU.

Best for: Communities in Asia, South America, or Australia

→ Get Vultr VPS

Quick Comparison

VPS	RAM	vCPU	Storage	Price	Best For
Hostinger KVM2	8GB	2	100GB NVMe	$5.99/mo	Overall best
Hetzner CX22	4GB	2	40GB NVMe	€3.99/mo	Budget
Contabo M	16GB	6	200GB NVMe	€9.49/mo	Large communities
Hetzner CPX31	8GB	4	160GB NVMe	€14.49/mo	Performance
Vultr CC	4GB	2	80GB NVMe	$24/mo	Global

How to Install Discourse

Discourse uses its own Docker-based installer. It's opinionated but reliable.

Prerequisites

# Update system
sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade -y

# Install Docker (if not installed)
curl -fsSL https://get.docker.com | sh
sudo usermod -aG docker $USER

Official Install

# Clone Discourse Docker manager
sudo -s
git clone https://github.com/discourse/discourse_docker.git /var/discourse
cd /var/discourse

# Run setup wizard
./discourse-setup

The setup wizard asks for:

• Hostname: forum.yourdomain.com
• Email: admin email for Let's Encrypt + first admin account
• SMTP settings: Required — Discourse won't work without email

SMTP Options

Discourse requires working email. Budget-friendly options:

Service	Free Tier	Paid
Mailgun	1000 emails/mo	$0.80/1000
Brevo (Sendinblue)	300 emails/day	$9/mo
Amazon SES	-	$0.10/1000
Postmark	100 emails/mo	$1.25/1000

Sample SMTP Config (Mailgun)

# In containers/app.yml
env:
  DISCOURSE_SMTP_ADDRESS: smtp.mailgun.org
  DISCOURSE_SMTP_PORT: 587
  DISCOURSE_SMTP_USER_NAME: postmaster@mg.yourdomain.com
  DISCOURSE_SMTP_PASSWORD: your-mailgun-key
  DISCOURSE_SMTP_ENABLE_START_TLS: true

Build and Launch

./launcher rebuild app
# Takes 5-10 minutes on first build
# Discourse will be available at your configured hostname

Configuration Tips

containers/app.yml

templates:
  - "templates/postgres.template.yml"
  - "templates/redis.template.yml"
  - "templates/web.template.yml"
  - "templates/web.ratelimited.template.yml"
  - "templates/web.socketed.template.yml"  # If using external nginx

params:
  db_default_text_search_config: "pg_catalog.english"
  db_shared_buffers: "256MB"  # 25% of RAM, max 1GB

env:
  LC_ALL: en_US.UTF-8
  LANG: en_US.UTF-8
  LANGUAGE: en_US.UTF-8
  DISCOURSE_HOSTNAME: forum.yourdomain.com
  DISCOURSE_DEVELOPER_EMAILS: 'admin@yourdomain.com'
  UNICORN_WORKERS: 3  # 2 for 2GB RAM, 3-4 for 4GB+

Performance Tuning

# For 4GB RAM VPS
env:
  UNICORN_WORKERS: 3
  DISCOURSE_MAX_REQS_PER_IP_PER_MINUTE: 200
  DISCOURSE_MAX_REQS_PER_IP_PER_10_SECONDS: 50

params:
  db_shared_buffers: "1GB"
  db_work_mem: "40MB"

Adding Plugins

# In containers/app.yml, under hooks:
hooks:
  after_code:
    - exec:
        cd: $home/plugins
        cmd:
          - git clone https://github.com/discourse/discourse-solved.git
          - git clone https://github.com/discourse/discourse-voting.git
          - git clone https://github.com/discourse/discourse-assign.git

After adding plugins: ./launcher rebuild app

Essential Plugins

Plugin	Purpose
discourse-solved	Mark topics as solved (Q&A)
discourse-voting	Feature voting
discourse-assign	Assign topics to staff
discourse-data-explorer	Run SQL queries
discourse-chat	Built-in chat
discourse-calendar	Events and calendars
discourse-templates	Reply templates

Backup Strategy

#!/bin/bash
# backup-discourse.sh — run daily via cron
BACKUP_DIR="/backups/discourse"
DATE=$(date +%Y-%m-%d)

# Trigger backup via Discourse CLI
cd /var/discourse
./launcher run app discourse backup

# Copy latest backup
LATEST=$(./launcher run app ls -t /var/www/discourse/public/backups/default/ | head -1)
docker cp app:/var/www/discourse/public/backups/default/$LATEST "$BACKUP_DIR/$LATEST"

# Keep last 14 days
find $BACKUP_DIR -name "*.tar.gz" -mtime +14 -delete

Also enable automatic backups in Admin → Settings → Backups:

• Backup frequency: daily
• Maximum backups: 7
• Upload to S3 (optional but recommended)

Security Checklist

• HTTPS enabled (Discourse installer handles Let's Encrypt)
• SMTP configured and working (test with invite)
• Strong admin password
• Disable open registration if private community
• Set up rate limiting (enabled by default)
• Configure firewall — only ports 80/443 open
• Enable 2FA for all staff accounts
• Regular backups verified and tested
• Keep Discourse updated (./launcher rebuild app)

Updating Discourse

cd /var/discourse
git pull
./launcher rebuild app

Updates take 5-10 minutes. The forum will be briefly unavailable during rebuild. Schedule updates during low-traffic hours.

Discourse Hosted vs Self-Hosted

Feature	Hosted ($100/mo)	Self-Hosted ($6/mo)
Setup	Instant	30 minutes
Updates	Automatic	Manual (easy)
Plugins	Official only	Any
Themes	Limited customization	Full access
Backups	Included	You manage
Support	Official team	Community
Migration	Possible	Full control
Cost (yearly)	$1,200	~$72

Self-hosting saves ~$1,100/year and gives you full plugin and theme control. The tradeoff is spending 10 minutes/month on updates.

FAQ

How much RAM does Discourse need?

2GB is the absolute minimum (and it will swap). 4GB runs a small community comfortably. 8GB handles thousands of daily users with plugins.

Can I run Discourse on 1GB RAM?

No. Discourse officially requires 2GB minimum with swap. Below that, the container won't build and the forum will be unusable.

How many users can a VPS handle?

On a 4GB VPS: ~500-1000 daily active users. On 8GB: 2000-5000. Exact numbers depend on traffic patterns, plugins, and how upload-heavy your community is.

Is email really required?

Yes. Discourse uses email for signup confirmation, notifications, password resets, and mailing list mode. It won't function properly without working SMTP.

Can I migrate from other forum software?

Yes. Discourse has official importers for phpBB, vBulletin, Vanilla, NodeBB, Flarum, and many others. Check the Discourse community for import guides.

Discourse vs Flarum?

Discourse is more mature, feature-rich, and has a larger ecosystem. Flarum is lighter and simpler. For serious communities, Discourse wins. For small hobby forums, Flarum might be easier to start with.

Our Pick

Hostinger KVM2 at $5.99/month gives you 8GB RAM and 100GB NVMe — more than enough to run Discourse with plugins, thousands of users, and years of content. That's $72/year vs $1,200/year for Discourse's own hosting.

→ Get started with Hostinger