Best VPS for Mastodon in 2026

Mastodon is the decentralized Twitter alternative. Run your own instance and you control your social media — no algorithms, no ads, complete data ownership.

What is Mastodon?

Mastodon is a federated social network:

• Your server, your rules — Set your own moderation policies
• Federated — Connect with all other Mastodon/fediverse servers
• No algorithm — Chronological timeline
• No ads — Ever
• ActivityPub — Compatible with Pleroma, Pixelfed, PeerTube

Think of it as running your own Twitter that can talk to everyone else's Twitter.

VPS Requirements

Mastodon is Ruby on Rails and resource-hungry:

Single-User Instance

• 2 vCPU
• 4GB RAM
• 40GB storage
• Good bandwidth

Small Community (10-50 users)

• 2-4 vCPU
• 8GB RAM
• 80GB storage

Medium Instance (50-500 users)

• 4+ vCPU
• 16GB RAM
• 200GB+ storage
• Consider dedicated

Why So Hungry?

Mastodon runs:

• Ruby on Rails web server
• Sidekiq background workers
• PostgreSQL database
• Redis cache
• Elasticsearch (optional)
• Media processing

It's a full stack application, not a lightweight service.

Best VPS for Mastodon

1. Hetzner CX31 (Best Value)

€10.49/mo | 2 vCPU, 8GB RAM, 80GB NVMe

8GB RAM handles single-user to small community. Hetzner's 20TB bandwidth is crucial for federation traffic.

Best for: Personal or small group instances

2. Hostinger KVM4 (Best Budget Large)

$12.99/mo | 4 vCPU, 8GB RAM, 200GB NVMe

4 cores help with background job processing. 200GB storage is generous for media.

3. Hetzner CX41 (Best for Growth)

€17.49/mo | 4 vCPU, 16GB RAM, 160GB NVMe

16GB RAM gives headroom. Upgrade path to CX51 if you grow.

4. Contabo VPS M (Most Storage)

€10.49/mo | 6 vCPU, 16GB RAM, 400GB

Contabo's specs are unmatched if you expect lots of media uploads.

Object Storage: Critical for Mastodon

Don't store media locally. Use S3-compatible object storage:

Provider	Price	Notes
Cloudflare R2	Free 10GB	No egress fees!
Wasabi	$6.99/TB	No egress fees
Backblaze B2	$6/TB	+ bandwidth
Hetzner Storage Box	€3.81/TB	Good with Hetzner VPS

Cloudflare R2 is best — generous free tier, no bandwidth charges.

Complete Setup Guide

Step 1: Create Your VPS

Using Hetzner CX31:

1. Sign up at Hetzner Cloud
2. Ubuntu 22.04 → CX31 → Add SSH key
3. Note IP address

Step 2: DNS Setup

A      mastodon.yourdomain.com    → your-vps-ip
AAAA   mastodon.yourdomain.com    → your-ipv6 (optional)

Step 3: Initial Server Setup

ssh root@your-vps-ip

# Update and install dependencies
apt update && apt upgrade -y
apt install -y curl wget gnupg apt-transport-https lsb-release ca-certificates

# Create mastodon user
adduser --disabled-login mastodon

# Install Node.js
curl -fsSL https://deb.nodesource.com/setup_20.x | bash -
apt install -y nodejs

# Install Yarn
corepack enable
yarn set version classic

# Install Ruby (rbenv)
apt install -y git build-essential libssl-dev libreadline-dev \
  zlib1g-dev libpq-dev libidn11-dev libicu-dev libjemalloc-dev \
  imagemagick ffmpeg libvips-dev libvips42

su - mastodon
git clone https://github.com/rbenv/rbenv.git ~/.rbenv
echo 'export PATH="$HOME/.rbenv/bin:$PATH"' >> ~/.bashrc
echo 'eval "$(rbenv init -)"' >> ~/.bashrc
source ~/.bashrc

git clone https://github.com/rbenv/ruby-build.git ~/.rbenv/plugins/ruby-build
rbenv install 3.2.3
rbenv global 3.2.3
exit

Step 4: Install PostgreSQL & Redis

# PostgreSQL
apt install -y postgresql postgresql-contrib

sudo -u postgres psql
CREATE USER mastodon CREATEDB;
\q

# Redis
apt install -y redis-server
systemctl enable redis-server

Step 5: Install Mastodon

su - mastodon
git clone https://github.com/mastodon/mastodon.git live
cd live
git checkout $(git tag -l | grep '^v[0-9.]*$' | sort -V | tail -n 1)

bundle config deployment 'true'
bundle config without 'development test'
bundle install -j$(nproc)
yarn install --frozen-lockfile

# Setup wizard
RAILS_ENV=production bundle exec rake mastodon:setup

Follow the interactive setup:

• Domain: mastodon.yourdomain.com
• Database: local (already created)
• Redis: local
• Object storage: configure S3/R2
• SMTP: your email provider
• Admin email: you@yourdomain.com

Step 6: Configure Nginx

exit # back to root

apt install -y nginx certbot python3-certbot-nginx

# Get SSL certificate
certbot --nginx -d mastodon.yourdomain.com

# Copy Mastodon nginx config
cp /home/mastodon/live/dist/nginx.conf /etc/nginx/sites-available/mastodon
ln -s /etc/nginx/sites-available/mastodon /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/

# Edit and update domain
nano /etc/nginx/sites-available/mastodon
# Change server_name to your domain

nginx -t
systemctl restart nginx

Step 7: Setup Systemd Services

cp /home/mastodon/live/dist/mastodon-*.service /etc/systemd/system/

systemctl daemon-reload
systemctl enable mastodon-web mastodon-sidekiq mastodon-streaming
systemctl start mastodon-web mastodon-sidekiq mastodon-streaming

Step 8: Create Admin Account

su - mastodon
cd live
RAILS_ENV=production bin/tootctl accounts create admin \
  --email you@yourdomain.com \
  --confirmed \
  --role Owner

Save the password shown!

Object Storage Setup (Cloudflare R2)

Create R2 Bucket

1. Cloudflare Dashboard → R2
2. Create bucket: mastodon-media
3. Create API token with read/write access

Configure Mastodon

Edit /home/mastodon/live/.env.production:

S3_ENABLED=true
S3_BUCKET=mastodon-media
S3_REGION=auto
S3_PROTOCOL=https
S3_HOSTNAME=YOUR_ACCOUNT_ID.r2.cloudflarestorage.com
S3_ENDPOINT=https://YOUR_ACCOUNT_ID.r2.cloudflarestorage.com
AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID=your-r2-access-key
AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY=your-r2-secret-key
S3_ALIAS_HOST=media.yourdomain.com

Configure CDN

In Cloudflare:

1. Add CNAME: media.yourdomain.com → YOUR_ACCOUNT_ID.r2.cloudflarestorage.com
2. Enable Cloudflare proxy (orange cloud)

Now media is served via Cloudflare CDN — fast and free bandwidth.

Email Configuration

Mastodon needs email for:

• Account confirmations
• Password resets
• Notifications

Using Resend (Recommended)

SMTP_SERVER=smtp.resend.com
SMTP_PORT=587
SMTP_LOGIN=resend
SMTP_PASSWORD=re_xxxx
SMTP_FROM_ADDRESS=notifications@yourdomain.com

Using Mailgun

SMTP_SERVER=smtp.mailgun.org
SMTP_PORT=587
SMTP_LOGIN=postmaster@yourdomain.com
SMTP_PASSWORD=your-password
SMTP_FROM_ADDRESS=notifications@yourdomain.com

Performance Tuning

PostgreSQL

Edit /etc/postgresql/15/main/postgresql.conf:

shared_buffers = 2GB
effective_cache_size = 6GB
work_mem = 16MB
maintenance_work_mem = 512MB

Redis

Edit /etc/redis/redis.conf:

maxmemory 1gb
maxmemory-policy allkeys-lru

Sidekiq Workers

Edit /etc/systemd/system/mastodon-sidekiq.service:

[Service]
Environment="MALLOC_ARENA_MAX=2"
Environment="DB_POOL=25"
ExecStart=/home/mastodon/.rbenv/shims/bundle exec sidekiq -c 25

More workers = faster job processing, but more RAM.

Enable Elasticsearch (Optional)

For full-text search:

# Install Elasticsearch
wget -qO - https://artifacts.elastic.co/GPG-KEY-elasticsearch | apt-key add -
echo "deb https://artifacts.elastic.co/packages/7.x/apt stable main" > /etc/apt/sources.list.d/elastic-7.x.list
apt update && apt install elasticsearch

systemctl enable elasticsearch
systemctl start elasticsearch

Configure in .env.production:

ES_ENABLED=true
ES_HOST=localhost
ES_PORT=9200

Rebuild search index:

RAILS_ENV=production bin/tootctl search deploy

Maintenance Tasks

Update Mastodon

su - mastodon
cd live

git fetch --all
git checkout $(git tag -l | grep '^v[0-9.]*$' | sort -V | tail -n 1)

bundle install
yarn install --frozen-lockfile
RAILS_ENV=production bundle exec rails db:migrate
RAILS_ENV=production bundle exec rails assets:precompile

exit

systemctl restart mastodon-web mastodon-sidekiq mastodon-streaming

Clean Up Old Media

su - mastodon
cd live

# Remove remote media older than 7 days
RAILS_ENV=production bin/tootctl media remove --days=7

# Remove orphaned files
RAILS_ENV=production bin/tootctl media remove-orphans

Schedule with cron:

0 4 * * * /home/mastodon/live/bin/tootctl media remove --days=7

Backup

# Database
pg_dump -Fc mastodon_production > backup.dump

# Environment
cp /home/mastodon/live/.env.production backup/

# Secrets
# Back up your .env.production securely!

Resource Usage

Typical single-user instance:

Component	RAM
Puma (web)	500MB-1GB
Sidekiq	500MB-2GB
Streaming	100MB
PostgreSQL	1GB
Redis	200MB
Total	3-5GB

8GB gives comfortable headroom.

Federation Tips

Get Discovered

1. Use relays — Connect to Mastodon relays for more content
2. Follow interesting people — Their posts appear on your instance
3. Use hashtags — Discoverable across federation

Block Bad Actors

In admin panel:

• Domain blocks for spam instances
• Silence instances you don't want to amplify
• Suspend truly problematic domains

FAQ

How much does it cost to run Mastodon?

Users	VPS	Storage	Total
1-10	€10/mo	~Free	~€10/mo
10-50	€17/mo	€5/mo	~€22/mo
50-500	€35/mo	€20/mo	~€55/mo

Is Mastodon hard to maintain?

Moderate. Updates are frequent. Budget 2-4 hours/month for maintenance.

Can I migrate from Twitter?

Yes! Use tools like Movetodon to find your Twitter follows on Mastodon.

Single-user or community?

Start single-user. You can open registrations later if desired.

What about moderation?

You're responsible. Single-user is easy. Community requires clear rules and active moderation.

Recommended Setup

Use Case	VPS	Monthly Cost
Personal	Hetzner CX31	€10.49
Small Group	Hostinger KVM4	$12.99
Community	Hetzner CX41	€17.49

Start with Hetzner CX31 + Cloudflare R2 — about €10/month for complete fediverse independence.