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Running your own server
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Why would you want to run your own Mastodon server?

There are a number of benefits to running your own Mastodon instance, including:

  • Complete control over your own voice on the web, not subject to anyone else's rules or whims. Your server is your property, with your rules. Your server will exist as long as you want it to exist.
  • You are not isolated on your own server. You can follow anyone on any other server, and they can follow you and you can exchange messages just as if you were on the same server.
  • You can either limit sign-ups to be the only one on the server and run it like personal (micro)blog; maintain an invite-only community for family or friends; or, run a server anyone can sign up on - it's up to you!

{{< hint style="warning" >}} Please bear in mind that providing a public internet service involves moderation work and community management. This kind of work becomes more complicated the larger your server grows. {{< /hint >}}

So you want to run your own Mastodon server

Here is what you need:

  • A domain name. This is how you and others will access your server and how you and your users will be identified on the network.

    How to get: Namecheap, Gandi, Hover, or any of the large number of domain name registrars. A domain comes with an annual cost, that varies depending on the choice of domain name.

  • A VPS (Virtual Private Server). Something that will run the Mastodon code, that will always be connected to the internet.

    How to get: DigitalOcean, Hetzner, Exoscale, Scaleway, any of the large number of hosting providers. A VPS comes with a monthly or annual cost that varies depending on hardware specifications.

  • An e-mail provider. Mastodon needs to send confirmation links and various notifications through e-mail, and hosting your own SMTP server, while possible, is much more difficult to do reliably than to use a third-party provider.

    How to get: Mailgun, SparkPost, Postmark, Sendgrid, any of the large number of e-mail hosting providers that expose a SMTP API. An email provider comes with a monthly or annual cost, usually based on volume of e-mails sent.

  • (optionally) an Object storage provider. Mastodon can save files that you and your users upload on the hard disk drive of the VPS it runs on; however, the hard disk drive is usually not infinite, and can be difficult to upgrade later. An object storage provider gives you practically infinite metered file storage.

    How to get: Amazon S3, Exoscale, Wasabi, Google Cloud, anything that exposes either an S3-compatible or OpenStack Swift-compatible API. An object storage provider comes with a monthly cost based on the number and size of files stored, as well as how often they are accessed.

There are a number of dedicated Mastodon hosting providers that take care of many (if not all) of the above requirements. You can choose one of these if you're interested in having someone else look after all of the technical stuff. Note that you usually still need to buy your own domain name. Some of the providers are:

{{< caption-link url="https://masto.host" caption="Masto.host" >}}

{{< caption-link url="https://hostdon.jp" caption="Hostdon" >}}

{{< caption-link url="https://app.spacebear.ee/mastodon" caption="Spacebear" >}}

{{< caption-link url="https://ossrox.org" caption="Ossrox" >}}

{{< caption-link url="https://weingaertner-it.de" caption="Weingärtner IT" >}}

{{< caption-link url="https://fedi.monster/" caption="Fedi.monster" >}}

{{< caption-link url="https://cloudplane.org" caption="Cloudplane" >}}

{{< caption-link url="https://ungleich.ch/u/products/mastodon-hosting/" caption="ungleich.ch" >}}

Managed hosting solutions are great for those who do not have experience or desire to install and maintain software. However, being in charge of all components on your own hardware gives greater control over scaling, performance and customization.

We provide a DigitalOcean 1-Click Install Image that you can put on a DigitalOcean droplet of your choosing, which essentially gives you everything you would otherwise have after following our installation instructions through an interactive setup wizard.

{{< caption-link url="https://marketplace.digitalocean.com/apps/mastodon" caption="Mastodon 1-Click Install Image on DigitalOcean" >}}

The 1-Click Install does assume a single-machine setup. Mastodon scales quite well horizontally. If your needs outgrow the capacity of a single machine, Mastodon can be divided into multiple app servers, background workers, multiple Redis backends, PostgreSQL replicas -- but the 1-click Install won't cut it.

If you're interested in installing, configuring and managing everything on your own, proceed here:

{{< page-ref page="admin/prerequisites" >}}