# Self-Hosting Advice
**URL:** https://meta.discourse.org/t/self-hosting-advice/160354
**Category:** Self-hosting
**Tags:** hosting
**Created:** [August 10, 2020, 2:05pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/self-hosting-advice/160354 "2020-08-10T14:05:37Z")
**Posts on this page:** 14
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@F\_Farnfield](https://meta.discourse.org/u/F_Farnfield)
#### Post date: [August 10, 2020, 2:05pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/self-hosting-advice/160354/1 "2020-08-10T14:05:37Z")
Hi everyone,
I love Discourse. I have for a long while. I am planning to set up my own community. I just need some advice on hosting.
So, I don’t want to the extortionate discourse pricing at £100 per month. So, I am thinking about doing down the self-hosting route. I am not seriously committed to this, so I don’t want to pay anything for it. I already have a computer that I can use but I am not sure if my internet will be able to take the hit. I imagine my community will be very small for a long time with no more than 5 members active at once. So, can someone let me know if my internet speed is good enough? I have taken this test a peek internet usage time in my house as my family are all working from home.
Ping - 6ms
Download - 68.4Mbps
Upload - 18.5Mbps
If my internet speed is not good enough, can anyone recommend a free hosting service that I can run Discourse on?
I appreciate your time and thanks in advanced.
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### Author:  [@Canapin](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Canapin)
#### Post date: [August 10, 2020, 2:10pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/self-hosting-advice/160354/2 "2020-08-10T14:10:45Z")
> [@F\_Farnfield](#):
>
> so I don’t want to pay anything for it
Then you may be interested in [Self hosting for free (with caveats!) with Oracle Cloud](https://meta.discourse.org/t/self-hosting-for-free-with-oracle-cloud/139184)
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### Author:  [@F\_Farnfield](https://meta.discourse.org/u/F_Farnfield)
#### Post date: [August 10, 2020, 2:30pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/self-hosting-advice/160354/3 "2020-08-10T14:30:45Z")
I will find out if I can self-host first. If not, I will definitely give that a go.
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### Author:  [@marianord](https://meta.discourse.org/u/marianord)
#### Post date: [August 10, 2020, 2:37pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/self-hosting-advice/160354/4 "2020-08-10T14:37:13Z")
> [@F\_Farnfield](#):
>
> If my internet speed is not good enough, can anyone recommend a free hosting service that I can run Discourse on?
It’s good enough to handle Discourse, you shouldn’t see any issue in bandwidth.
Just as an important note going the self-hosted non-standard installation support here will be limited. Also, I know Discourse hosting might seem expensive but _extortionate_ is a hard word to use.
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### Author:  [@Falco](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Falco)
#### Post date: [August 10, 2020, 2:43pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/self-hosting-advice/160354/5 "2020-08-10T14:43:55Z")
This looks like a home internet connection. Does it provide a static IPv4? Can it receive incoming traffic from the WAN on privileged ports like 80 and 443?
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### Author:  [@F\_Farnfield](https://meta.discourse.org/u/F_Farnfield)
#### Post date: [August 10, 2020, 2:49pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/self-hosting-advice/160354/6 "2020-08-10T14:49:05Z")
Hi there @Falco,
I don’t actually know about that. However, I am going to leave it for now. If I have any further questions or concerns, I will create another topic.
Thanks for the help anywhere
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### Author:  [@F\_Farnfield](https://meta.discourse.org/u/F_Farnfield)
#### Post date: [August 10, 2020, 3:02pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/self-hosting-advice/160354/7 "2020-08-10T15:02:38Z")
One of the reasons that I have left it for now is that I don’t really know what I am doing. So, if anyone has created a video on how to set it up on Oricle Cloud, I would greatly appreciate it. Also, will I have to purchase a domain?
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### Author:  [@CorruptBlu](https://meta.discourse.org/u/CorruptBlu)
#### Post date: [August 10, 2020, 3:20pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/self-hosting-advice/160354/8 "2020-08-10T15:20:08Z")
You should use this blog post: [How to setup Discourse for free on Oracle Cloud](https://blogs.oracle.com/developers/install-run-discourse-for-free-in-the-oracle-cloud).
It explains how to set it up fairly well.
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### Author:  [@F\_Farnfield](https://meta.discourse.org/u/F_Farnfield)
#### Post date: [August 10, 2020, 3:33pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/self-hosting-advice/160354/9 "2020-08-10T15:33:30Z")
If I wanted to use a domain, would I have to purchase it separately?
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### Author:  [@CorruptBlu](https://meta.discourse.org/u/CorruptBlu)
#### Post date: [August 10, 2020, 4:34pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/self-hosting-advice/160354/10 "2020-08-10T16:34:59Z")
Yes. Namecheap offers really cheap domains if you’re willing to spend just a little bit of money.
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### Author:  [@F\_Farnfield](https://meta.discourse.org/u/F_Farnfield)
#### Post date: [August 10, 2020, 4:43pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/self-hosting-advice/160354/11 "2020-08-10T16:43:33Z")
Ok, thanks, I will think about it.
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### Author:  [@samir.khan](https://meta.discourse.org/u/samir.khan)
#### Post date: [August 10, 2020, 7:39pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/self-hosting-advice/160354/12 "2020-08-10T19:39:01Z")
> [@Canapin](#):
>
> Then you may be interested in [Self hosting for free with Oracle Cloud](https://meta.discourse.org/t/self-hosting-for-free-with-oracle-cloud/139184)
I’m always a bit skeptical when things are free like this - are there any downsides to using free Oracle Cloud?
Also wondering if it would be a simple process If I set this up and then decided to move over to Digital Ocean at a later time. Could I simply transfer all the data?
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### Author:  [@Falco](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Falco)
#### Post date: [August 10, 2020, 7:47pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/self-hosting-advice/160354/13 "2020-08-10T19:47:45Z")
> [@samir.khan](#):
>
> are there any downsides to using free Oracle Cloud?
It is really slow. Many times slower than the cheapest Digital Ocean offering.
> [@samir.khan](#):
>
> I set this up and then decided to move over to Digital Ocean at a later time. Could I simply transfer all the data?
Just follow [Moving Discourse Docker install to other VPS with 1:1 sync](https://meta.discourse.org/t/moving-discourse-docker-install-to-other-vps-with-1-1-sync/43812)
---
### Author:  [@SouperC](https://meta.discourse.org/u/SouperC)
#### Post date: [August 11, 2020, 2:03am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/self-hosting-advice/160354/14 "2020-08-11T02:03:32Z")
My advice: Don’t self host.
There are decent options at the lower end of hosting. OVH is fairly inexpensive. They have a VPS for around $5/mo that will run discourse. For that you can follow the Ubuntu install guide.
Another thing to consider is the financial cost of hosting a community is minimal compared to the investment of your time.