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Every guide on this site eventually hits the same practical questions: where do I host it, where do the backups go, and what do I run alongside it? This page is the standing answer — the stack we would build on today. Picks are chosen first and affiliate programs attached second, only where they exist (editorial policy).
VPS hosting
- Hetzner — a VPS option to compare for self-hosted workloads. Size memory for the model, quantization, context window, concurrency, and other services. An 8 GB instance is not a guarantee that every 7B-model workload will fit. Check current regions and plans before ordering.
- DigitalOcean — compare its documentation, regional availability, instance specifications, and backup options against your requirements.
- Vultr — an alternative for region and compute options. Check current GPU availability, quotas, and billing increments before designing around a particular instance.
Off-site backup storage
- Backblaze B2 — S3-compatible object storage. Compare current storage, request, and download charges for your workload. See the 3-2-1 backup strategy.
- Wasabi — object storage with conditional free egress. Pay-as-you-go billing includes minimum monthly storage and a 90-day minimum storage duration. Review the billing and egress conditions, especially for short-lived backups or frequent restores.
Domains
- Porkbun and Namecheap — compare the actual first-year and renewal prices, privacy availability for your TLD, DNS controls, and transfer conditions. Introductory pricing is not the ongoing cost.
Email delivery
- Postmark and Mailgun — compare sending limits, supported message types, domain verification requirements, and handling of bounces. A newsletter also needs permission to email recipients and working unsubscribe controls; an SMTP connection alone does not establish those.
Monitoring
- Better Stack — one external monitoring option to compare alongside self-hosted tools. An external check can detect an outage that affects both your application and an Uptime Kuma instance on the same host.
Automation
- n8n — a self-hostable workflow automation option. Its Community Edition uses a fair-code Sustainable Use License, which differs from an OSI open-source license. Check that your intended commercial use is permitted. See the n8n vs Zapier comparison.
Prices, plans, and license terms change. Check the linked official documentation before purchasing. This page is a comparison starting point, not a benchmark report. Found something out of date? Tell us.