Deploying your first cloud server

Cloud servers are unmanaged virtual servers with full root access. The deploy wizard at Cloud Servers builds your configuration step by step and shows the price in the summary panel as you go.

Choose the essentials

1. Server type. Choose the hardware family. Plans are filtered to match your choice.
2. Location. Pick the region closest to most of your users, or the one your data-residency requirements call for.
3. Plan. Each plan lists its vCPU, RAM, disk and transfer allowance. Start with what your application needs today.
4. Operating system. Choose a clean image, such as Ubuntu, Debian, AlmaLinux or Rocky Linux. Images with a licence fee show it next to the name.

Optional add-ons

• RAM upgrade: extra memory on top of the plan.
• Block storage: an additional volume for data, media or backups.
• Additional features: extras our team sets up alongside the server, such as backups or an SSL certificate, where offered.
• App Store: expand Add a pre-configured app to have an application such as a CRM or Odoo installed before first boot. Apps a plan cannot run are greyed out until you choose a larger plan or add RAM.

Each add-on is priced separately, and monthly add-ons are included in the server's recurring amount.

Server settings

• Hostname (required): letters, digits and hyphens, such as web-01 or web-01.example.com.
• Label: a friendly name shown in your account, such as "Production API".
• SSH public key: paste your public key, which starts with ssh-ed25519 or ssh-rsa, to sign in without a password. This is strongly recommended; see Connecting to your server over SSH.
• Notes: anything our team should know about the deployment.

Billing cycle, payment and provisioning

Choose Monthly or Annually in the summary panel and check the total due now. When you choose Deploy server, an order and an invoice are created and the server appears under Cloud Servers with a Pending status.

After the invoice is paid, the server moves to Provisioning while our team builds it. When it is ready, the status changes to Active, we email you, and the server page shows its public IP address and SSH details.

Remember that a cloud server is unmanaged: you are responsible for the operating system, updates, security configuration and backups of your data. If you would rather we handle some of that, see Managing your cloud server.