What's installed on your Portainer server?
- Portainer Community Edition 2.45.3
- Docker and Docker Compose from the Ubuntu 24.04 repository
- HTTPS through Caddy on an sslip.io address based on your IP, so a domain is optional
- An admin user with a generated password, so nobody can claim the setup screen first
- Docker logs capped at 10 MB per file and 3 files
- Compose file at /opt/seturack/portainer/compose.yaml
- Firewall with only ports 22, 80 and 443 open, plus fail2ban for SSH
What size do you need for Portainer?
Portainer's documentation gives no RAM figure, and the containers you run decide what you really need. As a rule of thumb, 1 to 2 GB is a good start for a few small containers, and 4 GB for stacks with a database. Images and volumes fill the disk as well, so choose it with care, because the disk grows from your panel but doesn't shrink. RAM and CPU can go either way. Scaling up restarts the server once, and your data and IP address stay the same.
| Use | Size | Price | Choose |
|---|---|---|---|
| Starter | 1 GB RAM · 1 vCore · 25 GB NVMe | $2.58/mo | |
| Medium | 2 GB RAM · 1 vCore · 40 GB NVMe | $4.01/mo | |
| Powerful | 4 GB RAM · 2 vCore · 60 GB NVMe | $6.89/mo |
Who is it for?
- Developers who'd rather manage Docker from a browser
- Anyone gathering personal projects, a test setup or a home lab on one server
- People who want to deploy Compose files from a Git repository
- Docker learners who want to see their containers, volumes and networks
What happens after you order?
- Set the size and complete your payment.
- Your server starts and Docker and Portainer install themselves. This took about 10 minutes in our real-server tests.
- On the Overview tab, open the link in the Panel address row and sign in with the Login and Password rows.
- On Portainer's home page, choose the local environment.
- On the Stacks page, use Add stack to paste a Compose file or point to a Git repository, then start it with Deploy the stack.
With every server
- Daily backups included in the price
- Unlimited traffic
- Full root access
- Scale RAM and CPU up or down later, and grow the disk
- Location: Istanbul · IST-1.
Good to know
- This is Community Edition. Portainer describes it as made for home labs, learning, personal projects and non-production use, and it has no official support channel.
- Caddy, in front of Portainer, uses ports 80 and 443. Publish your stacks on other ports.
- Portainer is connected to the Docker socket, so anyone who signs in can control the whole server. Don't share your password.
- Portainer doesn't update itself. Change the image tag in compose.yaml, then run docker compose pull and docker compose up -d. Portainer recommends taking a backup first.
- Port 8000, which Edge Agents need, isn't published. If you plan to use them, add it to the Compose file yourself.
- The panel keeps showing the install password. If you change it inside Portainer, keep the new one safe yourself.
Portainer questions and answers
How much RAM does Portainer need?
Portainer's documentation gives no RAM figure. As a rule of thumb, 1 to 2 GB is a good start for a few small containers, and 4 GB for stacks with a database. As your containers grow, raise RAM and CPU separately from your panel.
How do I deploy a stack in Portainer?
Click Add stack on the Stacks page. You can paste a Compose file into the web editor, upload one or pull it from a Git repository. Deploy the stack starts it, and you enter environment variables on the same screen.
How do I publish a stack with a domain and HTTPS?
Point your A record at the server. Add a reverse_proxy block for your domain to /opt/seturack/portainer/caddy/Caddyfile and attach your stack to the portainer_default network. Then, in that folder, run docker compose exec caddy caddy reload --config /etc/caddy/Caddyfile --adapter caddyfile.
Can my containers be reached from outside?
Any port you publish with ports in a Compose file is open to the internet, because Docker bypasses ufw rules for published ports. Leave internal services without ports, or publish them as 127.0.0.1:PORT.
Do I have to pay for Portainer?
The installed Community Edition is zlib licensed and needs no license key. Business Edition features such as role-based access aren't part of it. If you want Business Edition, you get the license from Portainer, and it isn't included in the price.