Outline · Docs and wikis
Self-hosting Outline for 100 people: the cost
At 100 users, Outline needs 4.0 GB of memory and 45 GB of disk. That fits the CX33 (cost-optimized) at Hetzner Cloud for $10.06 a month. Add backups and the time it takes to look after and the real figure is $125 a month.
- Server
- $10.06CX33 (cost-optimized), 4 vCPU
- Backups
- $2.01provider snapshots
- Your time
- $1121.5 h a month at $75
- All in
- $125per month
- First-time setup
- $450about 6 hours, once
How 4.0 GB was arrived at
2 GB covers the stack at rest, every container the project ships included. 100 users at 12 MB each adds 1.2 GB, giving 3.2 GB. Adding 25% headroom so the machine is not run at its ceiling gives 4.0 GB, and the smallest plan at or above that is the CX33 (cost-optimized) with 8 GB.
Disk works the same way: 15 GB to begin with, plus 0.3 GB per user, so 45 GB against the 80 GB the plan includes.
Needs PostgreSQL, Redis and S3-compatible object storage for attachments. The object storage requirement is the part people miss when budgeting.
Over three years
| Period | Server and backups | Your time | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| Setup, once | — | $450 | $450 |
| Per month | $12.07 | $112 | $125 |
| First year | $145 | $1,800 | $1,945 |
| 36 months | $435 | $4,500 | $4,935 |
If you do not price your own time, the 36-month figure is $435 instead. Both numbers are real; which one applies depends on whether the hours would otherwise have been billable.
What you would be paying instead at this size
| Commercial product | Tier | Per month | Difference | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Notion | Business | $2,183 | $2,058 | breakdown |
| Confluence | Standard | $670 | $545 | breakdown |
A positive difference means self-hosting is cheaper at this size, with your time already counted.
Where to put Outline
4.0 GB of memory and 45 GB of disk is what this needs at 100 people. The cheapest plan that fits, among the providers whose prices we have read ourselves, is the CX33 (cost-optimized) at Hetzner Cloud for $10.06 a month.
Go to Hetzner Cloud Compare hosts
We are not claiming this is the cheapest server on the internet. It is the cheapest one we can honestly quote. Vultr and PikaPods publish prices we could not read programmatically, and may well undercut it. Price them yourself before you commit.
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