FAQ
About
What is PocketHost?
PocketHost is an open-source, multitenant hosting platform designed for deploying and managing PocketBase backends. Licensed under the MIT license, PocketHost was created by benallfree and is maintained by a community of contributors. Ben built PocketHost to simplify hosting for his personal and client projects, eliminating the need to set up hosting from scratch every time.
The goal of PocketHost is to provide a Firebase/Supabase-like experience where users can instantly provision new PocketBase instances.
In addition to hosting, PocketHost supports services like backup, restore, SFTP access, static file hosting, and Node.js cloud workers. It aims to deliver a turnkey solution for quickly deploying small and medium-sized PocketBase projects with minimal setup.
What is pockethost.io?
pockethost.io is the official hosting service powered by the open-source PocketHost project, also maintained by benallfree.
What are the long-term plans?
PocketHost was created to serve the PocketBase community, combining the sovereignty benefits of self-hosting with the convenience of managed hosting.
Development priorities are driven by personal and community needs, and contributions from everyone are encouraged.
PocketHost has a 10-year endowment to offer free hosting for hobby and low- to mid-volume projects. We are also experimenting with a paid tier for power users. Future revenue streams may include professional services, enterprise setups, customization, and priority support.
Rest assured, you can always export your instance data and self-host if needed.
Data, Privacy, and Security
How stable is it?
pockethost.io and PocketHost are highly stable, with over 99.9% uptime. Any outages are documented in the system health megathread.
How often does my data get backed up?
Data is backed up daily by us. You can also back up your data anytime using SFTP.
Is my data safe and secure?
Yes, your data on pockethost.io is as secure as it would be on your own server—potentially more so, given that our infrastructure is rigorously tested. Access to the pockethost.io infrastructure is secured via SSH with RSA-2048 encryption.
While the data volume is not encrypted at the OS level (see #143 for details), the VPS itself is encrypted by Digital Ocean. You can always back up and download your data via SFTP using your pockethost.io credentials.
Can I import data into PocketHost?
Yes, data import is possible via SFTP.
How do I migrate away from PocketHost and host PocketBase on my own?
You can use the SFTP feature to download and transfer all your data.
Pricing, Limits, and Usage Restrictions
How much does the service cost?
PocketHost offers a free tier that is free forever, along with experimental paid tiers for power users.
What is the pockethost.io free tier and its restrictions?
The free tier includes:
- Fair Use of CPU, bandwidth, and storage
- Up to 25 projects
- Connect your instance at
your-instance.pockethost.io
In practice, 99.9% of projects stay within our fair use guidelines. If your project exceeds the limits, we will work with you to transition to a more suitable plan.
What paid plans are available?
We offer a paid plan that includes:
- Expanded Fair Use CPU, bandwidth, and storage
- 250 projects
- Priority support
- Access to additional premium features as they are introduced
Can I run multiple projects on PocketHost?
Yes! You can provision as many PocketBase instances as you need. The free tier allows up to 25 projects, while the paid plan allows for 250 projects.
PocketBase
How does outgoing email work?
Currently, you need to configure your own outgoing email service (SES recommended). We are tracking future plans for built-in SMTP support #24 and discussing options #154.
How does S3 storage work?
You can set up S3 storage just like with a standalone PocketBase instance, though it’s often unnecessary, as our infrastructure already handles static asset hosting efficiently.
What versions of PocketBase do you support, and how do I upgrade?
We support all versions of PocketBase. New versions are picked up automatically, and your instance will be upgraded with patch releases. However, upgrades across major versions are locked by default. Contact us if you wish to perform a major upgrade.
Can I host custom PocketBase binaries or a custom Node.js backend?
Custom backend code is supported via pb_hooks. Support for custom PocketBase binaries and custom Node.js backends is in development.