PeerTube Hosting: What It Needs and What to Run It On

PeerTube hosting is not a big-server job. The project says a basic instance runs on 1 vCore and 1.5 GB of RAM, and a big one on 4 vCores and 4 GB. What the software needs most is upload bandwidth and disk space.

This guide sums up the official requirements, explains why one 1 Gbit/s server served 1,000 viewers in PeerTube’s own test, and shows where that number stops. It then maps each job to a dedicated server, so you know what to rent before you install anything.

What Does PeerTube Hosting Involve?

PeerTube hosting means running the PeerTube video platform on your own server, so you control the files, the rules and the bill. You install a web stack, store the videos and pay for bandwidth, and the software handles uploads, playback and live streams.

PeerTube’s FAQ describes it as free software from Framasoft that stands as a decentralised alternative to video platforms. Servers can follow each other through federation, and viewers help each other with peer-to-peer sharing. That second feature is why its bandwidth maths differs from a normal web server.

Is PeerTube the Right Self-Hosted Video Platform?

PeerTube suits you if you want a YouTube-style site you control, with live streaming and no per-view fees. It is a poor fit if you want zero administration. You will handle updates, backups and moderation yourself.

A self-hosted video platform also asks for bandwidth you can predict. PeerTube’s production guide warns against installing it behind a low-bandwidth link, such as an ADSL line. A datacentre port is the normal home for it.

What Hardware Does PeerTube Hosting Need?

A basic instance needs 1 vCore, 1.5 GB of RAM and 20 Mbit/s of upload, and a big one needs 4 vCores, 4 GB and a 1 Gbit/s uplink. Those are the figures in PeerTube’s FAQ, which also asks for enough storage and enough bandwidth to broadcast videos.

Table of PeerTube’s own hardware tiers: minimum 1 vCore, 1.5 GB RAM and 20 Mbit/s upload; big instance for about 1,000 viewers with 4 vCores, 4 GB and 1 Gbit/s; and transcoding on the same machine with 8 vCores and 8 GB.

The FAQ adds that, except for transcoding, PeerTube is not CPU bound. Nginx, PostgreSQL, Redis and PeerTube itself need little computing power. Storage then matters in two ways: how much space you need, and how fast the disk can read.

A 7200 rpm hard disk sustains about 120 MB/s, or 960 Mbit/s, according to the same FAQ. An SSD removes that limit, while a hard disk still works for archives.

What Software Does PeerTube Need?

PeerTube needs Node.js, PostgreSQL, Redis, FFmpeg and Nginx. The dependencies guide lists Node.js 22.12 or newer, Redis 6.2 or newer and FFmpeg 4.3 or newer, and it advises against a static FFmpeg build. PeerTube only provides official configuration files for Nginx.

One detail matters on Enterprise Linux clones such as AlmaLinux. The guide notes that the default PostgreSQL stream is too old for PeerTube, so you enable a newer one first:

sudo dnf module enable -y postgresql:16

Swify servers are unmanaged with full root access, so you install this stack yourself. For PeerTube hosting, that is an advantage, because you choose the versions and the update day.

How Many Viewers Can PeerTube Hosting Handle on 1 Gbit/s?

On its own, a 1 Gbit/s uplink serves about 200 viewers of a 5 Mbit/s stream, but peer-to-peer sharing can multiply that in the best case. The FAQ gives the first number: 1080p60 at 5 Mbit/s per stream means a theoretical ceiling of 200 simultaneous viewers, if the disk keeps up.

Yet PeerTube’s stress test served 1,000 viewers on a 1 Gbit/s link. The server had 4 vCores, 4 GB of RAM and a hard disk, and the project says a rental of about $20 a month can do it.

Why Does the FAQ Say 200 and the Stress Test Say 1,000?

Two things differ: the bitrate and the peers. The test streamed a live video at 650 kbit/s, and the on-demand video peaked at 1.2 Mbit/s, far below 5 Mbit/s. Also, viewers passed segments to each other instead of fetching everything from the server.

At 650 kbit/s, 1,000 viewers need about 650 Mbit/s even without sharing. The sharing then lowered the server’s load further, as the test results show.

Table of PeerTube’s stress test with 1,000 viewers: live at normal latency had 90 megabits from the server and 350 from peers, live at high latency 65 and 370, live with half of viewers sharing off 260 and 190, and on-demand video 25 and 1,150.

What Could Peer Sharing Do at 5 Mbit/s?

Sharing could lift one 1 Gbit/s uplink from 200 viewers to about 800 at 5 Mbit/s, but only in the best case. The project’s own summary says sharing saves 75% of the bandwidth on a live stream and 98% on a video. The test could not limit peer-to-peer speeds, so treat those figures as an upper bound.

The chart uses the project’s 25% server share for normal-latency live, and our own shares from the other two rows.

Horizontal bar chart of viewers per 1 gigabit per second at 5 megabits per second: 200 when the server delivers everything, about 346 with half of viewers sharing off, 800 for live at normal latency and about 1,340 for live at high latency, in the best case.

Plan with the 200, and treat sharing as upside. A live audience that watches together shares well, while a small or scattered audience does not.

How Do You Tune Nginx for 1,000 Viewers?

Follow the scalability guide: serve the static files with Nginx, use at least 4 cores and 4 GB, and raise the connection limits. The guide also asks you to keep the default configuration, use the warn log level and disable plugins.

worker_rlimit_nofile 30000;

events {
    worker_connections 10000;
}

What Does Live Streaming Add to PeerTube Hosting?

Live streaming adds open ports and real-time transcoding to PeerTube hosting. PeerTube’s admin documentation says enabling live makes the server listen on port 1935 for RTMP, and on port 1936 if you enable RTMPS. If you want to host your own video streaming server for live events, open those ports only for the encoders you trust.

In effect, PeerTube works as an HLS streaming server for live streams. The pipeline matches the one in our RTMP vs HLS comparison: RTMP carries the stream in, and HLS carries it out. The stress test shows the default live latency is about 30 seconds, and a high-latency setting gives about 60.

Live transcoding is the costly part. The documentation warns that PeerTube transcodes lives in real time, so ten lives mean ten FFmpeg processes with high CPU and RAM use. Test how many parallel lives your server handles before you raise the limits, and raise the live transcoding threads if you generate several resolutions.

How Do You Store and Transcode Videos?

Plan the disk by hours of video, and move transcoding off the main machine if it starts to dominate. PeerTube stores files on local disk or in S3-compatible object storage, and its developer notes describe optional distributed runners for transcoding.

Storage maths is simple. One hour at 5 Mbit/s takes about 2.25 GB, before extra resolutions, because each resolution adds its own files.

Table of disk needed for one rendition at 5 megabits per second: 225 gigabytes for 100 hours fits a 1TB SSD, 2.25 terabytes for 1,000 hours fits a 4TB SSD, and 22.5 terabytes for 10,000 hours fits one 26TB hard drive.

A hard disk suits a large archive, but its read speed caps delivery near 960 Mbit/s. Keep the files people watch most on SSD, and let the archive sit on the big drive. Also, the FAQ asks for 8 vCores and 8 GB when transcoding shares the machine.

PeerTube vs Video Hosting and Streaming Services

A server changes the shape of the cost, while video hosting and streaming services trade control for convenience. You pay a flat price for CPU, disk and bandwidth, and you take on the administration.

Table comparing PeerTube on your own server with a hosted video service across files, payment, updates and backups, live streaming and audience.

The flat price matters most for video, because delivery dominates the bill. A full 1 Gbps port moves 450 GB an hour, and every Swify plan includes a 1 Gbps unmetered port with no egress fees.

What Should You Ask Any Host Before You Rent?

Ask five things: the port speed, how bandwidth is billed, the disk size and type, root access and the number of cores. Each one comes from a PeerTube requirement, so a host that cannot answer them is the wrong host.

Table of five checks before renting a PeerTube server: port speed of 1 gigabit or more, unmetered bandwidth or a clear transfer allowance, SSD for hot files and large drives for the archive, full root access, and enough cores for the live ladder you plan.

What Server Should You Run PeerTube On?

Start with a dedicated server that has a 1 Gbps unmetered port and enough drives, then add cores only if you transcode on the same machine. Every Swify plan clears PeerTube’s 4 vCore tier, so PeerTube hosting comes down to transcoding and storage.

Table of where to start with PeerTube on a Swify plan: Dedicated 1 for a community site, Dedicated 5 for live streams and transcoding, Dedicated 7 for many ladders, and a 26TB hard drive for a large archive.

These are starting points, not benchmarks, so test with your own uploads. Meanwhile, GPU servers are quoted to order. For a bigger audience, the next step is a faster port, not more cores, and our 10 Gbps port guide explains what a 10 Gbps port really delivers.

PeerTube Hosting: The Short Version

PeerTube hosting needs little CPU and a lot of bandwidth and disk. Plan 200 viewers per 1 Gbit/s at 5 Mbit/s, treat peer sharing as upside, and size the drives by hours of video.

• Start from PeerTube’s tiers: 1 vCore and 1.5 GB at the least, 4 vCores and 4 GB for 1,000 viewers.
• Add 8 vCores and 8 GB if you transcode on the same machine.
• Put hot files on SSD, and keep the archive on a large drive.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is PeerTube?

What are the minimum requirements for PeerTube hosting?

How many viewers can a PeerTube server handle?

Does PeerTube need a lot of CPU?

Can PeerTube stream live video?

Is PeerTube hosting cheaper than a video hosting service?

What do I need to install PeerTube?