If you've decided you want managed PocketBase hosting, there are really two options worth looking at: PocketHost and PocketBase Cloud.
Full disclosure up front: I work on PocketBase Cloud. So read this with that in mind — which is exactly why I'm going to be specific about where PocketHost is the better buy, because there are real cases where it is. Prices below are from both public pricing pages as of July 2026; check them yourself before you commit to anything.
The one-sentence difference
PocketHost charges per instance. PocketBase Cloud charges per plan — and on Pro, per server.
That single structural difference drives basically everything else on this page.
The two pricing models
PocketHost sells "slots." One slot runs one PocketBase:
| Billing | Price per slot |
|---|---|
| Monthly | $9.99/mo |
| Annual | $59.99/yr (~$5.00/mo) |
| Lifetime | $149.99 once |
Each slot includes 250 MB database storage and 10 GB file storage, and that storage pools across your account. Bandwidth and CPU are unmetered under a fair use policy. There's a 7-day risk-free trial.
PocketBase Cloud sells plans:
| Plan | Price | What you get |
|---|---|---|
| Free | $0 | 1 instance (50 MB) + 5 frontends |
| Starter | $5/mo | 1 instance (3 GB), custom domain, 5 frontends; +$3/mo per extra instance |
| Pro | From ~$13/mo | A dedicated server — run as many instances on it as it holds |
What it costs to run N projects
This is where the models actually diverge. PocketHost's annual discount is steep, so I'll show both their monthly and annual rates — comparing against their monthly-only price would be stacking the deck.
| Projects | PocketBase Cloud | PocketHost (monthly) | PocketHost (annual) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $5/mo | $9.99/mo | ~$5.00/mo |
| 3 | $11/mo | ~$30/mo | ~$15/mo |
| 10 | ~$13/mo | ~$100/mo | ~$50/mo |
At one project, it's a wash if you pay PocketHost annually. Both land around $5/month. PocketBase Cloud gives you more database storage (3 GB vs 250 MB) and frontend hosting; PocketHost gives you far more file storage (10 GB) and lets you pay monthly if you'd rather not commit a year up front.
At ten projects, the gap is roughly 4x even against PocketHost's annual rate — because on a Pro server you're paying for hardware, not per project. A 2-core / 4 GB server comfortably holds around 10 PocketBase instances, and the price doesn't move when you add the eleventh.
If you're an indie hacker with a portfolio of half-finished experiments, or an agency doing per-client deployments, that's the number that decides it.
Where PocketHost is genuinely the better choice
I'd be doing you a disservice if I didn't say this plainly.
Lifetime slots. $149.99 once, per instance, forever. PocketBase Cloud has no equivalent, and for a project you're confident will outlive three years of subscriptions, the math is hard to argue with. This is the single strongest thing on their pricing page.
File storage. 10 GB of file storage per slot, pooled across your account, is far more generous than the 3 GB on Starter. If your app is image- or document-heavy, that matters more than the per-project math. (PocketBase Cloud supports S3-compatible storage, so you can attach a bucket — but that's another service to manage.)
It's open source. The PocketHost platform itself is on GitHub. If you'd rather run the hosting layer yourself eventually, or just want to read the code you're trusting, that's a real advantage.
Track record. They've been at this for years, with thousands of developers on the platform and an active Discord. Their custom container work (Pocker) is legitimately impressive engineering — running many instances in a single Go process with millisecond boot times.
Unmetered bandwidth under fair use is a nice, simple promise.
Where PocketBase Cloud comes out ahead
Multi-project economics, as covered above — pay for a server, not per project.
A real free tier. 1 instance plus 5 frontends at $0, and instances stay running rather than hibernating. PocketHost offers a 7-day trial instead. If you want somewhere to park an experiment indefinitely at no cost, that's a difference.
Frontend hosting is included — 5 sites on Free and Starter, unlimited on Pro. PocketHost doesn't host frontends, so you'd pair it with Vercel or Netlify: another dashboard, another free tier's limits.
Full backend containers. On Pro you can run Node.js, Deno, Bun, or Next.js processes on your own server — long-running jobs, websockets, heavy dependencies. PocketHost has cloud functions, which cover a lot, but not a persistent process.
Six regions to pick from across Europe, North America, and Asia-Pacific.
Live monitoring — CPU, memory, bandwidth per instance in one dashboard. When ten projects share a server, knowing which one is eating it isn't optional.
How I'd actually decide
- One project, want the lowest price, happy to prepay a year → it's a coin flip. Pick on storage shape: more database → PocketBase Cloud, more files → PocketHost.
- One project you're certain will run for years → PocketHost's lifetime slot is probably the cheapest thing either platform sells.
- Three or more projects → PocketBase Cloud's economics pull away fast, and keep pulling.
- You want frontend + backend + database on one bill → PocketBase Cloud, since PocketHost doesn't do frontends.
- You want the hosting platform itself to be open source → PocketHost.
Try it
If the multi-project math is what you're here for, the Free plan is enough to see whether the workflow suits you:
And if you're already happy on PocketHost, that's a good place to be — it's a solid product built by people who clearly care about PocketBase.
If I've got any of their numbers wrong or out of date, tell me in the comments and I'll correct the post. 🙏
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