The Cheapest Way to Self-Host Excalidraw in 2026

Last updated: June 2026

Excalidraw is the open-source whiteboard a lot of people reach for once Miro or FigJam starts billing per seat. Hand-drawn-style diagrams, infinite canvas, live collaboration, and an export that does not lock you into anyone's format. The editor is a static React app, so the basic version runs on almost nothing.

The reason to self-host it is not the editor (excalidraw.com is free). It is two things: keeping your diagrams off someone else's cloud, and escaping per-user pricing. Miro, FigJam, and Excalidraw+ all charge per person per month. A self-hosted instance is one flat server cost for the whole team.

I have run Excalidraw on a few setups. Here is every option I found, ranked by actual monthly cost, plus the one trade-off that decides it: whether you need real-time collaboration or just the editor.

TLDR: For a managed Excalidraw you never babysit, InstaPods is my pick at $3/mo flat - one-click deploy with SSL, SSH to a real server, and unlimited users on a price that does not move as your team grows. PikaPods is a bit cheaper (~$1-2/mo metered) but gives you no SSH. The cheapest self-managed route is a $4-5/mo Hetzner VPS with Docker. And every one of these beats Miro ($8/user/mo) or Excalidraw+ ($7/user/mo) the moment you have more than one person on the board.

Every Way to Host Excalidraw, Ranked by Cost

Method	Monthly Cost	You Manage	Setup Time
Oracle Cloud free tier	$0	Everything	~1 hr
PikaPods	~$1-2 (metered, no SSH)	Nothing	~1 min
InstaPods	$3 flat (SSH, real server)	Nothing	~30 sec
Hetzner VPS + Docker	~$4-5	Everything	~30 min
Coolify on Hetzner VPS	~$5-8	VPS + OS	~10 min
Elestio	~$15-17	Nothing	~3 min

For contrast, here is what the hosted SaaS versions cost - and the catch is they are per user:

Hosted SaaS	Price	Billing
FigJam	Free tier, then ~$3-5/user/mo	Per user
Excalidraw+	Free tier, then $7/user/mo	Per user
Miro	Free tier, then ~$8/user/mo (Starter)	Per user

A 5-person team on Miro Starter is ~$40/mo. The same team on a self-hosted Excalidraw is one $3 server. That gap is the whole reason this post exists.

Editor-only vs collaboration (read this first)

Excalidraw has two modes, and which one you need changes the hosting math:

• Editor only. The static app. Each person's drawings live in their own browser (localStorage) until they export. No server-side state, no real-time sync. This runs on the cheapest plan anywhere and is plenty for solo use or "send me the .excalidraw file."
• Live collaboration. Real-time multiplayer needs the excalidraw-room socket server running alongside the editor, and a storage backend if you want shared scenes to persist. Still light, but now you are running a small Node service, not just static files.

Most people who self-host want collaboration - that is the point of a whiteboard. The good news: even with the room server, Excalidraw barely uses memory, so the cheapest plan on any platform handles it.

InstaPods ($3/mo)

InstaPods has Excalidraw as a one-click app. Click deploy, get a running instance with HTTPS in about 30 seconds. $3/mo on the Launch plan.

Full disclosure: I built InstaPods. I am including it because Excalidraw is exactly the kind of light app it is good at, and the comparison would not be honest without it. I will be straight about the limits.

Cost: $3/mo flat (Launch plan: 1 vCPU, 512 MB RAM, 5 GB storage). The editor plus the collaboration server fit comfortably, and the price does not climb when you add teammates.

Pros: Fastest setup. SSL and a URL included. SSH access on a real server, so you can tweak config or grab a backup by hand. Flat price for unlimited users - the per-seat math that makes Miro expensive does not apply.

Cons: Newer platform (launched 2026). Single region (EU - Nuremberg) for now. Smaller community than the established names.

Best for: Most teams. A managed whiteboard in under a minute, on a real server you control, at a price that stays flat no matter how many people draw on it.

PikaPods (~$1-2/mo)

PikaPods offers managed Excalidraw hosting. Set your resource sliders, deploy, done.

Cost: ~$1-2/mo at minimum resources. Excalidraw is light enough that the floor works fine. PikaPods shares revenue with the projects it hosts, which is genuinely nice.

Pros: Lowest price. Zero maintenance. Supports open source financially. $5 welcome credit covers months of a light app.

Cons: Meters by resource, so the price creeps up if you bump the allocation. No SSH, so you are limited to what the dashboard exposes.

Best for: People who want the rock-bottom price and do not need SSH or a real server.

Hetzner VPS + Docker (~$4-5/mo)

The DIY route. Rent a cheap VPS, install Docker, run the editor and the room server:

services:
  excalidraw:
    image: excalidraw/excalidraw:latest
    ports:
      - "80:80"
    restart: always
  excalidraw-room:
    image: excalidraw/excalidraw-room:latest
    ports:
      - "5000:80"
    restart: always

Cost: Hetzner CX22 at ~$4.51/mo (2 vCPU, 4 GB RAM). Overkill for Excalidraw, but it is the cheapest real VPS and you can run other apps on it.

What you also set up: a reverse proxy (nginx or Caddy) for HTTPS, a Let's Encrypt certificate, firewall rules, and auto-updates. Budget 30 minutes the first time. If you want shared scenes to persist server-side, add a storage backend too.

Pros: Full control. Run other apps on the same box. Cheapest real server if you already live in a terminal.
Cons: You are the sysadmin forever. SSL renewal, OS patches, and updates are now your job.

Coolify on a Hetzner VPS (~$5-8/mo)

Install Coolify (free, open source) on a VPS and deploy Excalidraw from its catalog. You get a web UI and auto-updates, but Coolify itself wants ~2 GB of RAM, heavier than the app it is managing. Worth it only if you are already running Coolify for other things.

Elestio (~$15-17/mo)

Elestio deploys Excalidraw on a dedicated managed VM with backups and patching handled. True zero-maintenance, but ~$15-17/mo for a whiteboard this light is hard to justify unless you are standardizing a whole stack on one provider.

The Real Comparison

Here is what it comes down to:

The managed pick for most teams: InstaPods at $3/mo flat - one-click Excalidraw with SSL, SSH to a real box, and a flat price for unlimited users. PikaPods is a bit cheaper at ~$1-2/mo if you want the lowest floor, but it meters by resource and has no SSH.

If you want full control: a Hetzner VPS + Docker at ~$4-5/mo. You own every layer and can run other apps on the same server, in exchange for being the sysadmin.

The thing that actually decides it: seats. The hosted SaaS options are fine for one or two people on a free tier, but the moment a team needs the paid plan, you are paying $7-8 per person every month. A self-hosted instance is one flat server bill for everyone. For any team of three or more, self-hosting pays for itself in week one.

FAQ

How much does it cost to self-host Excalidraw?
Between $0 and ~$5/mo for almost everyone. Free on an Oracle Cloud always-free instance, ~$1-2/mo on PikaPods, $3/mo flat on InstaPods, or ~$4-5/mo on a Hetzner VPS you manage yourself. Excalidraw itself is free and open source.

Is self-hosted Excalidraw free?
The software is free and open source (MIT). You only pay for the server it runs on, which starts at $0 on a free tier or ~$1-3/mo on a cheap managed host. There are no per-user fees the way Miro, FigJam, and Excalidraw+ charge.

How much RAM does Excalidraw need?
Very little. The editor is a static app, and the collaboration room server is a small Node service. The whole thing runs comfortably in 512 MB, so the cheapest plan on any platform is plenty.

Does self-hosted Excalidraw support real-time collaboration?
Yes, but you need to run the excalidraw-room server alongside the editor. Managed one-click deploys handle this for you. On a VPS you add it as a second service in your Docker Compose file.

Where does Excalidraw store my drawings?
By default each drawing lives in your browser's localStorage until you export it as an .excalidraw file. For shared, persisted scenes you add a storage backend. This is why backups matter less than with a database app - but export anything you cannot afford to lose.

Is self-hosting Excalidraw hard?
On a managed platform it is one click and about 30 seconds. On a VPS it is a Docker Compose file with two services plus a reverse proxy and SSL - roughly 30 minutes if you have done it before.

Wrapping up

Excalidraw is one of the easiest wins in self-hosting: the software is free, it runs on almost nothing, and self-hosting it sidesteps the per-seat pricing that makes Miro and FigJam add up for a team. The only real decision is how much of the server you want to babysit. If you want it running in a minute on a real server you control, a flat $3/mo managed plan is the sweet spot. If you enjoy the terminal, a Hetzner box is hard to beat on raw price.

If you are also running other open-source apps, I wrote up the cheapest way to self-host Memos and a broader 6-platform comparison using the same cost lens.

What are you running Excalidraw on - and do you have collaboration set up, or just the editor? Drop it in the comments.