Best VPS guide · Media / Photos / Files

Best VPS for Media & File Apps

Photo, video, music and file apps from our directory, lightest first by recommended RAM. Remember that your media library itself will usually need far more disk than the app footprint shown here. Ordering is by the checked dataset — it is a sizing order, not a quality ranking.

See the ranking Size a multi-app VPS

Ranked by recommended RAM

10 apps, lightest first

Badges show the basis for each figure. An estimate is never presented as an official project requirement.

1
Navidrome
Web-based music collection server — your personal Spotify; the lightest media app here, at an estimated 1 GB recommended RAM.
Replaces Spotify · Suggested tier: 1 GB RAM tier
Minimum RAM
512MB Estimated
Recommended RAM
1GB Estimated
2
SFTPGo
Fully featured SFTP/FTPS/WebDAV/HTTP file transfer server; its estimates cover the server, not the files you transfer through it.
Replaces Files.com · Suggested tier: 1 GB RAM tier
Minimum RAM
512 MB Estimated
Recommended RAM
1 GB Estimated
3
Audiobookshelf
Audiobook and podcast server; an estimated 2 GB recommended RAM.
Replaces Audible · Suggested tier: 2 GB RAM tier
Minimum RAM
1GB Estimated
Recommended RAM
2GB Estimated
4
Komga
Media server for comics, manga and eBooks with OPDS, Kobo and KOReader sync; an estimated 2 GB recommended RAM.
Replaces comiXology (Kindle) · Suggested tier: 2 GB RAM tier
Minimum RAM
1GB Estimated
Recommended RAM
2GB Estimated
5
Seafile
File sync, sharing and team collaboration; official minimum and recommended are both 2 GB / 2 cores — no estimates in those rows.
Replaces Dropbox · Suggested tier: 2 GB RAM tier
Minimum RAM
2GB Official
Recommended RAM
2GB Official
6
Stirling-PDF
Locally hosted PDF toolkit with 50+ tools; official per-image memory guidance runs from 2 GB (ultra-lite) to 6 GB (fat).
Replaces iLovePDF · Suggested tier: 4 GB RAM tier
Minimum RAM
2GB Official
Recommended RAM
4GB Official
7
Nextcloud
File sync, share and collaboration platform; sizing is estimated because the official manual only specifies memory per PHP process.
Replaces Google Workspace (Drive) · Suggested tier: 4 GB RAM tier
Minimum RAM
2GB Estimated
Recommended RAM
4GB Estimated
8
PhotoPrism
AI-powered photos app; official 3 GB minimum / 4 GB recommended, plus at least 4 GB of swap.
Replaces Google Photos · Suggested tier: 4 GB RAM tier
Minimum RAM
3GB Official
Recommended RAM
4GB Official
9
Jellyfin
Free software media system for managing and streaming your media; official guidance points to an 8 GB recommended spec.
Replaces Plex · Suggested tier: 8 GB RAM tier
Minimum RAM
4GB Official
Recommended RAM
8GB Official
10
Immich
High-performance photo and video management; the heaviest media app on official figures — 6 GB minimum, 8 GB recommended.
Replaces Google Photos · Suggested tier: 8 GB RAM tier
Minimum RAM
6GB Official
Recommended RAM
8GB Official

Planning to run several of these on one server? The footprints add up — use the multi-app VPS calculator rather than picking the single largest tier.