Choose hosting around your application, budget, and ability to maintain it. This guide covers deployment, HTTPS, backups, and updates.
Here’s the complete deployment guide for 2026.
Hosting Options Compared
| Hosting Type | Cost/Month | Best For | Scalability |
|---|---|---|---|
| Shared Hosting | $3–$15 | Static sites, WordPress | Low |
| VPS (DigitalOcean, Hetzner) | $5–$50 | Web apps, APIs | Medium |
| Platform (Vercel, Railway) | $0–$20 | Next.js, static sites | High |
| Cloud (AWS, GCP) | $20–$500+ | Enterprise, high-traffic | Very High |
| Dedicated Server | $80–$300+ | High-performance apps | High |
My Recommended Stack for 2026
For most web applications, this stack hits the sweet spot of cost, performance, and reliability:
Infrastructure
- VPS: Hetzner Cloud (€4.50/month for 2 vCPU, 4GB RAM)
- OS: Ubuntu 24.04 LTS
- Web Server: Nginx (reverse proxy)
- SSL: Let’s Encrypt (free, auto-renewing)
- DNS: Cloudflare (free tier)
Application
- Containerisation: Docker + Docker Compose
- Database: PostgreSQL in Docker
- Cache: Redis for sessions and caching
- File Storage: S3-compatible (Cloudflare R2 or MinIO)
CI/CD Pipeline
- Version Control: GitHub
- CI/CD: GitHub Actions
- Deployment: Auto-deploy on push to main branch
- Monitoring: UptimeRobot + server metrics
Deployment Workflow
- Code → Push to GitHub
- Test → GitHub Actions runs automated tests
- Build → Docker image built and pushed to registry
- Deploy → Pull latest image on VPS, restart containers
- Monitor → Uptime checks, error tracking, performance metrics
Security Essentials
- Firewall: UFW with only ports 22, 80, 443 open
- SSH: Key-based auth only, no password login
- Updates: Automated security updates
- Backups: Daily database backups to off-site storage
- SSL: Always HTTPS, HSTS headers enabled
- Secrets: Environment variables, never in code
My Deployment Services
I handle the entire deployment process so you can focus on your business. Starting from $199 for basic deployment to $1,299 for scalable infrastructure:
- Server setup and hardening
- Docker containerisation
- CI/CD pipeline configuration
- SSL and domain setup
- Monitoring and alerting
- Ongoing maintenance options
👉 View my Cloud & DevOps packages or discuss your deployment needs.
Where to start
Pick the part of this guide that addresses your current problem. Make one change, check the result, and decide what to do next. If you need help applying it to a Django website or app, tell me about your project.