How much RAM does Canvas LMS need?

Plan on 8–16 GB for typical use; add headroom if you expect many concurrent users.

What stack does Canvas LMS run on?

Ruby on Rails + PostgreSQL + Redis.

Yes — size the plan so Canvas LMS plus your other workloads fit in RAM with room to spare.

Education

An institutional-grade learning platform.

A full LMS with courses, grades, assignments and integrations used by universities everywhere.

Canvas LMS brings university-standard course tools to organisations that want them self-hosted.

1
Provision a VPS
Choose a plan with room for your data as well as the app.
2
Install the stack
Install Ruby on Rails + PostgreSQL + Redis.
3
Deploy the application
Follow the project’s official install guide for your distribution.
4
Enable HTTPS
Serve it on your own domain behind a reverse proxy with a certificate.
5
Back it up
Schedule a database dump plus a copy of any uploaded files to an off-box location.

Give Canvas LMS its own database user with rights only on its own schema.
Reverse-proxy Canvas LMS and terminate TLS at the proxy so certificates are managed in one place.
Take a VPS snapshot before major upgrades so you can roll back cleanly.
Keep Canvas LMS patched — most self-hosting incidents are unpatched software.

How much RAM does Canvas LMS need?: Plan on 8–16 GB for typical use; add headroom if you expect many concurrent users.
What stack does Canvas LMS run on?: Ruby on Rails + PostgreSQL + Redis.
Can I run other things on the same VPS?: Yes — size the plan so Canvas LMS plus your other workloads fit in RAM with room to spare.

Looking for something else? Popular alternatives include Moodle, Open edX, Chamilo — browse all app guides.