How much RAM does Etherpad need?

Plan on 1–2 GB for typical use; add headroom if you expect many concurrent users.

Can I run other things on the same VPS?

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

Productivity

Real-time collaborative plain-text editing.

Multiple people edit the same pad at once with no accounts required, with version history and a plugin ecosystem.

Etherpad is the simplest possible real-time collaboration tool to self-host — perfect for meetings, notes and code snippets.

1
Provision a VPS
Choose a plan with room for your data as well as the app.
2
Install the stack
Install Node.js + SQLite/MySQL.
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 Etherpad its own database user with rights only on its own schema.
Reverse-proxy Etherpad 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 Etherpad patched — most self-hosting incidents are unpatched software.

How much RAM does Etherpad need?: Plan on 1–2 GB for typical use; add headroom if you expect many concurrent users.
What stack does Etherpad run on?: Node.js + SQLite/MySQL.
Can I run other things on the same VPS?: Yes — size the plan so Etherpad plus your other workloads fit in RAM with room to spare.

Looking for something else? Popular alternatives include HedgeDoc, CryptPad, Pad.riseup — browse all app guides.