Free and low-cost deployment

JamRelay is lightweight. You do not need an expensive server.

Choose by budget

Budget	Recommended setup	Best for
Free	Existing PC / home server + Cloudflare Tunnel	Most users who already own always-on hardware
Free	Free-tier cloud VM with persistent disk	Users who want cloud hosting without a monthly bill
Very low	Small shared-vCPU VPS	Simple 24/7 production hosting
Free for testing	PaaS free tier	Short-lived demos and experiments

Zero-cost setup

Use an existing computer and expose only JamRelay through a secure tunnel:

AI client → HTTPS → Cloudflare Tunnel → JamRelay → Spotify

This works behind CGNAT and does not require opening inbound router ports.

Low-cost VPS

A tiny VPS is already enough for a private JamRelay instance. Look for:

1 shared vCPU
512 MB–1 GB RAM
5+ GB persistent storage
Ubuntu/Debian
Docker support

You usually do not need to pay for a larger machine unless the VPS also hosts other services.

Providers commonly used for small self-hosted workloads include Hetzner, OVHcloud, DigitalOcean, Vultr and similar regional providers. Prices change, so the docs intentionally do not hard-code a monthly price.

Cheap deployment checklist

1. Choose a small VM with persistent disk.
2. Install Docker.
3. Clone JamRelay.
4. Keep .env outside version control.
5. Mount persistent /data storage.
6. Use Cloudflare Tunnel or an HTTPS reverse proxy.
7. Configure the public Spotify redirect URI.
8. Configure the exact MCP OAuth callback required by your AI client.
9. Verify that tokens survive a restart.

PaaS warning

A very cheap or free PaaS is only a good permanent fit if it provides persistent storage. The current application stores encrypted authorization state on disk.

If a platform has an ephemeral filesystem, use it only for tests or move token storage to an external persistent store first.

Domain cost

A custom domain is useful for stable OAuth callbacks, but users who already own a domain can normally create a subdomain at no additional cost.

What not to buy

For JamRelay alone you generally do not need:

• multiple dedicated CPU cores
• several gigabytes of RAM
• large SSD volumes
• a public IPv4 address if you use Cloudflare Tunnel

Start small and upgrade only if measurements show a real need.