ntfy
Push notifications as an HTTP primitive - curl a topic, every subscribed phone buzzes. $5/month, private.
One-click deploy, from $5/mo on a Miget plan.
#what is ntfy?
The best notification API is the one every tool already speaks: HTTP. ntfy turns a PUT request into a push notification - curl -d "backup done" https://your-domain/alerts - delivered to the iOS/Android apps and browsers subscribed to that topic, with priorities, attachments, and action buttons.
This template ships the secure posture by default: deny-all access with declarative bcrypt users in env (no CLI ceremony), so topics on your public domain are private from the first second. Everything in your project becomes a notifier - deploy scripts, uptime-kuma, changedetection, cron jobs.
Upstream project: ntfy
#what you get
- Notify via plain HTTP PUT/POST - every language, zero SDKs
- iOS/Android apps + web; priorities, attachments, action buttons
- Private by default: deny-all + declarative bcrypt users in env
- Message cache and attachment storage on small volumes
- One tiny Go binary, Apache-2.0
#topology
| Service | Role | Public |
|---|---|---|
| ntfy | notification server + web UI (:5000) | yes (auth: deny-all default) |
#miget sizing
// this stack needs
256 MiB RAM · 2 GB disk · 1 service
A Go binary that idles in tens of megabytes - 256 MiB is generous. The cache volume bounds message/attachment history.
Hobby - recommended fit
$5/mo
1 vCPU · 512 MiB · 10 GiB disk
Headroom for your own apps: 1 GiB at $7/mo
Professional - production
$22/mo
1 vCPU · 2 GiB · 10 GiB disk
Dedicated resources, production SLOs - plan details
One Miget plan is a fixed pool of compute - the whole stack (managed databases included) deploys inside it, and anything left over runs your other apps. No per-service or per-seat math.
#vs. the managed service
What the hosted equivalents charge, against the flat Miget plan this stack fits on. Prices as of June 2026, sources linked.
#vs. other PaaS
Estimated monthly cost of running this exact stack (256 MiB RAM, 2 GB disk, 1 container) elsewhere, from published June 2026 rates.
| Platform | Est. monthly | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Miget ★ | $5 flat | compose stacks first-class: one deploy, dedicated vCPU, managed Postgres/Valkey, volumes and TLS all included in the plan |
| Heroku | ~$13 | no volumes; nothing between 1 GB ($50) and 2.5 GB ($250) dynos - 2 GB containers cost far more than shown |
| DO App Platform | ~$10 | no persistent volumes - stateful containers need managed DBs/Spaces (base $5 Spaces included here) |
| Render | ~$8 | per-service instances (0.5 GB $7, 2 GB $25) - every container is its own paid service |
| Railway | ~$3 | usage-based ($10/GB RAM-mo); vCPU billed separately at $20/vCPU-mo on top |
| Fly.io | ~$2 | cheapest sticker price - but burstable shared CPUs (1/16 core; dedicated vCPUs cost ~2-3×), no compose deploys (one app per container, manual wiring), managed DBs billed extra |
Full breakdown of what ntfy costs managed versus self-hosted, with production sizing: ntfy pricing.
Estimates assume RAM fully allocated at published on-demand rates - and sticker price isn't the whole comparison: the cheaper rows buy burstable shared CPUs, per-service wiring instead of a compose deploy, and managed databases billed separately. Heroku and DO App Platform have no persistent volumes at all - stateful stacks like this one need workarounds there.
#deploy it
On Miget
- Create a Compose Stack in app.miget.com pointing at the templates repository
- Set the stack path to
ntfy -
Set the required variables:
NTFY_AUTH_USERS, declarative users (name:bcryptHash:role)NTFY_BASE_URL, the app’s https domain
- Deploy. Miget layers
compose.miget.yaml(RAM, privacy, volumes, managed services) automatically
Locally first?
Every template is portable, vanilla Docker Compose - the Miget overrides are ignored locally:
git clone https://github.com/deployable-sh/stacks
cd miget-compose-templates/ntfy
docker compose up -dSame files, same behavior. The template README covers connection strings and scaling notes.
#faq
Why self-host instead of using ntfy.sh?
The public server is great for casual use, but topics are guess-protected, reserved names cost a subscription, and your alert content transits someone else’s box. Self-hosted: deny-all auth, your domain, unlimited topics, $5/month.
How do my apps and templates send to it?
One HTTP request with basic auth or a token: curl -u user:pass -d "message" https://domain/topic. uptime-kuma and changedetection in this catalogue both have ntfy notification targets built in - point them at the in-project hostname.
How do phones receive instantly?
The Android app keeps a connection to your server (or uses its battery-friendly websocket mode); iOS uses a relay for wake-ups with content fetched from your server. Both are in the official app stores.
#more monitoring & analytics
Ship ntfy today
One compose stack, 256 MiB of RAM, from $5/month flat, and it runs on your laptop with the same files.