PocketBase
An entire backend in one container: SQLite, auth, realtime, file storage, and an admin UI. The simplest stack in the catalogue.
One-click deploy, from $5/mo on a Miget plan.
#what is PocketBase?
PocketBase is the antidote to backend over-engineering: one Go binary embedding SQLite, user auth (email + OAuth2), realtime subscriptions, file storage, and a genuinely good admin dashboard. For side projects, MVPs, and a surprising number of production apps, it is all the backend there is to need.
This is the simplest template in the catalogue - one service, one 2 GB volume. The admin UI lives at /_/ on your app domain; create the first superuser on first visit. SQLite and uploads persist on the volume across redeploys.
SQLite is single-writer, so this scales up (more RAM, the volume grows with you), not out - keep replicas at 1. That constraint is also why it is so famously fast and simple to operate.
Upstream project: PocketBase
#what you get
- Auth with email/password and OAuth2 providers, out of the box
- Realtime subscriptions over SSE - live data without extra infrastructure
- File uploads with thumbnails, stored on the volume
- Admin dashboard for collections, rules, users, and logs
- Extensible with JS hooks or as a Go framework
- JS and Dart SDKs for web, mobile, and desktop apps
#topology
| Service | Role | Public |
|---|---|---|
| pocketbase | entire backend (API + admin UI at /_/) | yes |
#miget sizing
// this stack needs
512 MiB RAM · 2 GB disk · 1 service
512 MiB is plenty - PocketBase routinely serves thousands of concurrent users on less. Grow the volume as uploads accumulate; keep replicas at 1 (SQLite is single-writer).
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.
| Service | Plan | Monthly | What you get |
|---|---|---|---|
| PocketBase on Miget ★ | 512 MiB plan | $5 | this whole stack, flat - no usage meters, and room left for your own apps |
| Firebase | Blaze (usage) | usage-based | ~$1-3/mo for a small app - scales per-read/write/MAU from there |
| Supabase Cloud | Pro | ~$25 | the hosted Postgres-flavored equivalent |
At tiny scale Firebase is nearly free - PocketBase is about owning the stack, SQL access, and a bill that never scales with success.
#vs. other PaaS
Estimated monthly cost of running this exact stack (512 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 | ~$25 | no volumes; nothing between 1 GB ($50) and 2.5 GB ($250) dynos - 2 GB containers cost far more than shown |
| DO App Platform | ~$11 | 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 | ~$5 | usage-based ($10/GB RAM-mo); vCPU billed separately at $20/vCPU-mo on top |
| Fly.io | ~$3 | 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 PocketBase costs managed versus self-hosted, with production sizing: PocketBase 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
pocketbase - No required variables - deploy as-is
- 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/pocketbase
docker compose up -dSame files, same behavior. The template README covers connection strings and scaling notes.
#faq
Is PocketBase production-ready?
For small-to-medium apps, yes - it is a single Go binary on SQLite with WAL mode, and real products run on it. Its honest ceiling is write concurrency: one writer at a time. Read-heavy apps with moderate writes are its sweet spot.
What does PocketBase hosting cost?
This template fits the $5/month 512 MiB Miget hobby plan - the cheapest full backend in the catalogue. Compare that with Firebase, where auth + database + storage costs scale per-use and per-MAU as you grow.
Why is there no required configuration?
PocketBase bootstraps itself: deploy, open https://your-domain/_/, create the first superuser, done. Do it promptly after deploying - until a superuser exists, anyone with the URL could claim it.
Can PocketBase scale horizontally?
No - SQLite is single-writer, so keep replicas at 1 and scale vertically (more RAM/CPU). If you outgrow it, the Supabase template in this catalogue is the structurally similar next step on Postgres.
#more backend platforms
Ship PocketBase today
One compose stack, 512 MiB of RAM, from $5/month flat, and it runs on your laptop with the same files.