Best VPS for Radarr (2026): Top Picks Tested and Ranked
Radarr automates a self-hosted movie collection the way Sonarr handles TV, and a VPS keeps it running day and night without depending on your home machine. The best VPS for Radarr in 2026 balances dependable CPU, enough RAM for the app and its database, and generous storage for a growing film library. This guide ranks the providers that suit Radarr best.
VPS Comparison for Radarr
| Provider | Best For | Storage Profile | Why It Fits Radarr |
|---|---|---|---|
| Contabo | Big libraries, low cost | Generous SSD/NVMe | Best space per euro for movie files |
| Hetzner Cloud | Speed and value combined | Flexible volumes | Fast NVMe and strong network |
| DigitalOcean | Quick, developer-friendly | Block storage | One-click Docker deployment |
What Is Radarr and Why Self-Host It
Radarr is a movie collection manager for Usenet and BitTorrent that monitors for releases, grabs them at your preferred quality, and renames and organizes files into a clean library. Self-hosting Radarr on a VPS gives you an always-on automation hub that feeds directly into a media server such as Jellyfin or Plex, independent of whether your home devices are powered on.
How to Deploy Radarr on a VPS
Docker Compose is the cleanest way to run Radarr alongside its companion apps.
- Spin up a VPS with a current Ubuntu or Debian LTS image.
- Install Docker and the Compose plugin.
- Define a compose service using the Radarr image with mapped config and media volumes.
- Set PUID, PGID, and TZ so permissions and scheduling work as expected.
- Launch with docker compose up -d and open the web UI on port 7878.
- Place Radarr behind a reverse proxy with TLS before exposing it. Our reverse proxy guide walks through it.
Recommended VPS Specs for Radarr
Radarr is not resource-hungry on its own, but it usually shares a VPS with a download client, an indexer manager, and sometimes Sonarr and a media server. A solid baseline is 2 vCPU, 4 GB RAM, and SSD storage sized to your active library plus metadata. A minimal Radarr-only instance runs fine on 1 vCPU and 2 GB RAM.
Recommended pick: a 2 vCPU / 4 GB plan leaves headroom for a download client and companion apps. Contabo offers the most storage per euro for large film libraries, while Hetzner delivers faster NVMe. See the full breakdown in our budget VPS ranking.
Common Gotchas
- Permission errors are the top complaint. Match PUID and PGID to the owner of your media folders.
- Keep Radarr, your download client, and your indexer manager on one Docker network so they resolve each other by name.
- 4K and remux releases consume storage quickly. Track disk usage and add a block volume before you run out.
- Do not expose the Radarr web UI to the public internet without a reverse proxy and authentication in front.
Frequently Asked Questions
What are the minimum VPS requirements for Radarr?
Radarr alone runs in a few hundred megabytes of RAM and needs very little CPU, so a 1 vCPU / 2 GB VPS is enough for a standalone instance. Most people run it with a download client and other automation tools, so 2 vCPU and 4 GB RAM is the more realistic recommendation for a smooth experience.
Can Radarr and Sonarr share one VPS?
Yes. Running Sonarr for TV and Radarr for movies on the same VPS is the standard approach, and they share a common download client and indexer manager. A single 2 vCPU / 4 GB server handles both apps and a download client for typical home libraries.
Which provider gives the best storage value for Radarr?
Contabo consistently offers strong storage capacity for the price, which is ideal for large movie collections. If you prefer faster disks and a polished API, Hetzner and DigitalOcean are excellent alternatives. Compare them in our Contabo review and DigitalOcean review.
For a full provider comparison, visit our complete VPS ranking.