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Running Plex or Jellyfin on a VPS turns any screen into a personal streaming box. The catch: media serving is one of the few VPS workloads where CPU and RAM actually matter. Here’s what to budget.
The sizing that matters
| Scenario | RAM | CPU |
|---|---|---|
| Direct play (no transcoding), 1–2 users | 1–2 GB | 1–2 vCPU |
| Transcoding 1080p | 2–3 GB | 2+ vCPU |
| Transcoding 4K | 4 GB+ | 4+ vCPU (ideally with Quick Sync/iGPU) |
Transcoding is the big variable. If you can direct-play (most modern devices can for common formats), a modest box is plenty. If you’ll be transcoding often, you need CPU headroom — and honestly a home box with a GPU usually beats a VPS for 4K transcodes.
The pick: RackNerd 2GB
For a personal Jellyfin with 1–2 users and mostly direct play, RackNerd’s 2GB plan at ~$35.99/yr is the value sweet spot — enough RAM for the media server plus a reverse proxy, full root to install via Docker, and a 1 Gbps port.
See RackNerd's 2GB planIf you’ll transcode: Hostinger KVM 2
For frequent 1080p transcoding, step up to Hostinger’s KVM 2 (8 GB RAM, ~$8.99/mo intro) — the extra RAM and faster NVMe storage keep Jellyfin responsive while transcoding.
Check Hostinger's VPS plansTwo quick tips
- Use Docker (linuxserver.io’s Plex/Jellyfin images) — it makes updates and migration painless.
- Mount media from cheap object storage or a larger attached volume rather than paying for huge VPS disks.
Bottom line: direct-play media server → RackNerd 2GB. Heavy transcoding → Hostinger 8GB.