# Cloudron review (2026): is the free plan enough? > Self-hosted platform for installing and updating apps on your server Checked Nov 13, 2026 · graded Nov 13, 2026 by ToolGPA. Cloudron is software you install on your own Ubuntu server to run web apps from the Cloudron App Store. It handles app installs and updates, user management with single sign-on, per-app backups, a firewall and a built-in mail server. The company says it has no access to your server. - **Category:** Web Hosting - **Made by:** Cloudron UG (haftungsbeschränkt) - **Website:** https://www.cloudron.io - **Runs on:** Web - **Who should skip it:** Skip it if you don't want to run a server, because Cloudron is software you install and maintain. - **Facts last checked:** Nov 13, 2026 ## Pricing As of Nov 13, 2026, Cloudron has a free plan, and paid plans start at €15 per month, billed yearly (€30 billed monthly), excluding VAT. - **Pricing model:** Free plan - **Free plan:** Two apps. - **Free trial:** None listed. | Plan | Price | What you get | | --- | --- | --- | | Free | €0 | Run up to two apps on your own server. | | Pro | €15 per month, billed yearly (€30 billed monthly) | Unlimited apps with app updates, per-app backups, firewall, email solution and single sign-on. Excludes VAT where applicable. | | Max | €25 per month, billed yearly (€50 billed monthly) | Everything in Pro plus user groups and roles, a directory server, multiple backup sites and VPN-only app access. | Read from https://www.cloudron.io/pricing.html on Nov 13, 2026. Prices change, so confirm with Cloudron before buying. ## Ways to pay less - **Yearly billing halves the monthly price** (Annual discount): Pro is €15 a month billed yearly against €30 billed monthly, and Max is €25 against €50. Source: https://www.cloudron.io/pricing.html ## Key features - **App Store installs:** Apps are installed from the Cloudron App Store without writing Dockerfiles or provisioning databases by hand. - **Timely updates:** The company says it publishes new app releases within days and security fixes within 24 hours, pulled by your server rather than pushed. - **User management:** Users can be invited and given access to chosen apps, with a dashboard that lists the apps they can open. - **Built-in mail server:** Includes catch-all addresses, aliases, per-domain relays, delivery logs and spam filtering rules, with DKIM, SPF and DMARC set up automatically. - **Backups and portability:** Encrypted backups can go to external storage such as Amazon S3, Google Cloud Storage or DigitalOcean Spaces, and a whole server can be moved to another provider. - **Firewall and audit:** A built-in firewall and an audit log of events are included on every plan. ## Good for - Individuals and small organizations self-hosting several open-source apps - Teams that want single sign-on across self-hosted apps - People who want a private server without managing each app's updates ## Worth knowing - Cloudron is installed on your own server, so the hosting bill is separate; the install page asks for a fresh Ubuntu 26.04 server with at least 2GB RAM and 20GB disk, plus a domain. - The Free plan stops at two apps. - User groups and roles, a directory server and multiple backup sites need the Max plan. - Prices exclude VAT where applicable and are shown in euros. ## ToolGPA grades **GPA: 2.0 out of 4**, graded Nov 13, 2026. Cloudron installs apps from its App Store onto your own Ubuntu server and handles updates, backups, single sign-on and mail. The free plan stops at two apps, and everything about the setup, from the server to the domain, is yours to provide. - **Value for money: C.** Pro is 15 euros a month billed yearly, in the middle of web hosting at $10.99 to $20.83. The server is paid for separately, and the free plan is only free if you host it yourself. - **Free plan and trial: C.** A free plan for two apps, which is a cap you will hit quickly. There is no trial, and you still pay for a server. - **Features: C.** App installs, updates, backups, a firewall, mail and single sign-on. Groups and roles, a directory server and multiple backup sites need Max, and the free plan has no more than two apps. - **Ease of use: D.** No store rating on record. You install it on a fresh Ubuntu server with at least 2 GB RAM and a domain, so it means self-hosting. - **Platforms and integrations: B.** Web only, but backups can go to Amazon S3, Google Cloud Storage or DigitalOcean Spaces, and the App Store carries apps such as Immich and Vaultwarden. These are ToolGPA's own grades. Graded from this listing, whose facts were read from Cloudron's own pages on 13 November 2026. Not based on using the product, and shorter than our full reviews. ## Where it stands among web hosts - Cloudron's GPA of 2.0 is higher than 49 of the 122 other web hosts we grade, and level with 24. - It stands best on platforms and integrations (B, above 57 of 122) and worst on ease of use (D, above 0). - Its paid plans start at about $16.76 a month, against a middle price of $9.69 for the category: 77 of the 107 others that charge start lower. - On features, ease of use and platforms it scores 2.0 out of 4. 42 tools score higher and cost less. The category's chart of price against score: https://toolgpa.com/charts/web-hosting ## Keep it, or make your own? **Your call.** Cloudron sits between: not beyond making, and not a weekend's work either. What you would give up is listed below. Whether that is worth the price is your call. It costs $201.10 a year. - You could make: It runs in a browser, which is where something home-made would run too. - You could not: Reading the reports inbox providers send about your domain. - You could not: It plugs into other products, Amazon S3, Google Cloud Storage and DigitalOcean Spaces among them. - You could not: What a company asks for before it lets staff use something: single sign-on and audit logs. A judgement by ToolGPA from this listing, by rules that are the same for every tool. Nothing was built to test it. ## Works with Amazon S3, Google Cloud Storage, DigitalOcean Spaces, Immich, Vaultwarden **Tags:** Self-hostable, DMARC ## Alternatives - [Coolify](https://toolgpa.com/tools/coolify): Open-source platform to deploy apps and databases to your own servers. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/cloudron-vs-coolify) - [Dokploy](https://toolgpa.com/tools/dokploy): Open-source platform to deploy apps and databases on your own servers. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/cloudron-vs-dokploy) - [CapRover](https://toolgpa.com/tools/caprover): Free, self-hosted platform for deploying apps with Docker. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/caprover-vs-cloudron) - [Dokku](https://toolgpa.com/tools/dokku): Open-source, single-server platform as a service you run yourself. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/cloudron-vs-dokku) - [CloudPanel](https://toolgpa.com/tools/cloudpanel): Free server control panel for PHP, Node.js and Python sites. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/cloudpanel-vs-cloudron) ## Sources The prices, plans, platforms and features above were read from these pages on Nov 13, 2026: - https://www.cloudron.io/pricing.html - https://www.cloudron.io - https://www.cloudron.io/get.html - https://www.cloudron.io/imprint.html Page: https://toolgpa.com/tools/cloudron Listed by ToolGPA (toolgpa.com).