Run free tools 24/7 on your own server

Your provider shows the server IP and the root password or SSH key. On Windows, macOS or Linux open a terminal and run (replace the IP):

ssh root@203.0.113.10

Then update the system:

apt update && apt upgrade -y

Almost every self-hosted tool ships as a Docker image. The official install script:

curl -fsSL https://get.docker.com | sh

Check that it works:

docker run --rm hello-world

Allow only SSH and web traffic, and keep everything else closed:

ufw allow OpenSSH
ufw allow 80,443/tcp
ufw enable

Note: ports published by Docker can bypass ufw rules. Bind tools to 127.0.0.1 (as in step 5) and expose them only through the HTTPS proxy in step 6.

n8n is a free, self-hostable alternative to Zapier and Make. This keeps your data in a Docker volume and restarts the tool automatically after a reboot:

docker volume create n8n_data
docker run -d --name n8n --restart unless-stopped \
  -p 127.0.0.1:5678:5678 \
  -e N8N_HOST=n8n.example.com -e N8N_PROTOCOL=https \
  -e WEBHOOK_URL=https://n8n.example.com/ \
  -v n8n_data:/home/node/.n8n \
  docker.n8n.io/n8nio/n8n

Other tools work the same way: copy the docker run or docker compose command from the tool's official README and follow it. Always use the official image named in the README.

Point a domain or subdomain (for example n8n.example.com) to the server IP with an A record at your domain registrar. Then install Caddy, a web server that gets free HTTPS certificates automatically (this command works on Ubuntu 24.04; for older versions follow caddyserver.com/docs/install):

apt install -y caddy

Edit /etc/caddy/Caddyfile so it contains only:

n8n.example.com {
    reverse_proxy 127.0.0.1:5678
}

Reload and open https://n8n.example.com in your browser:

systemctl reload caddy