Compute and cost
How much server a workload needs, before you rent or buy it.
Most capacity mistakes are made before the first server exists: a machine picked by habit, too small for the database or paid for at twice the size it needs. The tools here answer the sizing question first, from published requirements instead of guesses.
Every figure they show comes from a versioned app profile with its official sources, and the arithmetic is shown line by line, so you can check it and change the assumptions that don't fit your case.
A path through this category
- List the apps
Write down what will run on the server: the apps, the database and the load you expect.
- Size the stack
Add the apps up per component, with headroom for the system and Docker.
- Keep the result
Save the result as a Deployment Spec link and take it to the deployment tools.
Tools in this category
- Stack SizerSize a self-hosted stack from official sources.Open the tool
- Server size calculatorNot running an app from our catalog? Describe the workload, its peak load and its data, and get a vCPU, RAM and disk range with a breakdown. Every number you did not enter is shown, with where it comes from, and you can change it.Open the tool
- Bandwidth and monthly traffic calculatorEnter your monthly page views, downloads and API calls with their average size. You get the monthly transfer, what still reaches your server after a CDN, and the average and peak bit rate its network port needs.Open the tool
- Cloud egress calculatorEnter what you send to the internet each month and what you would move out if you left. You get the monthly egress cost and the one-time exit cost at each provider's list prices, every price with its source and the day it was read.Open the tool
- Homelab vs cloud cost calculatorEnter the hardware, its average power draw and how long you will use it, what it adds to your internet bill and the time it takes, and pick a VPS to compare with. You get the cost per month and over the period, the month the homelab pays off, and what a change in the electricity price does to it.Open the tool
- Kubernetes resource plannerEnter the size of a node and your workloads (replicas, CPU and memory requests and limits), or paste their manifests. You get the number of nodes, how full they are, what is placed on each one and the pods that do not fit, with every overhead shown and its source.Open the tool
- RAG vector database sizer: RAM and diskEnter how many chunks you embed, the embedding model, the index and the quantization. You get the RAM and the disk the vector database needs as a range, with every structure counted and every factor linked to the documentation it comes from.Open the tool
- AI agent workload sizer: vCPU, RAM, disk and GPUEnter how many agents run at once in each kind of environment, whether they call a model API or a model you run yourself, and how many hours a day they work. You get vCPU, RAM, disk and GPU memory as ranges, with a line for every part and every figure you can check and change.Open the tool
- GPU Planner: which GPU fits your LLMPick an open model or type its figures, the weight format, the context and how many requests run at once. You get the GPU memory it needs, which GPUs it fits on and how many of each, a rough throughput and a command to serve it. Every result is an estimate from vendor datasheets and model configs.Open the tool
- LLM cost calculator: self-host vs APIEnter your tokens a month, the API you would pay and the open model and GPU you would rent. You get both monthly costs, the volume from which self-hosting stops costing more, and every price with its source and the day it was read.Open the tool
Background: Methodology