How to deploy Paperclip on Hostinger

Hostinger is our top pick for Paperclip hosting — it offers the best price-to-performance ratio for a self-hosted deployment. This guide walks through the full process from choosing a plan to having a live Paperclip instance.

Why Hostinger for Paperclip

Hostinger's KVM VPS plans give you dedicated resources, full root access, and SSH — everything Paperclip needs. The entry-level KVM 2 plan (typically ~$3–4/mo on sale) is enough for a personal or small-team Paperclip deployment. Uptime has been consistent in our tests, and the control panel is beginner-friendly without hiding the features you need.

Prerequisites

Before you start, you'll need: a Hostinger account with a VPS plan (KVM 2 or higher recommended), a domain name (optional but recommended), and basic familiarity with the Linux command line. SSH access comes pre-configured on Hostinger VPS plans.

Step 1: Choose and provision your VPS

From the Hostinger dashboard, select a KVM VPS plan. Choose Ubuntu 22.04 LTS as your OS — it has the best compatibility with Paperclip's dependencies. Once provisioned, you'll receive your server IP, root password, and SSH credentials via email. The server is typically ready within 2–3 minutes.

Step 2: Connect via SSH and update the system

Connect to your server and run a full system update before installing anything.

ssh root@YOUR_SERVER_IP
apt update && apt upgrade -y

Step 3: Install dependencies

Paperclip requires Node.js (v18+), npm, and Git. Install them with:

curl -fsSL https://deb.nodesource.com/setup_20.x | bash -
apt install -y nodejs git
node -v && npm -v

Step 4: Clone and configure Paperclip

Clone the Paperclip repository and install its dependencies. Then copy the example environment config and fill in your values.

git clone https://github.com/paperclip-app/paperclip.git
cd paperclip
npm install
cp .env.example .env
nano .env

Step 5: Run Paperclip as a service

Use pm2 to keep Paperclip running as a background process that restarts automatically after reboots.

npm install -g pm2
pm2 start npm --name paperclip -- start
pm2 startup
pm2 save

Step 6: Point your domain and add SSL

In your domain registrar's DNS settings, add an A record pointing to your server IP. Then use Certbot to get a free SSL certificate. If you don't have a domain yet, you can access Paperclip via your server IP on the configured port.

apt install -y nginx certbot python3-certbot-nginx
# configure nginx as a reverse proxy first, then:
certbot --nginx -d yourdomain.com

Estimated setup time

In our tests, a complete Hostinger Paperclip deployment — from account creation to a live SSL-enabled instance — takes about 25–40 minutes for someone comfortable with a terminal. First-timers should budget 60–90 minutes and follow each step carefully.

Ready to deploy?

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