Why host Node.js on a VPS?
Node.js is designed to handle thousands of concurrent connections through its non-blocking asynchronous model, which makes it an ideal choice for REST APIs, real-time applications and microservices. On a VPS, you avoid the restrictions of shared hosting, which often prohibits persistent processes or WebSockets. You also benefit from complete isolation: your npm dependencies, your environment variables and your PM2 configuration are never shared with other tenants.
What you can do with Node.js on a ServOrbit VPS
- Host a REST or GraphQL API accessible around the clock on a dedicated port (e.g. 3000 or 8080)
- Deploy real-time applications with WebSockets (chat, push notifications, live dashboards)
- Run a Next.js or Nuxt.js backend in SSR (Server-Side Rendering) mode for better SEO performance
- Run scheduled tasks (cron jobs) and queue-processing workers with BullMQ or Agenda
- Serve several Node.js projects on the same VPS via an Nginx or Caddy reverse proxy with distinct subdomains
- Prototype and test microservice architectures without quota constraints or forced restarts after inactivity
Install Node.js on your ServOrbit VPS
Order a ServOrbit Cloud VPS
Go to the /vps-cloud page and choose a plan suited to your application workload. For most Node.js applications (API, SSR), a VPS with 2 vCPU and 2 GB of RAM is a good starting point. Finalize the order and wait for the activation confirmation email, which usually arrives in under two minutes.
Access the Marketplace in the client area
Log in to your ServOrbit client area, then navigate to the « My VPS » section. Select the VPS you just ordered and click the « Marketplace » tab in the management panel. There you will find the full list of stacks and applications available for automated installation.
Start the Node.js installation
In the Marketplace, search for the « Node.js Stack » application and click « Install ». The system automatically provisions Node.js LTS (the recommended active version), npm, and PM2 as the process manager to keep your applications running after a restart. The installation takes less than two minutes.
Deploy your first application
Connect to your VPS via SSH (ssh root@<ip-de-votre-vps>), then transfer your project (git clone or scp). From your project directory, run npm install to install the dependencies, then pm2 start server.js --name mon-app to launch your application. By default, your app listens on the port you have defined (e.g. 3000); use pm2 save and pm2 startup for persistence across restarts.
Expose your application via Nginx (reverse proxy)
To make your application accessible on port 80 or 443 with your domain name, configure Nginx as a reverse proxy: create a server block that forwards incoming requests to http://localhost:3000 (or your app's port). Enable HTTPS with Certbot (Let's Encrypt) by running certbot --nginx -d yourdomain.com. Your API or application is then available at https://yourdomain.com.
Pro tip: use PM2 with an ecosystem.config.js file to manage several Node.js applications on the same VPS. This file centralizes environment variables (NODE_ENV, PORT, DATABASE_URL…), the number of instances in cluster mode, and restart strategies. Launch all your apps in a single command with pm2 start ecosystem.config.js and avoid storing your secrets directly in the source code.
The official documentation
For advanced configuration, tool-specific options and version changes, refer to the official Node.js documentation. This guide covers going live on a ServOrbit VPS; the vendor documentation remains the reference for fine-tuning.
