Guide to Deploying Five Applications on a Single Low-Cost VPS

This technical article outlines a cost-effective strategy for hosting multiple web applications on a single Virtual Private Server (VPS). The author contrasts this approach with expensive platform-as-a-service solutions like Heroku, demonstrating how to run five distinct apps on a $5/month server with 2 CPU cores and 4GB RAM. The proposed architecture utilizes Nginx as a reverse proxy to route incoming traffic to different backend ports, allowing each application to operate independently. Key components include Cloudflare for Content Delivery Network (CDN) services and DDoS protection, alongside Let's Encrypt via Certbot for automated SSL certificate management. The guide provides step-by-step instructions for setting up the environment on Linux, including installing Node.js, Git, and Nginx. It emphasizes gaining full control over the server infrastructure while minimizing costs, making it an ideal solution for developers managing side projects or low-traffic applications. The tutorial serves as a practical resource for learning essential system administration skills such as Linux configuration and web server management.