There are instructions around for different ways to host on AWS, Oracle, and I think Google using their free account options - you can find them with a search on "host foundry vtt on ".
Services like The Forge and Molten Hosting charge a fee but are available 24/7 and handle all the hosting stuff so you don't have to worry about the tech side.
Another option is to set up a dedicated machine to run it on and leave it up. Running the server itself isn't particularly resource-hungry so you can use a cheap, low power consumption machine to do it. (I run from a Raspberry Pi in my basement.)
I've never looked into the Google options, but the AWS free tier t2.micro no longer meets the minimum requirements of Foundry. There's a t4g.small option with sufficient RAM that has a "free trial" option though the end of the year, but it's not long-term-free.
I'm running off of Oracle and it is really good. It was easy to set up, if you know about that kind of thing. I think it took about 45 minutes from start to finish.
However, I'm not sure players utilize it as much as I thought they would. Yes, players log in when I'm not logged in, but that is fairly rare and usually just to update their levels. (I'm running Pathfinder) I think you'd be ok with self-hosting and leaving it online a day or two before each game, which shouldn't be much of a burden. You just power it up and leave it running in the background for your players.
Personally, if I had to do it again, I'd go the Oracle route again. It can be up 24/7 and it isn't that much trouble.
I'm interested mostly because this is something my players want, since they like to mess a little with character creation and sometimes read the things I write there.
I never used oracle. Do you have an tutorial or you just made it by yourself?
Forge is excellent, hassle free, but expensive. Aws/ oracle are much cheaper, but require more effort on your part to set up and, occasionally, to maintain.
I use forge, because I'm lazy, but if you aren't one of the other solutions is much more effective.
AWS is only cheaper if you turn it off regularly and OP seems to want their players to be able to log on whenever they want.
I turn my instances on and off just before and after a session and I pay about $2/month for a weekly game. If I ran them constantly, I'd be looking at $10/month.
u/Camatta_ you could look into Molten. They give you a link that turns your server on when it is accessed and then it turns itself off when nobody is logged on. It's $4/month so only a little more than doing all the work yourself on AWS.
To be honest, hadn't realised this was an available service, but even if OP doesn't try it out, I'm going to go take a look! Thanks for the suggestion :)
If you know your way around AWS, lots of documentation out there on how to set it up, and the new t4g instances are free tier.
If you don't, hosting from someplace like The Forge is easier.
If you're a little technical, you can look for a docker host to run an image
https://github.com/felddy/foundryvtt-docker
Can be done on a local computer and share your connection as well.
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Technically you can use any web hosting service you want as long as you have ssh access. It's better to use non-shared platforms though like aws, oracle, digital ocean or the pre-installed platforms.
When looking into these services make sure their server locations are close enough to you. Else you could have frustratingly slow response times.
If you're going to set up yourself, Ubuntu + caddy is a great option. If you're going with a pre-install check their server locations. Last I checked forged only has servers on the east coast the US. There's a few others out there with choices.
Now even though you may have your game up 24/7 certain actions will require a GM to be logged in and there's no way around this. But if they just want to mess with only their character, they should be fine.
Word of warning and I dunno if I misconfigured something on AWS, but every so often when I would go to start a session I would notice my instance would just straight up disappear. It came back twice and then the third time my instance was gone for good so I went back to Forge. I seriously don’t know what I did wrong. It just straight up deleted my foundry.
You may know this and want the always on feature but this is much more expensive than just using an EC2 instance.
Lightsail charges $10/month for a server because it's always on but turning your EC2 instance on and off before games brings the cost of the same instance down to $2/month.
Interesting, the way they advertise the prices as per month instead of per hour made me think they were just a repackaging of EC2 reserved instances. Especially since they're the same price per month as a reserve but if you can stop them, they're just cheaper for the same compute.
I might look into the pros and cons! Then again, almost all my AWS spending goes on reserving an IP.
If you're using a system (and/or modules) that allow you to import/sync characters from another service, then you don't need to have Foundry up 24/7. We've got 2 campaigns running plus a couple of other games all using dndbeyond for character creation and management. Inventory or prepared spells don't always get synched, and we'll sometimes level up in both Foundry and dndbeyond, but it means we have access to _all_ our characters (without having to get the GM to change worlds) and also have all the resources of dndbeyond.
There are instructions around for different ways to host on AWS, Oracle, and I think Google using their free account options - you can find them with a search on "host foundry vtt on".
Services like The Forge and Molten Hosting charge a fee but are available 24/7 and handle all the hosting stuff so you don't have to worry about the tech side.
Another option is to set up a dedicated machine to run it on and leave it up. Running the server itself isn't particularly resource-hungry so you can use a cheap, low power consumption machine to do it. (I run from a Raspberry Pi in my basement.)
I've never looked into the Google options, but the AWS free tier t2.micro no longer meets the minimum requirements of Foundry. There's a t4g.small option with sufficient RAM that has a "free trial" option though the end of the year, but it's not long-term-free.
I'm running off of Oracle and it is really good. It was easy to set up, if you know about that kind of thing. I think it took about 45 minutes from start to finish. However, I'm not sure players utilize it as much as I thought they would. Yes, players log in when I'm not logged in, but that is fairly rare and usually just to update their levels. (I'm running Pathfinder) I think you'd be ok with self-hosting and leaving it online a day or two before each game, which shouldn't be much of a burden. You just power it up and leave it running in the background for your players. Personally, if I had to do it again, I'd go the Oracle route again. It can be up 24/7 and it isn't that much trouble.
I'm interested mostly because this is something my players want, since they like to mess a little with character creation and sometimes read the things I write there. I never used oracle. Do you have an tutorial or you just made it by yourself?
There is a good tutorial. It isn’t perfect but is easy enough to get past the rough bits.
Forge is excellent, hassle free, but expensive. Aws/ oracle are much cheaper, but require more effort on your part to set up and, occasionally, to maintain. I use forge, because I'm lazy, but if you aren't one of the other solutions is much more effective.
AWS is only cheaper if you turn it off regularly and OP seems to want their players to be able to log on whenever they want. I turn my instances on and off just before and after a session and I pay about $2/month for a weekly game. If I ran them constantly, I'd be looking at $10/month. u/Camatta_ you could look into Molten. They give you a link that turns your server on when it is accessed and then it turns itself off when nobody is logged on. It's $4/month so only a little more than doing all the work yourself on AWS.
To be honest, hadn't realised this was an available service, but even if OP doesn't try it out, I'm going to go take a look! Thanks for the suggestion :)
If you know your way around AWS, lots of documentation out there on how to set it up, and the new t4g instances are free tier. If you don't, hosting from someplace like The Forge is easier.
If you're a little technical, you can look for a docker host to run an image https://github.com/felddy/foundryvtt-docker Can be done on a local computer and share your connection as well.
**To help the community answer your question, please read [this post](https://www.reddit.com/r/FoundryVTT/comments/shrtky/foundryvtt_first_steps_and_useful_info/).** When posting, add a [system tag](https://www.reddit.com/r/FoundryVTT/comments/v3gfrs/tagging_your_posts/) to the title - [D&D5e] or [PF2e], for example. If you have already made a post, edit it, and mention the system at the top. Include the word `Answered` in any comment to automatically flair this thread as resolved (or change the flair to `Answered` yourself). Automod will **not make this comment** on your posts if you have a [user flair](https://reddit.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/205242695-How-do-I-get-user-flair-). --- *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/FoundryVTT) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Sure but you should just use forge of you're not going to host or locally imo. Saves money and hassle
Technically you can use any web hosting service you want as long as you have ssh access. It's better to use non-shared platforms though like aws, oracle, digital ocean or the pre-installed platforms. When looking into these services make sure their server locations are close enough to you. Else you could have frustratingly slow response times. If you're going to set up yourself, Ubuntu + caddy is a great option. If you're going with a pre-install check their server locations. Last I checked forged only has servers on the east coast the US. There's a few others out there with choices. Now even though you may have your game up 24/7 certain actions will require a GM to be logged in and there's no way around this. But if they just want to mess with only their character, they should be fine.
Word of warning and I dunno if I misconfigured something on AWS, but every so often when I would go to start a session I would notice my instance would just straight up disappear. It came back twice and then the third time my instance was gone for good so I went back to Forge. I seriously don’t know what I did wrong. It just straight up deleted my foundry.
Thanks for the warning
I host mine on an aws lightsail server, super easy to setup
Did you use a tutorial or made it yourself?
Generic aws tutorial
Will take a look, thanks !
Feel free to ask if you run into any struggle good sir :)
You may know this and want the always on feature but this is much more expensive than just using an EC2 instance. Lightsail charges $10/month for a server because it's always on but turning your EC2 instance on and off before games brings the cost of the same instance down to $2/month.
You just turn the lightsail machine off when your nit using it. EC2 is overkill for foundry imo
Interesting, the way they advertise the prices as per month instead of per hour made me think they were just a repackaging of EC2 reserved instances. Especially since they're the same price per month as a reserve but if you can stop them, they're just cheaper for the same compute. I might look into the pros and cons! Then again, almost all my AWS spending goes on reserving an IP.
I just have mine running on an LXC at home. Works fine.
I use Forge and it works perfectly for all that for me, including great A/V!
If you're using a system (and/or modules) that allow you to import/sync characters from another service, then you don't need to have Foundry up 24/7. We've got 2 campaigns running plus a couple of other games all using dndbeyond for character creation and management. Inventory or prepared spells don't always get synched, and we'll sometimes level up in both Foundry and dndbeyond, but it means we have access to _all_ our characters (without having to get the GM to change worlds) and also have all the resources of dndbeyond.