Self-hosted¶

Run the open-source engine on your own Linux + KVM — free forever (Apache-2.0). For most people, Sistemo Cloud is the faster path (managed hosts, dashboard, prepaid billing, snapshots). Self-host when code or data must stay on your hardware.

Why self-host¶

Data residency — keep everything on your own infra.
Full control — your hosts, your network, your policies.
Free forever — Apache-2.0 engine, no account required.
Inspectable — read and run the runtime yourself.

Feature sets differ

Cloud is the product we ship day to day. Self-host is the engine — not a guaranteed feature-parity twin of every Cloud API.

Requirements¶

A Linux box with KVM enabled (bare-metal or a nested-virt VPS).
x86_64 or arm64.

Get going¶

Install

Get the binary onto your host.

Installation
Quickstart

Create your first microVM.

Quickstart
Configure

Networking, storage, limits.

Configuration
Build images

Custom base images from any Docker image.

Building images

Use the SDKs against your own host¶

The Python and JavaScript SDKs work against a self-hosted control plane — just point them at your URL:

export SISTEMO_BASE_URL=https://your-own-host:8000
export SISTEMO_API_KEY=sk_live_your_self_hosted_key

See Self-hosting (optional) for when Cloud is a better fit.