Hosting Options
Hikma Health can be hosted on a variety of platforms. This guide compares the most popular options and helps you choose the right one for your needs.
Render
Render is a modern cloud platform that makes it easy to deploy web applications. Fork the hikma-health-server repository into your own organization first, then use the deploy button in your fork’s README to deploy to Render.
- Free tier available for getting started
- Automatic deployments from GitHub
- Managed PostgreSQL databases
- Built-in SSL certificates
DigitalOcean
DigitalOcean provides scalable cloud infrastructure. As with Render, fork the server repository first, then use the deploy button in your fork to deploy to DigitalOcean App Platform.
- Predictable pricing starting at $5/month
- Managed databases available
- Global data center locations
- Simple scaling options
Self-hosted
You can also host Hikma Health on your own infrastructure or any VPS provider. The server is a standard Node.js application that can run anywhere Node.js is supported.
Requirements:
- Node.js v24.14.0
- PostgreSQL database
- A reverse proxy (e.g., Nginx or Caddy) for SSL termination
Choosing the right option
| Feature | Render | DigitalOcean | Self-hosted |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ease of setup | ⭐⭐⭐ | ⭐⭐⭐ | ⭐⭐ |
| Cost | Free tier available | From $5/mo | Varies |
| Control | Medium | Medium | Full |
| Maintenance | Low | Low | High |
| Data residency | Limited regions | Multiple regions | Your choice |
For most organizations getting started, we recommend Render for its simplicity and free tier. For production workloads with specific data residency requirements, consider DigitalOcean or self-hosting.
Note: These options are about hosting the cloud server (the master database) that the whole platform syncs to. They are separate from — and complementary to — the Local Sync Hub, a desktop app that runs inside a clinic to give devices LAN-local sync when internet is unreliable. A clinic with poor connectivity typically uses both: a hosted cloud server and a local hub that relays to it. The hub is not a hosting provider and does not replace the cloud server.