What is a pod in web hosting?
A pod is a dedicated Linux server that runs one app. It has its own CPU, memory, disk, IP address and HTTPS subdomain, and you get root SSH access to it. Unlike a shared function runtime, a pod stays running between requests, so background jobs and long-lived processes keep working.
How is a pod different from a serverless function?
A serverless function is created to handle one request and destroyed afterwards, so nothing survives between calls. A pod is a machine that stays up. It holds open database connections, runs a queue worker at 3am, keeps a WebSocket alive, and writes to a disk that is still there tomorrow.
That difference decides which apps you can run. Anything that needs a warm process, a scheduled job, a background worker, or local files on disk is awkward on a function platform and ordinary on a pod. n8n workflows, a Discord bot, a Python scraper and a WordPress install all fall in that group.
The tradeoff runs the other way too. Functions scale to zero and you pay nothing while idle. A pod runs whether or not anyone visits, which is why flat monthly pricing suits it and per-invocation pricing does not.
Every InstaPods plan, from Launch at $3/mo to Turbo at $49/mo, includes SSH access, custom domains and automatic SSL. Source: InstaPods plan table, verified 2026-08-06
What do you get inside a pod?
A pod on InstaPods ships as a real Linux server with a runtime already installed: Static (nginx), PHP 8.3, Node.js 20 or Python 3.12. It comes with a free HTTPS subdomain, SSH access, a web terminal, a web IDE, git deploy, and persistent disk that survives restarts.
- Root SSH access, so you can install anything apt can install.
- A persistent disk, so uploads and databases are still there after a restart.
- A free
*.instapods.appHTTPS subdomain, plus custom domains with certificates issued for you. - Optional managed PostgreSQL, MySQL or Redis, available from the Build plan at $7/mo.
Database services need the Build plan ($7/mo) or higher; the Launch plan at $3/mo does not support them. Source: InstaPods plan table, verified 2026-08-06
How much does a pod cost?
InstaPods prices pods flat per month, not per request. Launch is $3/mo for 1 vCPU, 512 MB RAM and 10 GB disk. Build is $7/mo for 2 vCPU, 2 GB and 25 GB. Grow is $15/mo, Scale is $25/mo and Turbo is $49/mo. Traffic is not metered.
A flat price is the point. You size the pod once, and the bill is the same in a quiet month and in a month you get linked on Hacker News. See flat-rate versus usage-based pricing for why that matters more than the headline number.
Where pod shows up on InstaPods
Related terms
Try it on a real server
InstaPods gives you a pod with SSH access, automatic HTTPS and persistent disk from $3/mo. One command from your project folder.
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