Server Instance Types

Frappe Cloud offers multiple infrastructure options to suit different workloads and budgets. Understanding the differences between Dedicated Instances, Shared Instances, and Unified Servers helps you choose the most appropriate deployment model for your environment.

Dedicated Instance

Dedicated Instances provide a virtual machine with resources reserved exclusively for your workloads.

The allocated CPU, memory, and other resources are not shared with other customers. Even when your applications are idle, those resources remain available for your server.

This deployment model is ideal for workloads that require:

• Consistently high CPU or memory usage.
• Stable and predictable performance.
• Handling sudden traffic spikes.
• Business-critical production environments.

Since resources are dedicated to a single customer, applications experience minimal interference from neighboring workloads.

Shared Instance

Shared Instances run on infrastructure where computing resources are shared between multiple virtual machines.

For example, your server may be assigned multiple vCPUs, but those physical resources are also utilized by other tenants hosted on the same infrastructure.

Most shared cloud providers support CPU bursting, allowing workloads to temporarily use their full CPU allocation. However, sustained high utilization is not guaranteed.

When resource consumption exceeds provider-defined thresholds, CPU performance may be throttled.

Characteristics of Shared Instances

• Lower infrastructure cost.
• Suitable for temporary or lightweight workloads.
• Supports short-term CPU bursting.
• Performance may vary depending on neighboring workloads.

Cloud Provider Documentation

For more information about how shared infrastructure works, refer to your cloud provider’s documentation:

• Hetzner Cloud Server FAQ
• Amazon EC2 Shared Infrastructure Documentation

Support Considerations

Performance on Shared Instances can vary over time because infrastructure resources are shared across multiple customers.

If a shared server reaches provider limits, CPU performance may be throttled. In such situations, it may not be possible to determine whether application slowness originates from the application itself or from shared infrastructure.

Because of this, performance-related issues on Shared Instances are not covered under full support.

Shared Instances are recommended for:

• Development environments.
• Testing and QA.
• User Acceptance Testing (UAT).
• Learning and experimentation.

For production environments, Dedicated Instances are strongly recommended to ensure consistent performance and comprehensive support.

Unified Server

Earlier dedicated deployments on Frappe Cloud required separate servers for the application layer and the database.

Unified Server simplifies this architecture by running both components on a single dedicated server.

Instead of managing two independent machines, the application and database coexist on one server, reducing infrastructure complexity and deployment costs.

Benefits of Unified Server

• Simplified deployment architecture.
• Lower infrastructure costs compared to separate dedicated servers.
• Easier management for small and medium business workloads.
• Available across all supported cloud providers.

Unified Servers are an excellent option for organizations that want dedicated infrastructure without the overhead of managing separate application and database servers.