Evolution API hosting Your WhatsApp API, behind your own key.
Evolution API hosting on Selfhost.dev runs Evolution API with its PostgreSQL, Redis and web Manager on a dedicated server we provision, secure and run. Your API key is set before the first boot, HTTPS is on from the start and vendor telemetry is off.
The API key you choose is the only lock on the API, and it is in place before the first request.
- Evolution API2.3.7, pinned
- databasePostgreSQL 16, bundled
- cacheRedis 7, bundled
- API keyyours, before the first boot
- telemetryoff
What is Evolution API hosting?
What it is
Evolution API is a messaging API for WhatsApp: your systems send and receive messages through its REST API, and its web Manager creates the instances that hold your numbers. Evolution API hosting runs it on a server your systems can always reach.
Who it is for
Developers and teams wiring WhatsApp into their own product, CRM or automations, who want the API on a server they control.
When to use it
When you would rather not wire Docker, Postgres, Redis and HTTPS together by hand to run Evolution API yourself.
Evolution API Docker, set up for you
The one click deploys three containers: Evolution API, a PostgreSQL 16 database and a Redis 7 cache, with the Manager served at /manager on the same HTTPS address. These are the settings that matter.
The stack, end to end
Your systems and the Manager
TLS and routing
Evolution API 2.3.7
PostgreSQL 16
Redis 7
Your API key
| What the template sets | Why |
|---|---|
evoapicloud/evolution-api:v2.3.7, an exact tag | The image changes only when we re-pin it, never on a restart |
TELEMETRY_ENABLED=false | Evolution API reports request paths and instance names to its vendor unless this is off |
AUTHENTICATION_API_KEY from your key | The API and the Manager are locked before the first request |
| PostgreSQL 16 and Redis 7 beside it | Instances, messages, contacts and chats are stored; Redis is the cache |
| HTTPS on port 443 | Port 8080 stays inside the container |
| A health check on the Manager page | The deploy is marked ready without a call out to WhatsApp |
Evolution API hosting requirements
Evolution API hosting requirements on this template are a server, an API key and a number to link. The platform weighs Evolution API as a light app with no memory floor, so it starts on the default 4 GB server, x86 or ARM.
What it needs
- Evolution API
- 2.3.7, pinned
- Database and cache
- PostgreSQL 16 and Redis 7, on the same server
- Memory and CPU
- 4 GB, the platform default; x86 or ARM
- API key
- At least 16 characters, set at deploy
- Ports
- 443 over HTTPS; 8080 stays inside the container
- Per project
- More than one Evolution API can share a project
What we run and what you bring
The API, its databases and HTTPS are ours to run. The key, the numbers and the systems that call the API are yours.
On the server (we set it up)
- Evolution API, PostgreSQL and Redis
- HTTPS, the Manager and the health check
- Storage for instances, messages and chats
What you bring
- An API key of at least 16 characters
- A WhatsApp number to link to an instance
- Your own systems calling the API
How to deploy Evolution API in 3 steps
One API key, one click, then link a number.
-
Choose Evolution API and a 4 GB server
Launch opens the Evolution API template in the console. Set an API key of at least 16 characters; it locks the API and the Manager from the first request.
-
Launch it
The first boot brings up Postgres and Redis, then runs the database migrations; the console allows up to ten minutes. Then Open Manager takes you to the Manager.
-
Link a number
Paste the API key into API Key Global, create an instance, then connect a WhatsApp number to it from the instance page. Your systems call the address the console shows, with the key in the apikey header.
What Evolution API hosting costs
Evolution API hosting here is one server line. The template adds no fee, and instances and messages cost nothing extra from us. A European 4 GB server is $0.02/hr, about $15 to $16 a month, paid by the hour from prepaid credits.
| Item | Cost |
|---|---|
| Evolution API, PostgreSQL and Redis | $0 |
| Instances and messages | $0 from us, limited only by the server size |
| Bandwidth | $0, traffic is included in the server price |
| Optional daily backups | +20% of the server price |
| Server | RAM, cores, disk | Where | Rate | About a month |
|---|---|---|---|---|
cx23 (recommended) | 4 GB, 2 cores, 40 GB | Europe | $0.02/hr | $15.18 |
cax11 (ARM) | 4 GB, 2 cores, 40 GB | Europe | $0.02/hr | $16.35 |
cpx21 | 4 GB, 3 cores, 80 GB | US | $0.12/hr | $87.75 |
cpx22 | 4 GB, 2 cores, 80 GB | Singapore | $0.10/hr | $72.56 |
cx33 (more instances) | 8 GB, 4 cores, 80 GB | Europe | $0.03/hr | $23.36 |
Monthly figures assume 730 hours.
If your balance reaches zero
With a card on file or a past top-up, Evolution API keeps running for 5 days after your balance reaches zero. Then it is stopped and kept for 24 hours before it is deleted; a top-up in that time restarts it. We email you when the balance reaches zero and again when it stops. Welcome-credit-only servers are deleted at zero.
Price another size or region in the calculator, no signup.
Five checks on every Evolution API server
- Never open on the internet. Your API key is set before Evolution API first starts, so the API and the Manager are locked from the first request.
- A deploy is never reported done until the Manager answers. The health check reads the Manager page, so it does not depend on reaching WhatsApp.
- Your Evolution API version stays put. The image is an exact tag; a restart or redeploy brings back the same build.
- No telemetry to the vendor. It is switched off before the first boot.
- Its databases stay private. Postgres and Redis get names of their own and no public route.
The console allows up to ten minutes for the Evolution API template after the server is ready; first-time server provisioning adds time.
Evolution API hosting limitations
- The API key is the only lock. Anyone with it controls every instance, so keep it on your servers, never in a browser or an app.
- Upgrades are not one click yet. When a newer release ships, the console shows Update available, but upgrades from the console are not switched on for Evolution API.
- One server, one copy. No second instance to fail over to; nothing is replicated beyond the optional daily backups.
Nothing here in your way? The console allows up to ten minutes for the first boot.
Launch Evolution APIEvolution API backup and restore
Evolution API keeps its state in volumes on the server: the instance sessions, the PostgreSQL database with messages, contacts and chats, and Redis. The server can take an optional daily image of all of it; to copy a volume out, ask us for container access over SSH.
| Method | What it covers | Where it lives |
|---|---|---|
| Daily server backup (optional, +20%) | Evolution API, PostgreSQL and Redis; the last 7 kept | With the server; deleted with it |
| A copy of the volumes | Instance sessions and the database | Your storage, via container access over SSH, granted on request |
Not sure how many numbers one server holds?
Tell us how many WhatsApp numbers you plan to link and roughly how many messages a day. We send back the size we would pick and what it costs a month.
Frequently asked questions
How do I sign in to the Evolution API Manager?
Open the Manager from the console. It fills in the Server URL for you; paste the API key you set at deploy time into API Key Global. There is no username: the same key is what your systems send in the apikey header.
Which port does Evolution API use?
Port 443, over HTTPS, at the address the console shows. Evolution API listens on 8080 inside its container only, so never point a client at 8080. Send the API key in the apikey header with every request.
Does Evolution API send data to its vendor?
Not from this template. Evolution API turns its telemetry on unless it is switched off, and that telemetry posts every request path, your instance names included, to the vendor. The template switches it off before the first boot.
Why does the template run Evolution API 2.3.7?
Because 2.3.7 fetches the current WhatsApp Web version each time it connects. The earlier 2.2.2 release baked a fixed version into its image, and once WhatsApp stopped accepting it, the QR code to link a number no longer appeared. See pricing.
Can I use my own domain for Evolution API?
Yes. Every deployment gets its own HTTPS address first. To use a domain you own, point its DNS at the server, then add it from the project in the console; a certificate is issued for it, and the API and the Manager answer there.
Related guides.
Your WhatsApp API on your own server. Locked from the first request.
- Evolution API with PostgreSQL, Redis and the Manager
- Your API key before the first boot, telemetry off
- A European 4 GB server, about $15 to $16 a month
About Selfhost.dev
Selfhost.dev is a managed self hosting platform for developers and small teams. Open source apps and databases on dedicated servers you control, billed by the hour, in six locations across three continents.
Best for: Evolution API, Chatwoot, n8n and managed PostgreSQL, MySQL, Redis, ClickHouse, OpenSearch and Kafka.