Skip the Kubernetes Bill. Run Up to 50 Services on Lean, Secure VPS.
Most startups do not need a hyperscaler and a Kubernetes cluster yet. We set up and manage a lean platform on VPS servers you own, at Hostinger, DigitalOcean, Linode or any provider you choose, with Docker Swarm, Nginx and Cloudflare: automated, monitored and secured. You pay the provider for hosting; we charge only for the DevOps.
- VPS from ≈ ₹2,499/month, billed by your provider
- Zero open inbound ports
- Your account, any VPS provider
Not Every Startup Needs Kubernetes
Kubernetes on a hyperscaler is powerful, and often more platform, more bills and more specialist skills than a growing product needs.
₹2,499 a Month vs ≈ ₹46,200 on AWS
We priced our own production workload, the server running this website, our CRM and two more products, against the same setup on AWS Mumbai with Kubernetes.
AWS Mumbai + Kubernetes (EKS)
| Amazon EKS control plane | ₹6,935 |
| Worker node: 1 × m6i.xlarge (4 vCPU, 16 GB) | ₹14,009 |
| Application Load Balancer | ₹2,212 |
| NAT gateway (hourly + data processed) | ₹4,150 |
| EBS storage, 200 GB | ₹1,733 |
| Managed databases: RDS PostgreSQL + MySQL | ₹11,590 |
| Internet data transfer, 500 GB | ₹4,153 |
| Logs, metrics and DNS (estimate) | ₹1,425 |
| Total per month | ≈ ₹46,207 |
Even a single plain EC2 server of the same size, without Kubernetes, comes to about ₹20,200 a month.
CItoCD lean stack (this website)
| Hostinger KVM VPS: 4 vCPU, 16 GB RAM, 200 GB NVMe (billed by Hostinger) | ₹2,499 |
| Docker Swarm, Nginx, Prometheus, Grafana (open source) | ₹0 |
| Cloudflare CDN, WAF, tunnels and Access (free plans) | ₹0 |
| Databases (PostgreSQL, MySQL, Redis in containers) | included |
| Total per month | ₹2,499 |
The VPS is billed by the provider to you. CItoCD bills only for setup and management. Need high availability? Add a second VPS: still a fraction of the AWS bill.
Workload: the production server behind citocd.com, running 17 containers across 4 products with 4 databases on 4 vCPU and 16 GB RAM. AWS estimate uses Mumbai (ap-south-1) on-demand list prices as of October 2026 at ₹95 per US$, 500 GB of monthly internet traffic and a single worker node. Reserved instances or savings plans lower AWS costs, and high availability raises them. Both columns are hosting costs paid to the provider; CItoCD does not resell hosting, and our DevOps setup and management are quoted separately. Taxes excluded. See the full breakdown.
Production-Grade, Built From Open Source
Docker Swarm cluster
Orchestration for up to around 50 services: rolling updates, self-healing, health checks and encrypted secrets.
Nginx edge
Routing, TLS, caching and rate limiting for every service and domain from one place.
Cloudflare in front
CDN, WAF, DDoS protection and secure tunnels, so the servers expose no public ports at all.
CI/CD from Git
GitHub Actions or GitLab CI build, scan and deploy every push, with one-command rollback.
Open-source observability
Prometheus, Grafana, Loki and uptime checks, with alerts to email, Slack or WhatsApp.
Backups & recovery
Encrypted off-site backups, tested restores and a documented recovery runbook.
citocd.com Runs on This. With Zero Open Ports.
This website, our CRM and our deployments run on the same lean architecture we build for clients: no public ports, SSH without a public IP, deploys from Git in minutes. Curious how?
The locked parts are what our clients pay for. We walk you through all of it, on your own services, in a free 30-minute session.
Ask for the Blueprint WalkthroughOwn Your DevOps. Keep Your Freedom.
No lock-in
Open-source tools, standard Docker images and Compose files. Move between VPS providers, or on-prem, whenever you want.
Your DevOps, your control
Everything lives in your Git repositories and your accounts, documented and handed over. We never hold you hostage.
Custom designs
No one-size template: we design around your services, traffic, data and compliance, using the best open-source tools for the job.
A growth path
When you truly need Kubernetes or a hyperscaler, the same containers move across. You upgrade when the business needs it, not before.
Is the Lean Stack Right for You?
A great fit
- Startups and SMEs running 5 to about 50 services
- Teams paying for Kubernetes or managed cloud they do not fully use
- Products with steady, predictable traffic
- Founders who want predictable monthly costs and no lock-in
Better on Kubernetes or a hyperscaler
- Very large or highly spiky workloads needing rapid autoscaling across regions
- Regulated systems that must use specific managed cloud services
- Teams already running Kubernetes well, at a cost they are happy with
We will tell you honestly, and we build those too: see cloud migration.
From Pilot to Lean Platform in About 6 Weeks
Free pilot
One service moved onto the lean stack, behind Cloudflare, with CI/CD and monitoring.
Build the stack
Swarm cluster, Nginx edge, pipelines, observability and backups for all services.
Migrate & hand over
Services migrated with zero-downtime switchovers, runbooks and team training.
AMC (optional)
We keep it patched, monitored and improving under a DevOps AMC.
Your VPS, Your Account. We Bring the DevOps.
You choose the provider and pay them directly. We set up and manage the lean stack on top, under one DevOps contract.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Docker Swarm production-ready in 2026?
How many services can this architecture run?
How can servers have zero open ports?
Which VPS providers do you support?
Can we move to Kubernetes later?
Do you sell or resell the VPS servers?
How much does it cost?
Want to See the Blueprint?
Book a free 30-minute session. We map your services onto the lean stack and show you exactly how it would run, and what it would cost to host.