Mac Mini (most popular)
Pros: Whisper-quiet, energy-efficient (5-10W idle), dedicated hardware, no monthly hosting cost, full control. Cons: Requires physical space, power outages cause downtime, remote access needs SSH tunnel or Tailscale. Cost: $499-599 one-time. Best for: Home office users, privacy-focused setups, developers who want a dedicated agent machine.
VPS (most flexible)
Pros: 24/7 uptime, static IP, no physical hardware, easy to scale, accessible from anywhere. Cons: Monthly cost, data lives on someone else's server, exposed to internet by default (requires careful firewall config). Cost: $5-20/month (DigitalOcean, Hetzner, Vultr). Best for: Always-on agents, team deployments, users who need guaranteed uptime.
Docker (recommended for production)
Pros: Container isolation, reproducible environments, easy updates, volume persistence, automated restarts. Cons: Adds complexity, requires Docker knowledge, slight performance overhead. Cost: Free (runs on any of the above hardware). Best for: Production deployments, security-conscious operators, anyone who wants container-level sandboxing.
Managed hosting
Pros: Zero configuration, automatic updates and patching, security handled for you. Cons: Monthly cost, less control, data on provider's servers. Cost: $15-50/month depending on provider. Best for: Non-technical users, businesses that want zero maintenance, anyone who doesn't want to manage infrastructure.