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197 lines
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197 lines
11 KiB
HTML
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<title>Self-Hosted Digital Signage Software - Complete Guide (2026) | ScreenTinker</title>
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<span>Self-Hosted Digital Signage</span>
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<h1>Self-Hosted Digital Signage Software: Complete Guide (2026)</h1>
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<p class="lead">Why you might want to self-host your digital signage CMS, what you need to do it well, and how to deploy ScreenTinker on your own server.</p>
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<h2>Why self-host digital signage?</h2>
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<p>Most digital signage products are cloud-only. That works for many businesses, but there are real reasons to keep the server in-house:</p>
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<ul>
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<li><strong>Data sovereignty.</strong> Healthcare, finance, government, and education often cannot put internal information into a third-party cloud. Self-hosting keeps content, schedules, and access logs on your network.</li>
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<li><strong>Cost control.</strong> Per-screen monthly fees stack up fast. Self-hosting trades that for a fixed server cost - typically $5 to $50 per month for a small VPS that can run hundreds of screens.</li>
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<li><strong>Network isolation.</strong> Some deployments live on private LANs with no internet access at all. Self-hosting is the only way to manage signage in those environments.</li>
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<li><strong>No vendor lock-in.</strong> If the cloud vendor disappears, raises prices 3x, or pivots away from your use case, your deployment goes with them. Self-hosters control their own roadmap.</li>
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<li><strong>Customization.</strong> Open source self-hosted means you can fork the code, add a custom widget, or wire it into your existing systems.</li>
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</ul>
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<h2>What you need</h2>
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<h3>Hardware / VPS</h3>
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<p>A modest Linux server is enough for most deployments:</p>
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<ul>
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<li><strong>Up to 25 displays:</strong> 1 vCPU, 1 GB RAM, 20 GB disk. ~$5/month on Hetzner, DigitalOcean, or Vultr.</li>
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<li><strong>25-100 displays:</strong> 2 vCPU, 2 GB RAM, 40 GB disk. ~$12-20/month.</li>
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<li><strong>100+ displays:</strong> 4+ vCPU, 4+ GB RAM, faster disk. Plan for content storage at ~50-200 MB per screen depending on media volume.</li>
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</ul>
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<p>An on-prem VM works just as well as a cloud VPS - in fact, on-prem is often the whole point.</p>
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<h3>Software prerequisites</h3>
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<ul>
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<li>Ubuntu 22.04 or 24.04 LTS (Debian 12 also works)</li>
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<li>Node.js 18 or newer</li>
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<li>A domain name pointed at your server (or just an internal hostname / IP for LAN deployments)</li>
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<li>SSL certificate (Let's Encrypt is free; or self-signed for LAN)</li>
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</ul>
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<h2>Deploying ScreenTinker</h2>
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<p>Detailed setup is in the <a href="https://github.com/screentinker/screentinker" target="_blank" rel="noopener">GitHub README</a>. Quick version:</p>
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<pre><code>git clone https://github.com/screentinker/screentinker.git
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cd screentinker/server
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npm install
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cp .env.example .env
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# edit .env with your domain, JWT_SECRET, and SELF_HOSTED=true
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node server.js</code></pre>
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<p>Set <code>SELF_HOSTED=true</code> in the env. This unlocks the enterprise plan for your account, disables subscription expiry checks, and skips Stripe entirely. It is meant for the operator-controlled deployment case.</p>
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<h2>Reverse proxy and TLS</h2>
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<p>ScreenTinker listens on HTTP/HTTPS directly, but in production you typically front it with nginx or Caddy for TLS termination, gzip, and rate limiting. A minimal Caddyfile:</p>
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<pre><code>signage.example.com {
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reverse_proxy localhost:3001
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}</code></pre>
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<p>Caddy handles Let's Encrypt automatically. nginx works too if your team prefers it.</p>
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<h2>Running as a service</h2>
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<p>Use systemd to keep the process alive across reboots. A unit file at <code>/etc/systemd/system/screentinker.service</code>:</p>
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<pre><code>[Unit]
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Description=ScreenTinker Digital Signage Server
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After=network.target
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[Service]
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WorkingDirectory=/opt/screentinker/server
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ExecStart=/usr/bin/node server.js
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EnvironmentFile=/opt/screentinker/.env
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Restart=always
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User=screentinker
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[Install]
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WantedBy=multi-user.target</code></pre>
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<p>Enable with <code>systemctl enable --now screentinker</code>.</p>
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<h2>Backups</h2>
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<p>The state lives in two places:</p>
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<ul>
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<li><code>server/db/remote_display.db</code> - SQLite database of users, devices, playlists, schedules</li>
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<li><code>server/uploads/</code> - uploaded media (images, videos, thumbnails)</li>
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</ul>
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<p>A nightly tarball of those two paths gives you a full restore point. Pair with offsite sync (rclone, restic) for disaster recovery.</p>
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<h2>Self-hosted vs cloud-hosted comparison</h2>
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<div class="compare-table-wrap">
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<table class="compare-table">
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<thead>
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<tr><th>Concern</th><th>ScreenTinker self-hosted</th><th>Cloud-only signage products</th></tr>
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</thead>
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<tbody>
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<tr><td>Data location</td><td>Your server</td><td>Vendor's cloud</td></tr>
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<tr><td>Recurring per-screen cost</td><td>None</td><td>$5-15/screen/month</td></tr>
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<tr><td>Server cost</td><td>$5-50/month flat</td><td>None (included)</td></tr>
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<tr><td>Internet required for management</td><td>No (LAN works)</td><td>Yes</td></tr>
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<tr><td>Source code access</td><td>Yes (MIT)</td><td>Closed</td></tr>
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<tr><td>Air-gapped deployment</td><td>Possible</td><td>Not possible</td></tr>
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<tr><td>Vendor lock-in risk</td><td>None (you own it)</td><td>High</td></tr>
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<tr><td>Update / patch responsibility</td><td>Yours</td><td>Vendor</td></tr>
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<tr><td>Initial setup time</td><td>~1 hour</td><td>~5 minutes</td></tr>
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</tbody>
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</table>
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</div>
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<h2>When the cloud is the right answer</h2>
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<p>Self-hosting is not free of cost - it requires someone who can run a Linux server, monitor it, and apply security updates. If your screen count is small (under ~10) and you do not have IT capacity, the managed cloud version is probably the right choice. ScreenTinker's hosted plans start at $39/mo for 5 devices.</p>
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<div class="related">
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<h2>Related guides</h2>
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<ul>
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<li><a href="/guides/raspberry-pi-digital-signage.html">How to set up digital signage on a Raspberry Pi</a></li>
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<li><a href="/guides/digital-signage-android-tv.html">Free digital signage for Android TV and Fire TV</a></li>
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<li><a href="/compare/yodeck-alternative.html">Compare: ScreenTinker vs Yodeck</a></li>
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<li><a href="/compare/screencloud-alternative.html">Compare: ScreenTinker vs ScreenCloud</a></li>
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<li><a href="/compare/optisigns-alternative.html">Compare: ScreenTinker vs OptiSigns</a></li>
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</ul>
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</div>
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<div class="cta">
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<h2>Try the cloud version first</h2>
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<p>Use the hosted version to get familiar, then deploy on your own server when you are ready.</p>
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<a href="/app#/login" class="btn btn-primary" style="padding:14px 28px;font-size:16px">Start Free</a>
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