Docker on Hostinger VPS: Complete Setup Guide 2026

Docker is the standard way to deploy applications on a VPS in 2026. Reasons to use it:

• Portability: Apps run identically on any Docker-enabled server
• Isolation: Each container is sandboxed — one app crashing doesn't affect others
• Easy updates: Pull a new image, restart container. No dependency conflicts.
• Resource efficiency: Docker containers share the OS kernel, using far less RAM than VMs
• Ecosystem: Docker Hub has pre-built images for virtually every application

SSH into your server and run:

# Update package index
apt update

# Install Docker using official script
curl -fsSL https://get.docker.com -o get-docker.sh
sh get-docker.sh

# Install Docker Compose plugin
apt install docker-compose-plugin -y

# Add your user to the Docker group (replace 'deploy' with your username)
usermod -aG docker deploy

# Log out and back in, then verify
docker --version
docker compose version
docker run hello-world

The hello-world container confirms Docker is working. You're ready to deploy anything.

Docker Compose is the standard way to define multi-container apps. Example: deploy a WordPress site with a MySQL database:

mkdir -p ~/wordpress && cd ~/wordpress

cat > docker-compose.yml << 'EOF'
services:
  db:
    image: mysql:8.0
    environment:
      MYSQL_DATABASE: wordpress
      MYSQL_USER: wpuser
      MYSQL_PASSWORD: secure-password
      MYSQL_ROOT_PASSWORD: root-password
    volumes:
      - db_data:/var/lib/mysql
    restart: unless-stopped

  wordpress:
    image: wordpress:latest
    ports:
      - "8080:80"
    environment:
      WORDPRESS_DB_HOST: db
      WORDPRESS_DB_USER: wpuser
      WORDPRESS_DB_PASSWORD: secure-password
      WORDPRESS_DB_NAME: wordpress
    volumes:
      - wp_data:/var/www/html
    depends_on:
      - db
    restart: unless-stopped

volumes:
  db_data:
  wp_data:
EOF

docker compose up -d

Visit http://YOUR_SERVER_IP:8080 to see WordPress. Same pattern works for any Docker application.

Traefik automatically manages SSL certificates and routing for all your Docker containers. Add it as your first service:

mkdir -p ~/traefik && cd ~/traefik
touch acme.json && chmod 600 acme.json

cat > docker-compose.yml << 'EOF'
services:
  traefik:
    image: traefik:v3.0
    command:
      - --providers.docker=true
      - --providers.docker.exposedbydefault=false
      - --entrypoints.web.address=:80
      - --entrypoints.web.http.redirections.entrypoint.to=websecure
      - --entrypoints.websecure.address=:443
      - --certificatesresolvers.le.acme.email=you@yourdomain.com
      - --certificatesresolvers.le.acme.storage=/acme.json
      - --certificatesresolvers.le.acme.httpchallenge.entrypoint=web
    ports:
      - "80:80"
      - "443:443"
    volumes:
      - /var/run/docker.sock:/var/run/docker.sock:ro
      - ./acme.json:/acme.json
    restart: unless-stopped
EOF

docker compose up -d

Once Traefik is running, add labels to any container to expose it with HTTPS:

labels:
  - traefik.enable=true
  - traefik.http.routers.myapp.rule=Host(`app.yourdomain.com`)
  - traefik.http.routers.myapp.tls.certresolver=le

Commands you'll use constantly:

• docker compose up -d — Start all services in background
• docker compose down — Stop and remove containers
• docker compose logs -f servicename — Watch logs in real time
• docker compose pull — Pull latest images
• docker compose ps — List running containers
• docker exec -it container_name bash — Open a shell inside a container
• docker system prune — Clean up unused images and volumes
• docker stats — Live resource usage dashboard