Install Portainer to manage Docker from your browser

Portainer is a free web interface for Docker. Instead of typing commands, you can see all your containers, start and stop them, read their logs, open a console, and deploy new apps from Docker Compose files, all from your browser. It's a great companion if you're new to Docker or run several apps on one VPS.

This guide installs Portainer Community Edition (CE). It works on every operating system we offer: Ubuntu 22.04, 24.04 and 26.04, Debian 12 and 13, AlmaLinux 8, 9 and 10, and Rocky Linux 9 and 10.

Before you start

• Docker must be installed. If it isn't, follow our guide: Install Docker Engine and Docker Compose on your VPS.
• Portainer itself is light. Any VPS that runs Docker will run Portainer.
• SSH access as root or as a user with sudo rights. If you're logged in as root, you can leave sudo off the commands.

Step 1: Start Portainer

Create a volume for Portainer's data, then start the container:

sudo docker volume create portainer_data
sudo docker run -d -p 9443:9443 --name portainer --restart=always \
  -v /var/run/docker.sock:/var/run/docker.sock \
  -v portainer_data:/data \
  portainer/portainer-ce:lts

Portainer's web interface runs on port 9443, over HTTPS.

Step 2: Open the firewall

Ubuntu/Debian with UFW enabled:

sudo ufw allow 9443/tcp

AlmaLinux/Rocky with firewalld:

sudo firewall-cmd --permanent --add-port=9443/tcp
sudo firewall-cmd --reload

Docker manages its own firewall rules, so port 9443 may already be reachable even without these commands.

Step 3: Complete the setup within 5 minutes

For security, a new Portainer install must be set up within 5 minutes of starting, and it asks for a one-time setup token. Find the token in Portainer's log:

sudo docker logs portainer 2>&1 | grep setup_token

Copy the value after setup_token=. Then:

1. Open https://YOUR_SERVER_IP:9443 in your browser. Portainer uses a self-signed certificate at first, so your browser will show a warning. This is expected. Continue to the page.
2. Paste the setup token.
3. Create your administrator account with a username and a strong password (at least 12 characters).
4. Choose Get Started to manage the Docker environment on this VPS.

If you miss the 5-minute window, Portainer stops accepting setup for security. Restart it with sudo docker restart portainer, get the new token from the log, and try again.

Using Portainer

• Containers: see what's running, start, stop and restart containers, view logs, and open a console inside a container.
• Stacks: paste a Docker Compose file and deploy it with one click. This is the easiest way to run the apps in our other guides from Portainer.
• Images and volumes: see what's taking up disk space and remove what you don't need.

Keep Portainer secure

Portainer controls everything Docker runs on your server, so protect it well:

• Use a strong, unique password.
• Limit port 9443 to your own IP address if you can. On UFW, for example: sudo ufw allow from YOUR_HOME_IP to any port 9443 proto tcp. Because Docker can bypass the firewall, the safest option is to publish the port on 127.0.0.1 only (-p 127.0.0.1:9443:9443) and reach it through an SSH tunnel: ssh -L 9443:127.0.0.1:9443 root@YOUR_SERVER_IP, then browse to https://localhost:9443.
• Or put Portainer behind a reverse proxy with a proper SSL certificate, for example with Nginx Proxy Manager.

Keeping it up to date

Your settings are kept in the portainer_data volume, so you can safely replace the container with a newer version:

sudo docker stop portainer
sudo docker rm portainer
sudo docker pull portainer/portainer-ce:lts
sudo docker run -d -p 9443:9443 --name portainer --restart=always \
  -v /var/run/docker.sock:/var/run/docker.sock \
  -v portainer_data:/data \
  portainer/portainer-ce:lts

Troubleshooting

• "Your Portainer instance timed out for security purposes": the 5-minute setup window passed. Run sudo docker restart portainer and complete setup straight away.
• The page won't load: make sure you're using https:// and port 9443, and that the container is running with sudo docker ps.
• You forgot the admin password: see Portainer's guide to resetting the admin password.

Need help?

Our Cloud VPS plans are self-managed, so you're responsible for installing, securing and maintaining the software on your server. If something on our side isn't working, such as the network, or your VPS won't boot, open a support ticket. New to your VPS? Start with our Cloud VPS Getting Started Guide.