Hosting your dapp on Chromia
Chromia provides a cloud-like hosting experience with the benefits of decentralization and a zero gas fee policy, meaning transactions are free for users. Instead of gas fees, developers lease containers that come with dedicated resources, such as vCPU, RAM, storage, and I/O bandwidth. This approach ensures predictable hosting costs while maintaining a decentralized infrastructure.
Dapp containers and Standard Container Units (SCUs)
Dapps on Chromia run in containers that are duplicated across all nodes in a cluster. This setup ensures consistent performance and decentralization, providing dedicated resources for each container. This way, traffic elsewhere on the network doesn't affect your dapp. As demand for your dapp grows, you can scale horizontally by adding more containers.
Flexible leasing model: You can lease containers on a weekly basis, adjusting resources as needed. You make payments in CHR, and we adjust the cost to a USD-equivalent target for predictability.
One SCU provides 2 GB RAM, 0.5 vCPU, 16 GB storage, and I/O bandwidth of 25 MiB/s read and 20 MiB/s write. The current weekly target cost is approximately 90 USD for a default 7-node dapp cluster.
Understanding hosting costs
Chromia's hosting model offers predictable and manageable costs, which depend on the following factors:
- Number of SCUs: The main cost driver is the number of SCUs leased, providing more resources for handling higher traffic and more demanding workloads.
- Additional storage: Extra storage can be added beyond the base SCU allocation for an additional fee.
You can make payments manually or programmatically, and any network participant can cover them to ensure continuous operation.
Hosting fee estimator
The container leasing system on Chromia allows anyone to pay for a lease, enabling a dapp to continue operating if the original lease payment lapses.
This flexibility supports two key scenarios:
- Continuous operation: Users or community members can keep the dapp running by continuously covering lease payments.
- Emergency measure: Temporarily extend the lease to access the dapp’s existing functionality if needed.
This ensures that, in case of a lease lapse, dapps can remain accessible and operational through community support.
Monetizing your application
Chromia gives you the freedom to design whatever revenue model that works best for your dapp. You have the option to select or combine approaches such as:
- Freemium model: Provide a basic version for free, and offer optional paid upgrades for advanced features.
- Subscription model: Charge recurring fees to provide access to premium content or services.
- Pay-per-use: Bill users based on specific usage, like asset transfers or data access.
Ultimately, you have the flexibility to implement any monetization strategy that fits your project.