Hosting web application is like driving a car. every car has different fuel consumption, maintenance cost, and others. so if you want to build low footprint of the web application resources this article is for you.
🐘 PHP (Official Image: php:apache or php:7.x-fpm)
- Base Image:
php:7.x-apache or php:7.x-fpm (Debian Slim).
- Size: ~70–150 MB depending on variant.
- Minimum Host Spec:
- CPU: 1 vCPU
- RAM: 512 MB (1 GB recommended for frameworks like Laravel)
- Storage: 100 MB+ for base image, more with extensions.
- Notes: Use
php:7.x-fpm-alpine for smallest footprint (~30 MB).
⚙️ ASP.NET Core (mcr.microsoft.com/dotnet/aspnet)
- Base Image:
mcr.microsoft.com/dotnet/aspnet: (runtime only) or dotnet/sdk (development).
- Size: Runtime ~100 MB; SDK ~200–300 MB.
- Minimum Host Spec:
- CPU: 1 vCPU
- RAM: 1 GB minimum (2 GB recommended for production).
- Storage: 200 MB+ depending on SDK/runtime.
- Notes: ASP.NET Core apps are heavier than PHP/Node; avoid SDK images in production.
🌐 Node.js (node:alpine)
- Base Image:
node:alpine (Alpine Linux).
- Size: ~5–10 MB base + Node runtime.
- Minimum Host Spec:
- CPU: 1 vCPU
- RAM: 512 MB minimum (1 GB recommended).
- Storage: 50 MB+ for base image.
- Notes: Ideal for microservices; very lightweight compared to ASP.NET.
🐍 Python (python:3-slim or python:3-alpine)
- Base Image:
python:3-slim (Debian Slim) or python:3-alpine.
- Size: ~25–50 MB.
- Minimum Host Spec:
- CPU: 1 vCPU
- RAM: 512 MB minimum (1 GB recommended for Django/Flask).
- Storage: 50 MB+ for base image.
- Notes:
python:3-alpine is smallest but may require manual installation of build tools for some packages.
Conclusion:
-
- Lightest stacks: Node.js (
node:alpine) and Python (python:3-alpine).
- Heaviest stack: ASP.NET Core (
dotnet/aspnet) due to runtime requirements.
- Balanced option: PHP (
php:7.x-fpm-alpine) with moderate footprint.