Docker runs on a Raspberry Pi 5 just like on a server. Deploy Nextcloud, Forgejo, Vaultwarden or your own app with docker compose.
What fits on it
With 8 GB of RAM, several smaller services side by side. Images have to be built for arm64, and most official ones on Docker Hub are. You can filter for them by the linux/arm64 platform.
curl -fsSL https://get.docker.com | sh
docker compose up -dWhen to move to a VPS
A Raspberry Pi has a 32 GB microSD card. For databases with a lot of writes or for more data, an AMD EPYC VPS with NVMe is the better place. Your containers move over unchanged, just with x86 images.