DevOps

Complete Guide: Deploying Next.js 16 on Ubuntu VPS with Nginx & PM2

Musaddaq Farid Tahir

•August 18, 2026•7 min read

Complete Guide: Deploying Next.js 16 on Ubuntu VPS with Nginx & PM2

Why Self-Hosted VPS Deployment?

While platforms like Vercel are great for quick prototypes, hosting your client applications on a dedicated VPS gives you full control over CPU resources, custom background workers, and zero bandwidth overage costs.

Prerequisites

1. Ubuntu 24.04 LTS VPS instance

2. Registered domain name pointed to your VPS IP address

3. SSH terminal access

Step 1: Install Node.js & PM2

bash

# Update system repositories
sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade -y

# Install Node.js v20 LTS
curl -fsSL https://deb.nodesource.com/setup_20.x | sudo -E bash -
sudo apt install -y nodejs nginx git

# Install PM2 Process Manager globally
sudo npm install -y -g pm2

Step 2: Configure Nginx Reverse Proxy

Create an Nginx configuration file at `/etc/nginx/sites-available/musaddaq.dev`:

nginx

server {
    server_name musaddaq.dev www.musaddaq.dev;

    location / {
        proxy_pass http://localhost:3000;
        proxy_http_version 1.1;
        proxy_set_header Upgrade $http_upgrade;
        proxy_set_header Connection 'upgrade';
        proxy_set_header Host $host;
        proxy_cache_bypass $http_upgrade;
    }
}

Step 3: Enable SSL Certificate with Certbot

bash

sudo apt install certbot python3-certbot-nginx -y
sudo certbot --nginx -d musaddaq.dev -d www.musaddaq.dev

Now your custom Next.js application is running securely on production HTTPS!

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Why Self-Hosted VPS Deployment?

Prerequisites

1. Ubuntu 24.04 LTS VPS instance

2. Registered domain name pointed to your VPS IP address

3. SSH terminal access

Step 1: Install Node.js & PM2

# Update system repositories sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade -y # Install Node.js v20 LTS curl -fsSL https://deb.nodesource.com/setup_20.x | sudo -E bash - sudo apt install -y nodejs nginx git # Install PM2 Process Manager globally sudo npm install -y -g pm2

server { server_name musaddaq.dev www.musaddaq.dev; location / { proxy_pass http://localhost:3000; proxy_http_version 1.1; proxy_set_header Upgrade $http_upgrade; proxy_set_header Connection 'upgrade'; proxy_set_header Host $host; proxy_cache_bypass $http_upgrade; } }