Seedbox VPS with qBittorrent, the *arr Apps and Jellyfin

Setting up a download client, an indexer manager, the *arr apps and a media server usually means an evening of copying API keys between seven web UIs and fixing folder paths. Here that part is done. Choose the seedbox with a plan, pay, and we build the VPS (KVM, NVMe, Ubuntu 24.04 LTS) and install everything in about eight minutes after boot. You get:

• qBittorrent 5.3.0, the download client, with categories for tv, movies and music.
• Prowlarr 2.7, which manages indexers in one place and syncs them to the other apps.
• Sonarr 4.0, Radarr 6.4 and Lidarr 3.1 for TV, movies and music, already pointed at qBittorrent.
• Bazarr 1.6 for subtitles, already connected to Sonarr and Radarr.
• Jellyfin 12.4 to stream the finished library, with its libraries set up on the media folders.
• One HTTPS address like yourname-x7k2.devoster.app with a Let's Encrypt certificate, a start page at / and each tool under its own path.
• Dashboard controls to open the start page, reset the password, restart, stop or start the stack, read logs, run an update and connect your own domain.

The apps are free; you pay only the VPS plan, with 10% off yearly. The server comes with full root, free nightly backups kept 3 days plus one snapshot, a dedicated IPv4, 1 Gbps with unlimited bandwidth and DDoS protection. Already have a Devoster VPS? You can install the seedbox on it from VPS Control, after the panel checks the OS, free ports 80/443 and disk, or reinstall the server with it, at no charge. Other apps that install this way are on the One-Click Apps page.

Everything is connected the way the common guides recommend, so the apps hand work to each other from the first login:

• Prowlarr → Sonarr, Radarr and Lidarr. Indexers you add in Prowlarr are pushed to the three apps automatically; you don't add them three times.
• Sonarr, Radarr and Lidarr → qBittorrent, each with its own category (tv, movies, music), so downloads land in separate folders and each app only imports its own.
• Bazarr → Sonarr and Radarr, so it sees every show and movie they manage and can fetch subtitles for them.
• Jellyfin has libraries on the finished media folders, so imported files appear in it after a scan.

One shared folder layout, so files aren't stored twice. All apps see the same /data tree: downloads go to /data/torrents, the organised library lives in /data/media. Because both are on the same disk, an import is a hardlink rather than a copy: the file keeps seeding from the torrents folder and shows up, renamed, in the library, while using the disk space once.

The addresses: the start page at / links to /qbittorrent/, /sonarr, /radarr, /lidarr, /prowlarr, /bazarr and /jellyfin. Every tool asks for a login: the username admin and the password shown in the Devoster dashboard. A password reset there updates all seven at once.

Nothing is preconfigured as a source. There are no indexers, trackers or subtitle providers in the install; you add the ones you have access to and the right to use. Until you do, Sonarr, Radarr and Lidarr show "no indexers" warnings, which is expected. The first steps:

• Add your indexers in Prowlarr. They sync to Sonarr, Radarr and Lidarr on their own.
• Create a languages profile in Bazarr and add the subtitle providers you use; Bazarr fetches nothing until it has both.
• Add your shows, movies or artists in Sonarr, Radarr or Lidarr, or point them at media you already uploaded.
• Or skip the automation: add a .torrent file or magnet link straight in qBittorrent, for example a Linux distribution's ISO.

Some indexer sites sit behind browser challenges that need a helper such as FlareSolverr. That isn't included, and neither is a request app such as Jellyseerr; with root you can add your own containers if you need them.

Your responsibility. A seedbox is a tool for legitimate use: your own media, Linux and other open-source distributions, public-domain and openly licensed content. You are responsible for what you download and seed from your server, under Devoster's Terms of Service, which forbid infringing intellectual property rights.

qBittorrent starts with settings that suit a VPS, and you can change any of them in its options:

• Seeding limits: a torrent stops after a ratio of 2 or 14 days of seeding, whichever comes first.
• Queue sized to your plan, so a small server isn't asked to run more active torrents than its memory and disk can keep up with.
• Full preallocation: a torrent reserves its whole size on disk when it starts, so a full disk shows up at once instead of halfway through a download.
• Incoming port 51413, TCP and UDP, open in the firewall, so peers can connect to you. UPnP is off; a VPS has a public IP and doesn't need it.

Getting files in and out: everything is under /opt/devoster/data/seedbox/data, reachable over SFTP with the server's SSH login (FileZilla, WinSCP, Cyberduck or rsync). Download finished files to your computer from media, or upload your own media there for Jellyfin to stream.

The seven apps use about 775 MB of RAM at idle, so memory is rarely the limit. Disk is: the container images and the OS take roughly 8 to 9 GB, and everything else is room for downloads and your library. Thanks to hardlinks, a file that is both seeding and in the library counts once.

Jellyfin has no GPU on a VPS, so any transcoding runs on the CPU. Playing files directly costs little; converting one 1080p H.264 stream on the fly needs roughly 2 to 4 vCPU, and 4K or HEVC transcodes aren't realistic. Use Jellyfin clients that play your files directly. You can move to a larger plan from the panel later; plans are not shrunk in place.

We check new versions of the seven apps and apply them in a maintenance hour you choose, or when you press Update now. A snapshot of the VPS is taken first, and if the stack doesn't come back healthy the server is rolled back automatically. Each app's analytics reporting is switched off.

Every tool sits behind a login, and the BitTorrent port is the only other port the app opens. The server is unmanaged, though: you have full root, and its security, its contents and how you use it are your responsibility. Our VPS hardening checklist covers SSH keys and the firewall. If you'd rather reach the web UIs only from your own devices, put them behind a VPN such as our WireGuard server.

When is this the wrong choice? If you only want to stream media you already own, the standalone Jellyfin server starts on a smaller plan. For music alone, Navidrome runs on Nano. And if you need many terabytes, a VPS disk is the wrong shape; look at our dedicated servers.