Overview

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Pixelfed on AWS by FOSSonCloud is an open-source AWS CloudFormation template that offers an easy-to-install AWS infrastructure solution for quickly deploying Pixelfed, using both AWS and Pixelfed best practices.
Automatically configured to support auto-scaling through AWS Autoscaling Groups, this solution leverages an S3 bucket for user generated content between application servers. It also provisions an ElastiCache Redis cluster for cache. It configures SES with Easy DKIM for emails, and configures Route53 with convenient DNS entries.
The template ensures multi-level security by incorporating AWS IAM for federated access to resources with least privilege and AWS managed keys and Secrets Manager to manage secrets for encryption of data at rest and in transit.
We support multiple availability zones using an RDS Aurora MySQL cluster and EC2 Auto Scaling Groups. However, only one instance at a time is supported.
Highlights
- Production-ready Pixelfed v0.12.7 site, with search, email, and caching
- Integrated with AWS Certificate Manager for HTTPS support
- Logs in CloudWatch Logs, Remote access via Session Manager
Details
Introducing multi-product solutions
You can now purchase comprehensive solutions tailored to use cases and industries.
Features and programs
Financing for AWS Marketplace purchases
Pricing
Dimension | Cost/hour |
|---|---|
t2.micro | $0.02 |
t3.micro | $0.02 |
r5d.2xlarge | $0.02 |
m5d.8xlarge | $0.02 |
m5d.large | $0.02 |
m5.xlarge | $0.02 |
m5.12xlarge | $0.02 |
r5.2xlarge | $0.02 |
r5d.4xlarge | $0.02 |
c5.metal | $0.02 |
Vendor refund policy
We do not currently support refunds, but you can cancel at any time.
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Delivery details
CloudFormation Template v2.1.0
Pixelfed on AWS by FOSSonCloud deploys a production-ready Pixelfed photo sharing platform on AWS using AWS and Pixelfed best practices.
WHAT'S DEPLOYED
- VPC with public and private subnets (or use your existing VPC)
- Application Load Balancer with ACM certificate for HTTPS
- Single EC2 instance running Pixelfed v0.12.7 (with EBS data volume)
- Aurora MySQL cluster (multi-AZ)
- ElastiCache Redis cluster for caching
- S3 bucket for user-uploaded photos and avatars
- SES domain identity with Easy DKIM for outbound email
- Route53 DNS records
- CloudWatch Logs integration
- AWS Secrets Manager for credential storage
- IAM roles with least-privilege permissions
- ActivityPub federation enabled (configurable)
- Mastodon login support (configurable)
REQUIREMENTS
- Route 53 hosted zone for DNS
- ACM certificate covering the deployment hostname
CloudFormation Template (CFT)
AWS CloudFormation templates are JSON or YAML-formatted text files that simplify provisioning and management on AWS. The templates describe the service or application architecture you want to deploy, and AWS CloudFormation uses those templates to provision and configure the required services (such as Amazon EC2 instances or Amazon RDS DB instances). The deployed application and associated resources are called a "stack."
Version release notes
- Upgrade to Pixelfed v0.12.7 (from v0.12.4)
- Upgrade to OE devenv 2.8.4 (from 2.5.3); requires --break-system-packages for pip3 install (Ubuntu 24.04 / PEP 668)
- Upgrade to CDK 2.225.0 (from 2.120.0)
- Upgrade to OE Common Constructs 4.5.1 (from 4.1.2)
- Upgrade to OE Utilities 1.10.0 (packer SCRIPT_VERSION + common.mk)
- Adopt versioned AMI parameter convention (AsgAmiIdv210); Asg() now requires explicit ami_id=AMI_ID
- Remove hardcoded VPC parameters from Makefile deploy target - CDK now creates a fresh VPC per deploy (matches taskcat/mastodon convention)
- Switch deploy command from docker-compose (V1) to docker compose (V2)
- Rebrand AWS Marketplace listing to "Pixelfed on AWS by FOSSonCloud" with new FOSSonCloud logo (apply via make marketplace-rebrand)
- Flatten Marketplace pricing to $0.02/hr across all instance dimensions (apply via make marketplace-reprice)
- Add test/integration/ with playwright integration tests modeled on aws-marketplace-oe-patterns-mastodon. Includes a headline test_upload_photo_lands_in_s3 that logs in via the UI, POSTs to /api/v1/media with the cookie session, and asserts the upload appears in the AssetsBucket within 30s. 11 tests total: HTTPS/TLS health, instance API version pin, CFN stack + EC2 + S3 infrastructure checks, homepage + login UI smoke, photo upload to S3.
Additional details
Usage instructions
Run the stack, providing valid parameters. When the stack creation completes, go to the outputs of the stack and open the URL in your browser. To access the application servers, find the EC2 instance in the AWS console and Connect using the Session Manager option. For more detailed instructions, see the GitHub project.
Resources
Support
Vendor support
Email support offered with subscription. https://fossoncloud.com/products/pixelfed
AWS infrastructure support
AWS Support is a one-on-one, fast-response support channel that is staffed 24x7x365 with experienced and technical support engineers. The service helps customers of all sizes and technical abilities to successfully utilize the products and features provided by Amazon Web Services.