This guide shows how to get a private Thinger.io Cloud instance: a server that Thinger.io hosts and updates only for you, with its own hostname, users and Administration menu.

From the pricing page to your instance

Before you start

• Decide which plan you need. What each one includes is on Plans and limits and on the pricing page.
• Choose the email address of the instance administrator. It does not have to be the billing address.

Free Cloud account

To learn or prototype you don't need an instance: the free Cloud account runs on the shared server iot.thinger.io. Sign up at console.thinger.io/signup and follow the Quick start.

Steps

1. Choose a plan

   Open thinger.io/pricing and pick a plan (Small, Medium or Large), monthly or yearly.

2. Configure the instance

   Fill in the instance details:

   Field	What it sets
   Hostname	The name of your instance. Its address is <name>.aws.thinger.io, for example acme.aws.thinger.io. It must be free; the form tells you if it is taken.
   Region	Where the server runs. Choose the one closest to your devices and users.
   Admin email	The email of the first administrator of the instance. Only the account created with this email becomes administrator.
   Billing email	Where invoices and subscription emails go.

3. Pay and wait for the deployment

   Complete the payment. Thinger.io creates the server and sends an email to the admin email when it is ready, usually a few minutes later.

4. Create the administrator account

   Open https://<name>.aws.thinger.io, click Create an account and sign up with the admin email. The instance is empty: this first account is its administrator, and it sees the Administration menu in the console.

   

   Sign-up form of a new instance

5. Point your devices to the instance

   Your instance hostname is your YOUR_SERVER: use it instead of iot.thinger.io in the device libraries, the REST API, MQTT and the CLI. With the Arduino library, define it before including the library; without it, the device connects to iot.thinger.io:

   #define THINGER_SERVER "acme.aws.thinger.io"
   #include <ThingerESP32.h>
   
   // ...

   To use the CLI with the instance, sign in to it:

   thinger login --server acme.aws.thinger.io

Result

The console of your instance opens at its own hostname, your administrator account sees the Administration menu, and your devices connect to the instance instead of the shared server.

What you get

• A server only for your account and your users, hosted and updated by Thinger.io.
• The Administration features your plan includes: User Accounts, Cluster Hosts, and, from the Medium plan, Domains, Brands, OAuth2 Clients and Proxies.
• Plugins, which the free Cloud account does not include.
• The subscription, its invoices and its payment method in Billing. See Billing.

Some limits of a Cloud instance, such as the number of devices or brands, come from the plan and cannot be changed in the server settings. To raise them, change the plan. See Plans and limits.

Troubleshooting

Symptom	Cause	Fix
The sign-up form rejects the account	The email is not the admin email of the instance.	Sign up with the admin email you entered when you subscribed.
A device still appears on iot.thinger.io	The device does not set the instance hostname.	Set THINGER_SERVER (or your client's host) to the instance hostname and flash it again.

Next steps

User AccountsCreate, edit, disable and delete the user accounts of your Thinger.io instance, choose their role and set their limits.BillingManage the subscription of your Thinger.io Cloud instance, its payment method and its invoices from the billing portal.Quick startCreate a free Thinger.io account, connect an ESP32 and read its first value from the console in about 15 minutes.