Getting started
Four steps separate a blank account from a production PBX: register, pick a plan, connect a cloud provider, create the server. The install runs unattended — expect your server online in roughly fifteen minutes.
1. Create your account
Register with your email address. Every new account starts with a 7-day free trial — no card required — with the Starter plan's limits, so you can install and run a real PBX before paying anything.
2. Pick a plan (after the trial, or any time)
On Billing, save a payment card (stored with Stripe — the number never touches our servers) and choose a plan. The card is charged when you subscribe and then monthly. See Billing & plans for limits, trial and renewal rules.
3. Connect a cloud provider
Qlingen creates servers inside your cloud account, so it needs an API token from one of the supported providers:
| Provider | Where to create the token |
|---|---|
| Vultr | Account → API → Personal Access Token |
| DigitalOcean | API → Tokens → Generate New Token (write scope) |
| Hetzner Cloud | Project → Security → API tokens (read & write) |
| Linode (Akamai) | Profile → API Tokens → Linodes read/write |
| Amazon Web Services | IAM → Security credentials → Access key; paste as ACCESS_KEY_ID:SECRET_ACCESS_KEY |
| Google Cloud | IAM → Service accounts → Key (JSON) with the Compute Admin role; paste the whole file |
Add it under Server providers → New, or inline while creating your first server. Tokens are stored encrypted and only ever used to manage the servers you ask for.
4. Create the server
Go to Servers → New server, name it, pick the provider, then a region and size from the live lists. One vCPU and 1 GB of RAM is enough for a small office PBX.
When you confirm, Qlingen:
- creates the instance (always Debian 12 — the OS the PBX stack is built and tested against),
- installs FreeSWITCH, PostgreSQL, Redis, nginx and the PBX application,
- records the server's public and private IP and shows them on the server page,
- flips the status to Online and emails the admin credentials you chose.
That's it. Open the server's IP (or the domain you configured) to reach your PBX, and manage the machine from the Qlingen dashboard from here on.