Meet ZeaburOS: Pick Your Preferred OS When Buying a Server

Starting today, when you buy or reinstall a Zeabur server, you can pick your preferred operating system. The K3s layer that used to live on every server is now called ZeaburOS—and it has become one option in the OS list, right next to standard distributions like Ubuntu.

Buy a server, pick an OS

The purchase flow now includes a "Configure this machine" step, where you decide what the machine runs:

• Pick ZeaburOS: ready to deploy out of the box. The server joins Zeabur automatically and you can start running services right away.
• Pick Ubuntu or another standard distribution: get a standard VPS—fully self-managed, SSH in and run whatever you want. Zeabur preinstalls nothing.

Previously, even if all you wanted was a plain VPS, the machine came with our system preinstalled and you had to remove it yourself. Now you just pick a standard distribution—it's fine if you don't need Zeabur's deployment services for now. Whenever you do, reinstall with ZeaburOS and you're ready to go.

What used to be K3s is now ZeaburOS

What used to show up on your server as K3s is now presented under its product name: ZeaburOS. The underlying engine hasn't changed—it's still built on K3s, and the deployment experience you know stays exactly the same. What changed is its role: instead of being the default layer on every machine, it's now one OS option among several—pick it, and your machine is a ready-to-deploy Zeabur node.

Changed your mind? Reinstall back to a standard VPS

If you're already running Zeabur's system on your server and decide it's not for you, there's a clear path out: reinstall the machine with Ubuntu or another standard distribution at any time, and it goes back to a stock Linux environment—a fully self-managed standard VPS. The machine is yours—this is a proper exit, and you can take it with you anytime.

What's next

• More operating systems and versions are rolling out, giving you more to choose from.
• After that comes custom cloud-init, so you can define your own initialization before the machine even boots.

This is our first step in breaking Zeabur apart into tools you can use on their own—CI/CD and .zeabur.app subdomains are next.

Got questions or feedback? Reach out via Zeabur Support anytime.