Annif Hosting Live In 5 Minutes

Annif hosting on xCloud gives your library or archive a self-hosted automated subject indexing tool, with a web UI and a REST API for suggesting vocabulary terms from text. Deploy Annif from the OneClick catalog and xCloud starts upstream's pinned image, mounts a persistent projects volume and publishes it over HTTPS on your domain. It ships no vocabularies or models and has no login, so you load your own and restrict access first.

Deploy your Annif

No terminal
No technical skills needed
No lock-in, cancel anytime

What is Annif?

Annif is an automated subject indexing toolkit. Its README says it was originally created as a statistical automated indexing tool trained on metadata from the Finna.fi discovery interface, and that it provides CLI commands for administration plus a REST API and web UI for end-users. Self-hosted Annif is a self-hosted automated subject indexing tool that libraries, archives and museums can run themselves, in place of assigning subject terms entirely by hand. It is licensed under Apache-2.0.

On xCloud this template deploys Annif 1.4.2 as upstream's image, pinned by digest and built for linux/amd64 only, as one Gunicorn service with HTTPS on your domain. The annif_projects volume holds project configuration, vocabularies and trained models. No vocabularies or models are included, the project list starts empty, and there is no login, so you must restrict access yourself.

From Sign-Up to a Live Annif In Just 3 Easy Steps

Running Annif yourself means a container, a persistent projects directory, a domain and a certificate before you can load a vocabulary. Here the install form has no fields at all, and the project list starts empty.

Step 01
Sign Up
Create your xCloud account and pick Annif from the OneClick catalog. Choose your domain and an amd64 server; there are no other fields and no generated credentials, because Annif has no login.
Step 02
We Deploy It For You
One click. We start the pinned Annif 1.4.2 image as a single Gunicorn service with production settings, mount annif_projects at /annif-projects, and publish the web UI and REST API over HTTPS. First boot takes under a minute.
Step 03
Add Projects, Then Restrict Access
Copy a projects.cfg or projects.toml onto the volume, load vocabularies and train or download backends from the container, and restart if projects do not appear. Restrict access with a firewall or Cloudflare Access before loading private models.

Everything Annif Does, On Your Own Server

This template runs upstream's Annif image as one service with no database sidecar. The project list starts empty, and no vocabularies or models are included.

Automated Subject Indexing
Annif suggests subject terms for text from a vocabulary, using backends you train or download, instead of a person assigning every term by hand.
Web UI And REST API
End-users get a web UI and a REST API, and the OpenAPI specification is served at /v1/openapi.json. The Swagger UI at /v1/ui/ errors in this release.
CLI For Administration
Upstream provides CLI commands, such as loading a vocabulary, training and downloading, which you run from the container to build your projects.
Multiple Backends
Upstream supports lexical, statistical and machine-learning backends, such as fastText, Omikuji and MLLM, with optional extras you add yourself.
Persistent Projects Volume
Project configuration, vocabularies and trained models live on annif_projects, so what you build survives a restart or redeploy.
Open By Design
The web UI and REST API accept requests without credentials and CORS allows any origin, so you restrict access before loading private models.

Everything You Need To Run Your Annif 24/7

Dedicated server hosting for Annif, so the machine under it is not your problem.

Annif 1.4.2 deployed
Image pinned by immutable digest
Production configuration, debug off
Container port bound to localhost
Free SSL certificate
Docker app backups you schedule
30+ server locations
Unused balance refunded

What You Can Do With Annif

Run library subject indexing software for new records
A cataloguer pastes the text of a new record into the web UI and gets suggested vocabulary terms from a trained project, which they review before adding.
Add indexing to your repository through the REST API
A developer calls the REST API from a repository or discovery system to fetch suggestions for each new document, with the service running on a server they control.
Train and compare backends on your own corpus
An analyst loads a vocabulary, trains several backends on their own metadata, and compares the suggestions each project gives, keeping the trained models on the projects volume.
Keep a private indexing service off the public internet
A library restricts the site with a firewall or Cloudflare Access, then loads models trained on private records so the data never leaves its own server.

Annif vs Alternatives

Manual subject indexing: Cataloguers assign subject terms by hand, which is accurate but slow for large backlogs. Annif suggests terms from a trained project, and a person can still review each suggestion.
Maui: Maui is a separate automatic indexing tool. This template runs Annif, which has a web UI, a REST API and several backends, so choose it if that is the toolkit your workflow expects.
Kea: Kea is another separate keyphrase extraction tool. Annif works against a vocabulary and offers a REST API and a web UI, while this install leaves projects and models for you to add.
DSpace: DSpace is a repository platform with its own OneClick page, where records live. Annif could suggest subject terms for such records through its REST API.

Simple Pricing. Everything Included.

Dedicated Cloud VPS sizes, pre-configured for Annif hosting. Pick the one that fits, and resize any time.

Cloud VPS 6 GB

Cloud VPS 16 GB

More memory for larger vocabularies and model backends.

$59.99per month

16 GB RAM
6 vCPU cores
200 GB NVMe SSD
30 TB
Unlimited

Get started

Every size is a dedicated Cloud VPS we provision, patch, monitor and restore. Billed monthly with no lock-in — delete the server and the unused balance comes back to your account. Annif is licensed by its maintainers under Apache-2.0.

Docker hosting

Already Have a Server? Bring Your Own

Connect any VPS — DigitalOcean, Vultr, Linode, AWS, Hetzner or bare metal — and deploy Annif on it through the same panel, for a per-server management fee instead of a Cloud VPS rental.

Free

Start your journey without cost.

$0forever

1 server
10 sites

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Professional

The same platform, discounted at 6–10 servers.

$4per server / month

6–10 servers
Unlimited sites
All features included
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Agency

The same platform, discounted at 11+ servers.

$3per server / month

11+ servers
Unlimited sites
All features included
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Priced per connected server, so your rate adjusts automatically as you add or remove servers. You pay your own provider for the server itself.

Self-managed hosting

Ready To Run Your Own Indexing Tool?

Annif on xCloud runs on a dedicated Cloud VPS that we provision, patch, monitor and restore, with the data left in your hands.

Fast Provisioning
Deploy faster using an xCloud Managed Server built with optimized stacks and high-speed SSDs.
Enterprise-grade security
Protect your infrastructure with a free SSL certificate and more advanced security features at no additional cost.
Intuitive Control Panel
From Server creation to application deployment, everything can be managed from our intuitive control panel.

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Frequently Asked Questions

Feel free to contact us with any questions or concerns you may have.

Is Annif free?

Yes. Annif is open source under Apache-2.0; the licence file at the pinned v1.4.2 tag is linked on this page. Upstream notes the YAKE extra is GPLv3 if you use it. xCloud bills for the Cloud VPS under it, not for Annif, and the software adds no per-document fee.

Can you run Annif with Docker?

Yes, and this Annif Docker hosting template does it for you: upstream's quay.io/natlibfi/annif image, pinned by digest and built for linux/amd64 only, runs as one container on your own server, not in an Annif cloud account, with HTTPS in front of port 8000. ARM hosts cannot pull this image.

How much RAM does Annif need?

The template manifest asks for 1024 MB of RAM, 2 CPU cores and 20 GB of disk as a floor. QA measured about 65 MiB idle and about 126 MiB with a lightweight project loaded, but large backends such as Omikuji, fastText or MLLM on big vocabularies need considerably more. Size for your models.

Does Annif have a REST API?

Yes. Upstream provides a REST API and a web UI for end-users, with CLI commands for administration. On this install the REST API is at /v1/ and the OpenAPI specification is at /v1/openapi.json, since the Swagger UI at /v1/ui/ returns an error in this release.

Does Annif ship with vocabularies and models?

No. The image includes neither, and the project list starts empty. Copy a projects.cfg or projects.toml onto the annif_projects volume, then load vocabularies and train or download backends from the container, and restart if new projects do not appear. Hugging Face downloads go to /tmp and are lost on recreate.

Does Annif have a login?

No. The web UI and REST API accept requests without credentials, and CORS allows any origin, so treat the site as public. Restrict access with a firewall or Cloudflare Access before loading private models, and do not expose a service trained on confidential records.

Which backends does Annif support?

Upstream describes a multi-algorithm toolkit with lexical, statistical and machine-learning backends, and its wiki covers optional ones such as fastText and Omikuji and analyzers such as Voikko and spaCy. This page does not test them; plan RAM for the backends you load.

How do I back up Annif?

Include the whole annif_projects volume in your backup: it holds project configuration, vocabularies and trained models under data/. Persist any Hugging Face models you care about under ANNIF_DATADIR on the volume, store copies off the server, and never run docker compose down -v on a retained install.

Backup and restore Docker apps

How do I upgrade Annif?

Upgrades are not automatic. The template pins 1.4.2 and its image digest, and any catalog change applies to new installs alone. Back up annif_projects, read the upstream release notes, then adopt a newer template version when one is published, keeping the volume, since models may need retraining.

Is Annif the same as Finto AI?

No. Upstream's README says Finto AI is a service based on Annif, run by its authors, and links to the models it uses. This page is about running your own Annif on a Cloud VPS, with no affiliation to that service or to the National Library of Finland.

What can I change in the environment?

ANNIF_CONFIG stays production with debug off, and size limits, ANNIF_DATADIR, Gunicorn arguments and HF_HOME are read on every start, so edit them in the Environment editor and redeploy. The request body limit is 20 MB, and the Gunicorn timeout is 600 seconds.

Can I cancel anytime?

Yes. There is no lock-in — cancel any time. Hosting is billed monthly and charged for what you actually use, so when you delete the server the unused balance is refunded to your account, less up to 10% in payment-processing fees.