Bonfire Hosting Live In 5 Minutes

Deploy Bonfire hosting and run your own federated social network on your own domain. xCloud runs the pinned Bonfire 1.0.7 social image with a private PostgreSQL 17 database and a private Meilisearch search service, creates your administrator account at first start with a generated password, keeps uploads, the database and the search index on persistent volumes, and publishes the app over HTTPS in minutes.

Deploy your Bonfire

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

What is Bonfire?

Bonfire is an open-source framework for building federated digital spaces where people can gather, interact and form communities online. Its social flavour is the classical social-networking app: accounts, posts and feeds, connected to the wider fediverse through ActivityPub, with customisable feeds, circles and boundaries and a Mastodon-compatible API.

On xCloud the Bonfire app, its PostgreSQL database and its search service run on your own Cloud VPS, and accounts, posts, uploaded media and the search index live on persistent volumes, so an xCloud Restart does not lose them.

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

A Bonfire instance normally means a web container, a PostGIS database, a search service, a set of generated secrets, volumes, a domain and a certificate before the first post. This is the same result without assembling any of it.

Step 01
Sign Up
Create your xCloud account and pick Bonfire from the OneClick catalog. Choose your domain, then enter the administrator email — that is the only field to fill in. Choose the final domain now: it becomes the federation identity of every account and post.
Step 02
We Deploy It For You
One click. We bring up Bonfire 1.0.7 (social), a private PostgreSQL 17 database with PostGIS and a private Meilisearch service, none of them published to the internet. We mount the bonfire_db, bonfire_uploads and bonfire_search volumes, generate the administrator password and the app secrets, and publish Bonfire over HTTPS on your domain. The first start runs database migrations, so it can take a few minutes.
Step 03
Sign In And Invite People
Save the generated administrator password from the installation credentials, open your HTTPS URL and sign in at /login with the administrator email (the username is admin). Then create invites from the admin area for the people you want to join.

Everything Bonfire Does, On Your Own Server

Bonfire runs in full here: a federated social network on your own domain, backed by a database and search index you own.

Federation Over ActivityPub
Bonfire is built on ActivityPub, so your instance is a space of its own in the fediverse rather than an account on someone else's platform.
Customisable Feeds
Shape what appears in your feeds instead of accepting one fixed timeline.
Circles And Boundaries
Group people into circles and use boundaries to control who can see and do what on the instance.
Mastodon-Compatible API
A Mastodon-compatible API lets existing Mastodon clients talk to your instance.
Full-Text Search
A bundled Meilisearch service powers search; in QA a post was found by a word in its text and a user by name.
Posts With Uploaded Media
Attach images to posts; uploads are stored on the bonfire_uploads volume and are limited to 20 MB by default.

Everything You Need To Run Your Fediverse Instance 24/7

Managed hosting for Bonfire, so the parts that keep it online are not your problem.

Bonfire 1.0.7 deployed instantly
Official image pinned by digest
Administrator created at first start
Private database and search service
Free SSL certificate
Server backups and snapshots
Server security updates included
30+ server locations
Unused balance refunded

What You Can Do With Bonfire

Give a community its own social space
Run an instance for a club, collective or project on your own domain, with the rules and the membership decided by you.
Run a team or organisation instance
Keep an organisation's public presence on a server it controls instead of a platform it rents space on.
Control who sees what
Use circles and boundaries to decide which people and posts reach which audiences on your instance.
Keep using the clients you know
Point existing Mastodon-compatible clients at your own instance through the Mastodon-compatible API.
Start an invite-only network
Create the administrator at install and open the door only through invites you create.

Bonfire Screenshots

Bonfire dashboard after signing in as the administrator

Bonfire search results for a word in a post

Bonfire vs Alternatives

Mastodon: A federated social network server on ActivityPub with a microblogging focus; Bonfire adds customisable feeds, circles and boundaries.
GoToSocial: A lightweight ActivityPub server that federates with Mastodon and the rest of the fediverse; Bonfire is a fuller social app with search bundled in.
Friendica: A decentralised social network server that federates with the fediverse and Diaspora, with per-post privacy controls.

Simple Pricing. Everything Included.

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

Cloud VPS 6 GB

Cloud VPS 16 GB

More headroom for a busier instance with federation, media and search.

$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. Bonfire itself is licensed by its maintainers under AGPL-3.0-only.

Docker hosting

Already Have a Server? Bring Your Own

Connect any VPS — DigitalOcean, Vultr, Linode, AWS, Hetzner or bare metal — and deploy Bonfire 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

Start free

Starter

Professional

The same platform, discounted at 6–10 servers.

$4per server / month

6–10 servers
Unlimited sites
All features included
Bring any VPS provider

Get started

Agency

The same platform, discounted at 11+ servers.

$3per server / month

11+ servers
Unlimited sites
All features included
Bring any VPS provider

Get started

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 Fediverse Instance?

Bonfire on xCloud runs on a dedicated Cloud VPS that we provision, patch, monitor and restore. Deploy faster. Own the server. Stay in control.

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.

Hear what people are saying about us

See why agencies, developers, startups, and growing businesses choose xCloud to power their projects.

xCloud works really well, I am surprised by its performance being this the release version, I have tried many paid platforms such as runcloud, cloudpages or serveravatar, as well as free platforms such as CyberPanel, CloudPanel or Hestia Control Panel and direct competitors such as SpinupWP and FlyWP. Of all those that I have tried, the platform that works best for WordPress is SpinupWP and I believe that xCloud can reach and surpass that development, its roadmap is promising. Congratulations to the xCloud team, I hope they become the leading platform in the segment, it has all the potential to achieve it!

Brian Geovanny

I've been with runcloud for the last 3 years. However, after trying xcloud for the last month, I'm switching over. They are on a roll with their setup.

Kevin Pineda

I'm moving my servers to xCloud, a cloud control panel by M Asif Rahman and the WPDeveloper team. Their roadmap looks interesting and no, there are no team mates nor API limits with xCloud! #xCloud #wordpress #hosting

Leo Koo

How Cloud Nine Web Elevated Client Experience While Streamlining Hosting Operations using xCloud

Ed Ellingham

xCloud is like having an expert server team on call — without the big agency costs. It's given me back my time and given my clients peace of mind. Highly recommended for freelancers and small teams who want reliable performance and security.

Dumitru Butucel

xCloud isn't just a solution. It's like one of that friend who got your back when you screw things up pretty bad.

Waqar Ahmed

Trust me when I say, once people explore the potential of xCloud they gonna switch from other panels, just keep delivering the best tech, lots of love for the team 😍😍

Rahul Singh

So far my experience has been smooth like silk. I didn't imagine that configuring and managing a VPS would be so easy. As of today, I have deployed 8 sites. The support is good, and they treat users with respect, even if they ask stupid questions (myself included). For the future, I hope for greater flexibility in scheduled backups and more comprehensive and consistent documentation. I'm sure that within a few months, xCloud will become the leader in its segment. This community is amazing, and the Staff here is super helpful.

Massimo Villa

Came from cloudways then to runcloud then to xcloud. Looks like I'm staying here.

Gerson El

I've recently taken all of my Vultr-hosted sites and gotten rid of cPanel for them to substitute it with xCloud. I have to say, I'm really impressed with xCloud so far! The interface is definitely the standout feature for me.

Tony Lewis

I came from Cloudways and won't go back. Highly impressed with xCloud. Glad I gave them a chance.

Jared McDowell

I like xCloud better than RunCloud, but one thing I'll point out is that some years ago RunCloud was hungry for business, the support was outstanding, and the community was active and helped each other. Maybe it was sold, there was a change in management, or they stopped being hungry, but the quality of the RunCloud offering declined and it hasn't been moving forward quickly. My point is that currently the xCloud team has the edge and it is theirs to keep or lose

David McCan

How Kevin Heinrichs Cut Hosting Costs by 84% While Running WooCommerce & Node.js Sites Efficiently

Kevin Heinrichs

I had 150 sites on cloudways and am in the process of moving them to xcloud. Much faster and better priced.

Dan Spinoza

Dear xCloud Team, I have been using xCloud for some time now and am genuinely impressed with its capabilities and the flexibility it offers by allowing users to bring their own VPS for management. It's a fantastic service, and my experience so far has been very positive. Successful migrated 5 sites on a single server. Xcloud migration tool worked great. There were few hiccups with security plugin like MalCare but disabling the plugin prior to migration worked just fine.

Rahil Maknojia

Came from runcloud. Tried xcloud and never came back.

Karl Fanega

How Advanced Web Strategies Saved Over $2,000 & Recovered 56 Hours per Month Managing 70+ Client Websites

Gary Moody

xCloud gave me what no other hosting platform could: the flexibility of a VPS with the convenience of managed WordPress. As a solo founder running an entire business on one server, that combination is an important unfair advantage.

Jorge de los Reyes Martínez

I use Server Avatar and xCloud and I'll sooner use xCloud than Server Avatar personally.

Jay Pagano

How Newman Web Solutions Ensured Perfect Uptime and Seamless Scaling For 120+ WordPress Sites with xCloud

Lori Newman

I too have moved over to xCloud. It's pretty sweet. One click n8n and uptime Kuma apps

John Aperture

I went from Cloudways to xCloud. No intention on switching in the foreseeable future.

Blaine Moore

Frequently Asked Questions

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

How do I sign in the first time?

Use the administrator email you entered at install and the generated password from the installation credentials, at /login on your domain. The username is admin.

Can strangers sign up?

No. Sign-up is invite-only. The administrator is created at install, so there is no open first-signup window; create invites from the admin area for the people you want to join.

What runs alongside Bonfire?

PostgreSQL 17 with PostGIS and Meilisearch, both private to the site and neither published to the internet. Bonfire disables its search feature without a search service, which is why Meilisearch is included.

Can I use my own domain, and can I change it later?

Yes, but choose the final domain before you start. The domain is the federation identity of every account and post, so changing it after people have registered breaks existing ActivityPub identities.

Is my Bonfire instance private?

Not by default. Bonfire has its own accounts, but anyone who can reach the domain can read public profiles and posts. If you want a private instance, you can put access controls such as xCloud Basic Authentication or IP management in front of it.

Why don't invited accounts receive emails?

Email is not configured by default (MAIL_BACKEND=none). Invited accounts that need email confirmation cannot complete it until you add SMTP settings in the Environment editor and redeploy.

What should I back up?

The three named volumes together — bonfire_db (database), bonfire_uploads (uploaded media) and bonfire_search (the search index) — plus the install environment values. Keep the generated secrets stable and private.

Backups in xCloud

What survives a restart?

Accounts, posts, uploaded media and the search index, because they live on persistent named volumes. In QA the counts of accounts, users, posts, media and uploaded files were unchanged after restarting the web, database and search services.

How large can an upload be?

Uploads are limited to 20 MB by default (UPLOAD_LIMIT, in megabytes), with 5 MB for images and 20 MB for videos by default.

Does xCloud automatically back up or update Bonfire?

No. The template pins Bonfire 1.0.7 by immutable digest; new installations use the pinned release and existing sites are not automatically upgraded. Back up first, read the upstream release notes, then bump the readable tag and digest together on your own schedule. Server-level backups and snapshots are available on every Cloud VPS.

What are the server requirements, and why does this page sell 6 GB?

The template's baseline asks for 1 CPU core, 2048 MB of RAM and 10 GB of disk; measured idle use in QA was about 1 GB in total. This page sells the 6 GB tier as the entry rung, with real headroom above that baseline. Upstream's recommendation for a busy instance with federation and search is 8 GB of RAM or more.

Does it work with Mastodon clients?

Bonfire has a Mastodon-compatible API. Remote federation lookups were not exercised in xCloud's QA run, so test federation with your own accounts after install.

Is xCloud officially partnered with Bonfire?

No. No official partnership or endorsement between xCloud and the Bonfire project has been verified. This is a deployment and server-management option for the open-source Bonfire project.

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.