Castopod Hosting Live In 5 Minutes

Deploy Castopod hosting and publish your podcasts from your own domain instead of a third-party host. xCloud runs the pinned Castopod 1.15.5 image with a private MariaDB 11.8 database, generates the database credentials and analytics salt, mounts persistent volumes for media and data, and serves it over HTTPS in minutes — with a feed for every show and uploads of up to 512 MB per request.

Deploy your Castopod

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

What is Castopod?

Castopod is an open-source podcast hosting platform. It gives every show its own RSS feed, measures listener analytics itself, and publishes shows to the fediverse over ActivityPub, where people can follow a podcast and comment on episodes.

Self-hosting Castopod means the web app, its MariaDB database and your uploaded media all run on a server you control, on your own domain, rather than on a third-party podcast host.

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

A Castopod stack normally means an app container, a private database, generated secrets, media storage, a domain and a certificate before the first episode. This is the same result without assembling any of it.

Step 01
Sign Up
Create your xCloud account and pick Castopod from the OneClick catalog. Choose your domain and target server — there are no extra fields to fill in.
Step 02
We Deploy It For You
One click. We bring up the official Castopod image, pinned by immutable digest, with a private MariaDB database kept off the public internet, mount the castopod_media and castopod_db volumes, generate the database credentials and analytics salt, and publish it over HTTPS on your domain.
Step 03
Claim The Superadmin
Open the Setup URL (/cp-install) from the credentials card right away and create the superadmin — there is no default account, and the first visitor gets it. Then sign in at /cp-admin and create your first podcast.

Everything Castopod Does, On Your Own Server

Castopod runs in full here: shows, episodes and feeds on your own domain, backed by a database and media storage you own.

An RSS Feed For Every Show
Each podcast gets its own feed that podcast apps can subscribe to, served from your domain.
Built-In Listener Analytics
Castopod measures listens itself, using a salt that xCloud generates for you at install.
Fediverse Publishing
Shows publish over ActivityPub, so fediverse users can follow a podcast and comment on episodes.
Large Episode Uploads
Uploads of up to 512 MB per request are allowed, matching the image's PHP limits.
Private MariaDB Included
MariaDB 11.8 is reachable only from the Castopod container, with no published port.
Media That Survives Restarts
Covers and episode media live in the castopod_media volume, and the database in castopod_db; both persist across an xCloud Restart.

Everything You Need To Run Your Podcast Host 24/7

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

Castopod 1.15.5 deployed instantly
Official image pinned by digest
Database credentials generated for you
Kept behind xCloud nginx
Free SSL certificate
Server backups and snapshots
Server security updates included
30+ server locations
Unused balance refunded

What You Can Do With Castopod

Host your own show
Publish episodes from your own domain and hand podcast apps a feed address you control.
Run several podcasts in one place
Keep a network or an organisation's shows together on one install, each with its own feed.
Reach listeners on the fediverse
Let people follow a show and comment on episodes from Mastodon and other ActivityPub servers.
Keep listener data with you
Read listen counts from analytics that run on your own server instead of a third party's dashboard.

Castopod Screenshots

The Castopod admin after signing in as the superadmin

A newly created podcast in a self-hosted Castopod

The Castopod podcast still present after an xCloud Restart

Castopod vs Alternatives

Spotify for Podcasters: A hosted podcast host where your feed and files sit on the vendor's platform; Castopod is open source and keeps them on a VPS you control.
Buzzsprout: A paid hosted podcast service; Castopod is self-hosted, with fediverse publishing and analytics built in.
AzuraCast: A self-hosted web radio suite for live and scheduled streams; Castopod is built for on-demand podcast episodes and feeds.
Audiobookshelf: A self-hosted server for listening to audiobooks and subscribing to podcasts; Castopod is for publishing your own shows.

Simple Pricing. Everything Included.

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

Cloud VPS 6 GB

Cloud VPS 16 GB

More headroom if Castopod sits alongside other media apps.

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

Docker hosting

Already Have a Server? Bring Your Own

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

Free

Start your journey without cost.

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The same platform, discounted at 6–10 servers.

$4per server / month

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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
Bring any VPS provider

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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 Podcast Host?

Castopod 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

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Frequently Asked Questions

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

How do I sign in the first time?

There is no default account. Open the Setup URL (/cp-install) from the credentials card right after install and create the superadmin; the first visitor to that page claims it. Once an owner exists the setup page returns 404 and /cp-admin requires sign-in.

Where is my data stored?

Uploaded covers and episode media live in the castopod_media volume, and the database in the castopod_db volume. Both are persistent named volumes and survive an xCloud Restart.

What runs alongside Castopod?

A private MariaDB 11.8.9 database that is reachable only from the Castopod container and is not published to the internet.

How large can an episode upload be?

Up to 512 MB per request, matching the image's PHP limits and the template's proxy body-size setting.

Can I send email from Castopod?

Yes, after you add SMTP settings. Set host, username, password and from address together; outgoing email stays off by default, and the container refuses to start with a host but no credentials.

Can I change my domain later?

Avoid it. The domain is part of every show's fediverse address and of the feed URLs podcast apps have already subscribed to, so pick one you intend to keep.

What happens to sessions on a redeploy?

Sessions are stored inside the container, so a redeploy signs everyone out.

What should I back up?

The castopod_media and castopod_db volumes together, plus the stable environment values. The database name, user and password are only read by MariaDB when its volume is first created, so do not change them later.

Backups in xCloud

Does xCloud automatically back up or update Castopod?

No. The template pins Castopod 1.15.5 by immutable digest; new installations use the pinned release, 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, 512 MB of RAM and 10 GB of disk; measured use in QA was about 212 MiB for the application and database together. This page sells the 6 GB tier as the entry rung, with real headroom above that baseline.

What survives a restart?

Your podcast, shows and uploaded media: a created podcast was still present after an xCloud Restart in QA, because both volumes are persistent.

Is xCloud officially partnered with Castopod?

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