CouchTube Hosting Live In 5 Minutes

CouchTube hosting lets you pick a channel and watch whatever is on air now, like a TV, from a line-up you control. Deploy CouchTube as a self-hosted YouTube TV frontend: xCloud runs the pinned upstream image behind an authentication gateway with a generated login, keeps the channel database on a persistent volume and publishes it over HTTPS. News, Music, Science, Documentary and more load on first start.

Deploy your CouchTube

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

What is CouchTube?

Self-hosted CouchTube is a YouTube TV frontend. Its README calls it a self-hostable YouTube frontend designed to simulate a TV channel experience: it loads YouTube videos from a predefined list of channels and schedules playback by the current time, and you can submit your own video lists through a JSON file URL. There is no feed or recommendation algorithm, only the channel line-up. It is GPL-3.0 licensed, and the README says the project is in its early days.

On xCloud the template runs the upstream ghcr.io/ozencb/couchtube image, pinned by immutable digest because upstream publishes no version tags, behind a small authentication gateway. The channel database is a SQLite file on the couchtube_data volume. HTTPS is published on your domain, and the gateway password is generated. CouchTube has no accounts of its own, and the in-browser channel editor is off by default.

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

Self-hosting CouchTube normally means an authentication gateway, a persistent database, a domain and a certificate before you can watch anything. This is the same result without assembling any of it.

Step 01
Sign Up
Create your xCloud account and pick CouchTube from the OneClick catalog. Optionally change the Admin Username — default admin — and xCloud generates the password.
Step 02
We Deploy It For You
One click. We bring up the pinned CouchTube image behind an authentication gateway, mount the persistent channel database, and publish it over HTTPS on your domain.
Step 03
Sign In And Start Watching
Open your HTTPS CouchTube URL and sign in with the username and password from the browser's login prompt. Pick a channel from the default line-up, or import your own channel list.

Everything CouchTube Does, On Your Own Server

CouchTube runs in full here — the same lean-back, scheduled viewing as any hosted alternative, on infrastructure you control.

Lean-Back TV Viewing
Pick a channel and watch whatever is on air now, with no feed and no recommendation algorithm deciding for you.
A Ready Default Line-Up
News, Music, Science, Documentary and more are loaded on first start, so there's something to watch immediately.
Bring Your Own Channels
Import a channel list from a JSON file URL, or enable the built-in channel editor to curate your own line-up.
Private By Default
The whole app and API sit behind a username and generated password — nothing is open to the public.
Scheduled, Not On-Demand
Everyone who tunes into a channel sees the same thing at the same moment, the way broadcast TV works.
Your Line-Up, Your Server
Your channel list is stored in a persistent SQLite database and survives an xCloud restart.

Everything You Need To Run Your Channel Playback 24/7

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

CouchTube deployed instantly
Generated admin login
Authentication gateway on every request
Free SSL certificate
Server backups and snapshots
Server security updates included
30+ server locations
Unused balance refunded

What You Can Do With CouchTube

Watch a curated channel like a TV
Pick News, Music, Science or Documentary and watch what is scheduled for the current time, so everyone tuned in sees the same thing at the same moment.
Escape the recommendation feed
Use a line-up you control instead of an algorithm deciding what plays next, on a private page behind your own login.
Load your own channel lists
Import a channel list from a JSON file URL, or switch on the channel editor with EDITOR_MODE=full to curate your own line-up inside the app.
Run a shared living-room screen
Open the private HTTPS address on a TV browser or tablet and share the login with the household, knowing anyone signed in can replace the channel list.

CouchTube vs Alternatives

YouTube: YouTube is the video site CouchTube plays from. CouchTube has no feed or recommendations; it schedules a curated line-up by time of day, on a private page you host.
Jellyfin: Jellyfin has its own xCloud template. CouchTube plays YouTube videos from channel lists rather than a library you store.
MeTube: MeTube has its own xCloud template. CouchTube embeds and schedules YouTube videos, so nothing is downloaded or stored.
TubeSync: TubeSync has its own xCloud template. CouchTube is a live-style viewing page; videos that block embedding or are private are skipped.

Simple Pricing. Everything Included.

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

Cloud VPS 6 GB

Cloud VPS 16 GB

More channels and more concurrent viewers.

$59.99per month

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

Get started

Cloud VPS 24 GB

CouchTube alongside a whole self-hosted media stack.

$84.99per month

24 GB RAM
8 vCPU cores
300 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. CouchTube itself is free under the GPL-3.0 licence.

Docker hosting

Already Have a Server? Bring Your Own

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

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
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 Own Your Channel Line-Up?

CouchTube 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.

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Frequently Asked Questions

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

How much RAM does CouchTube need?

The manifest asks for 1 CPU core, 128 MB of RAM and 2 GB of disk as a floor. The 6 GB plan on this page is vastly above that, since the video itself streams from YouTube to the viewer and never passes through your server.

Is CouchTube free and open source?

Yes. CouchTube is GPL-3.0 licensed, per the LICENSE file in the repository at the reviewed commit, so there is no licence fee; xCloud's bill is the dedicated Cloud VPS only, and your channel list stays in your own SQLite database.

Can you run CouchTube with Docker?

Yes, and this is CouchTube Docker hosting prepared for you. Upstream's README shows a docker-compose service on port 8363; the template runs its image behind an authentication gateway, pinned by immutable digest, with the couchtube_data volume and HTTPS on your domain.

How is CouchTube different from YouTube itself?

There is no feed or recommendations. Per its README CouchTube simulates a TV channel: you pick a channel and watch what is scheduled for the current time from a line-up you control, rather than choosing individual videos from a home page.

Can I use my own channels in CouchTube?

Yes. The README says you can submit your own video lists through a JSON file URL. Import a channel list that way, or enable the channel editor with EDITOR_MODE=full. The editor is off by default, and readonly lets you view channels without editing them.

Does every YouTube video play in CouchTube?

No. Videos that are private, age-restricted or block embedding are skipped by the player. Playback depends on YouTube, and the project warns that it is early and may have bugs, so expect some gaps in a line-up.

Does CouchTube have user accounts?

No. CouchTube has no accounts of its own. A small gateway enforces HTTP Basic sign-in with the admin username and generated password from your installation credentials, and that one login is the whole access model, with no per-user permissions.

Is it safe to share a CouchTube login?

Share it only with people you trust. Anyone signed in can replace or delete the channel list, and importing a list makes your server fetch the URL they give. There is no separate viewer role, so treat the login as administrator access.

What should I back up on a CouchTube server?

A backup is the couchtube_data volume, which contains the channel database, couchtube.db. Copy it while the app is stopped, and keep the gateway credentials with it. There is nothing else to save, because videos stream from YouTube rather than being stored.

Backups in xCloud

How do I upgrade CouchTube?

Nothing upgrades it for you. Upstream ships only a moving main image with no version tags, so the template pins a digest. To update, read upstream's commit history, back up couchtube_data, then adopt a newer template version when one is published, and check a channel plays.

Is this CouchTube cloud hosting?

It is your own player on a dedicated Cloud VPS provisioned by xCloud, not a hosted streaming service, and no partnership with YouTube is implied. The container, the gateway and the volume belong to your install, and the page is served over HTTPS on your domain.

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.