CTFd Hosting Live In 5 Minutes

CTFd hosting on xCloud gives you a self-hosted CTF platform with challenges, teams and a live scoreboard. Deploy CTFd 3.8.8 and xCloud runs the pinned image with MariaDB and Redis on a private network, generates the secret key and database credentials, mounts persistent volumes and publishes the site over HTTPS in minutes. Finish the setup wizard straight away to claim the admin account.

Deploy your CTFd

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

What is CTFd?

Self-hosted CTFd is a Capture The Flag framework that upstream describes as focused on ease of use and customizability through plugins and themes. From the admin interface you create challenges, categories, hints and flags, run individual or team competitions, and show a scoreboard with automatic tie resolution. It is a self-hosted alternative to hosted CTF platforms and is released under the Apache-2.0 licence.

On xCloud the template runs the official CTFd 3.8.8 image, pinned by digest, with MariaDB 10.11 and Redis 7.4 on a private network. Four named volumes hold the database, Redis data, uploads and logs. The first screen is a setup wizard that creates the administrator, and email stays off until you set a mail server in the admin panel.

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

Self-hosting a CTF platform normally means a database, a cache, generated secrets and a setup wizard to race before anyone else claims the admin account. This is the same result without assembling any of it.

Step 01
Sign Up
Create your xCloud account, pick CTFd from the OneClick catalog, and choose a domain. There are no extra fields — xCloud generates the database credentials and secret key.
Step 02
We Deploy It For You
One click. We bring up the pinned CTFd 3.8.8 image with MariaDB 10.11 and Redis 7.4 wired automatically, and publish the app over HTTPS on your domain.
Step 03
Finish Setup And Create Your First Challenge
Open the HTTPS CTFd URL immediately after install, complete the setup wizard to create the administrator account, then create your first challenge from the admin panel.

Everything CTFd Does, On Your Own Server

CTFd runs in full here — competitions, training and classroom challenges with a live scoreboard, on infrastructure you control.

Jam-Style Or Ongoing Competitions
Host jam-style or ongoing CTF competitions for security teams and communities, with user and team scoreboards.
Classroom And Training Challenges
Run classroom and training challenges alongside competitions, with the same scoreboard and challenge tooling.
Upload Challenge Files Up To 512 MB
Attach challenge files up to 512 MB per request, served from the CTFd uploads volume.
MariaDB And Redis, Wired For You
A private MariaDB database and Redis cache are provisioned and connected automatically, with no host ports exposed.
A Small Footprint
Verification measured about 210 MiB of RAM idle on a fresh install.
Restart-Safe Challenges And Accounts
Challenges, uploads, and accounts survive an xCloud Restart, since they live on the four named volumes.

Everything You Need To Run Your Scoreboard-Ready

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

CTFd 3.8.8 deployed instantly
MariaDB and Redis provisioned automatically
Generated database credentials and secret key
Free SSL certificate
Server backups and snapshots
Server security updates included
30+ server locations
Unused balance refunded

What You Can Do With CTFd

Host a CTF competition for your community
A security club or conference team creates challenges, categories and hints, opens registration and watches teams climb a live scoreboard, all on a server and domain it controls.
Run team-based training events
A training lead runs competitions where players either play alone or form teams, then uses team management to hide or ban entries and to end the event automatically at a set time.
Teach security in a classroom
An instructor sets up unlockable hints and attempt limits so students work through challenges at their own pace, with a scoreboard that can be hidden from the public or frozen at a chosen moment.
Extend CTFd with plugins and themes
With CTFd plugins and themes, a developer writes custom challenge types or flag plugins and restyles the site with a theme, using CTFd's plugin and theme interfaces on their own install.

CTFd vs Alternatives

Hosted CTF platforms: Choose CTFd on your own server when you do not want participants, scores and challenge files held by a hosted CTF platform. Here the database and uploads sit on volumes you control.
rCTF: In a CTFd vs rCTF comparison, rCTF is another self-hosted CTF platform. CTFd's own pitch, per its README, is ease of use plus customization through plugins and themes. Check each project's docs for the features you need.
FBCTF: FBCTF is a further self-hosted CTF option. CTFd lists dynamic scoring, unlockable hints, team and individual play, scoreboard freezing and import and export of CTF data for archival, according to its README.
Spreadsheets and forms: Running a small event without a platform means tracking flags by hand. CTFd automates flag checking, scoring, team management and the scoreboard instead, from a single admin interface on your server.

Simple Pricing. Everything Included.

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

Cloud VPS 6 GB

Cloud VPS 16 GB

Bigger competitions, more concurrent players.

$59.99per month

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

Get started

Cloud VPS 24 GB

CTFd alongside a whole self-hosted 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. CTFd itself is free under the Apache-2.0 License.

Docker hosting

Already Have a Server? Bring Your Own

Connect any VPS — DigitalOcean, Vultr, Linode, AWS, Hetzner or bare metal — and deploy CTFd 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 Own Your CTF Platform?

CTFd 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 do I host a CTF with CTFd?

Deploy this template, open your HTTPS URL at once and finish the setup wizard, which creates the administrator and sets the event name and mode. You then add challenges in the admin interface. It is CTFd Docker hosting prebuilt, so there is no compose file to write.

Docker hosting on xCloud

Is CTFd free?

Yes. CTFd is released under the Apache-2.0 licence, so running it costs nothing in licences. Your spend is the dedicated Cloud VPS and its HTTPS deployment. Hosted plans from the CTFd maintainers are a different product, and nothing in this template adds a paid edition.

Does CTFd support teams?

Yes. Upstream lists both individual and team-based competitions, so players can compete alone or form teams. It also includes team management, hiding and banning. You choose the mode in the setup wizard, and the scoreboard shows team progress graphs for the top 10 teams.

Can CTFd freeze the scoreboard?

Yes. Upstream lists scoreboard features including hiding scores from the public and freezing scores at a specific time, plus automatic competition starting and ending. You set these in the admin panel, so you can reveal the final standings only once the event closes.

Does CTFd support dynamic scoring?

Yes. Upstream lists dynamic scoring challenges among its features, alongside unlockable challenges and hints, static and regex-based flags, and limits on challenge attempts. You create them from the admin interface, with no extra service for this template to run.

Can I use plugins and themes with CTFd?

Yes. Upstream says CTFd is customized through its plugin and theme interfaces, including custom challenge types and flag plugins. This template does not install any for you, so you add the ones you want to your own install and keep copies with your backups.

Can I export and import a CTFd event?

Yes. Upstream lists importing and exporting CTF data for archival. That is useful for keeping a finished event or moving one, but it is not a replacement for volume backups, since uploads, logs and the database also sit on named volumes on this server.

How do I send confirmation emails from CTFd?

CTFd sends no email until you configure a mail server under Admin Panel, Config, Email. Upstream lists SMTP and Mailgun support, with email confirmation and forgot-password flows. Set it up before you open registration, or players cannot receive confirmation or reset mail.

How much RAM does a CTFd cloud server need?

The manifest asks for 1024 MB of RAM, 1 CPU core and 5 GB of disk, and idle use in QA was about 210 MiB. This page sells the 6 GB Cloud VPS, which gives a CTFd cloud event headroom for MariaDB and Redis and for traffic spikes.

How do I back up CTFd?

Take one backup of ctfd_db, ctfd_uploads, ctfd_logs and ctfd_redis together; they hold the database, challenge files and uploads, logs and cache. Keep the secret key stable too, because changing it signs everyone out. Test a restore before an event.

Backups in xCloud

How do I upgrade CTFd?

Upgrades are deliberate. Images are pinned to exact versions and a catalogue re-sync changes new installs only. Before moving an existing event, take a backup of all four volumes, read the upstream release notes, then change the pins together and test login and a challenge.

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.