Hydrodactyl Hosting Live In 5 Minutes

Deploy Hydrodactyl hosting and run a self-hosted game server control panel on your own domain. xCloud starts the pinned Hydrodactyl v6.4.1 panel with a private MariaDB database and Redis, creates the first administrator from the details you enter, keeps panel data on persistent volumes and publishes the web interface over HTTPS, ready for you to attach the separate machines that run your game servers.

Deploy your Hydrodactyl

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

What is Hydrodactyl?

Self-hosted Hydrodactyl is a modern, performance-focused game server management panel forked from Pterodactyl. Its README lists a reimagined client panel, a native plugin and mod marketplace for Minecraft, a setup wizard, S3-compatible backups per node, OpenAPI documentation and a Laravel and React stack, and it warns that the project is pre-release software. It stands in for a hosted game server panel, under the Apache-2.0 licence.

On xCloud the template runs the ghcr.io/blueprintframework/hydrodactyl v6.4.1 panel with MariaDB 11.8.3 and Redis 7.4.10, all pinned by immutable digest, with three persistent volumes. HTTPS is published on your domain. It is the control panel only: game servers run on separate machines with the Elytra daemon, and no game, SFTP or daemon ports are opened.

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

A game-server panel normally means a web container, a database, a cache, generated secrets, volumes, a domain and a certificate before the first login. This is the same result without assembling any of it.

Step 01
Sign Up
Create your xCloud account and pick Hydrodactyl from the OneClick catalog. Choose your domain, then enter the administrator email and username; leave the password blank to have one generated.
Step 02
We Deploy It For You
One click. We bring up the upstream Hydrodactyl panel image, pinned by immutable digest, with private MariaDB 11.8.3 and Redis 7.4.10 that publish no ports, mount the hydrodactyl_db, hydrodactyl_redis and hydrodactyl_storage volumes, create your administrator and publish the panel over HTTPS. The first start runs database migrations and takes 2 to 3 minutes.
Step 03
Add Your First Node
Open your HTTPS Hydrodactyl URL and sign in with the administrator details from the installation credentials. In the admin area, create a location and add a node for the machine that will run your game servers.

Everything Hydrodactyl Does, On Your Own Server

Hydrodactyl runs in full here: the web panel for managing game servers, backed by a database and cache you own.

One Panel For Your Game Servers
Manage game servers such as Minecraft, Source-engine games and voice servers from a single web panel, with views for console, files, databases, backups, network, users, startup, schedules, activity and software.
Plugin And Mod Marketplace
A native plugin and mod installer for Minecraft servers, backed by Modrinth, Hangar and Spiget.
First-Run Setup Wizard
Upstream includes a guided first-run configuration for new installations; on xCloud your administrator is already created for you.
S3-Compatible Backups
Hydrodactyl supports per-node backup storage with any S3-compatible provider, configured from the admin area.
Private MariaDB And Redis
The database, cache, sessions and queue run inside the install's private network with no published port; only the web interface is exposed.
Branding And API Docs
Customise your panel's logo from the admin dashboard, and use the OpenAPI documentation upstream provides for the API.

Everything You Need To Run Your Game Server Panel 24/7

Managed hosting for Hydrodactyl, so the parts that keep the panel online are not your problem.

Hydrodactyl v6.4.1 deployed instantly
Upstream image pinned by digest
Administrator login generated for you
Private MariaDB and Redis
Free SSL certificate
Server backups and snapshots
Server security updates included
Choose your server region
Unused balance refunded

What You Can Do With Hydrodactyl

Run a community game-server network
Give your community one place to start, stop and configure Minecraft, Source-engine and other game servers, instead of juggling a login per machine.
Host voice servers next to game servers
Manage voice servers such as Mumble from the same panel — QA created a server from the default Mumble egg and it installed and started.
Give players and staff their own accounts
The administrator creates users and controls what they reach; there is no public sign-up, so access stays with people you add.
Keep the panel apart from the machines running games
Run the panel on a small dedicated server and put the heavy game processes on separate nodes you attach from the admin area.

Hydrodactyl vs Alternatives

Hosted game server panels: Hydrodactyl is Apache-2.0 licensed, and here the panel, its accounts and its database run on your own Cloud VPS and domain.
Pterodactyl Panel: Pterodactyl is the project Hydrodactyl is forked from, with its own xCloud template. Hydrodactyl adds a redesigned interface, a plugin and mod marketplace and a first-run setup wizard.
Pelican Panel: Pelican Panel has its own xCloud template. Hydrodactyl offers a reimagined client panel, a Minecraft plugin and mod marketplace and S3-compatible backups per node.
Pyrodactyl: Hydrodactyl's README says it was built by the maintainer of the original Pyrodactyl project. It is an earlier project, not a hosting option on this page.

Simple Pricing. Everything Included.

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

Cloud VPS 6 GB

Cloud VPS 16 GB

More headroom if the panel sits alongside other tools.

$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. Hydrodactyl itself 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 Hydrodactyl 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

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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

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 Game Server Panel?

Hydrodactyl 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 Hydrodactyl need?

The manifest asks for 1 CPU core, 512 MB of RAM and 5 GB of disk, and QA measured about 240 MiB idle for the panel, MariaDB and Redis together. The 6 GB Cloud VPS sold on this page leaves real headroom. Game servers need their own machines.

Is Hydrodactyl free and open source?

Yes. Hydrodactyl is Apache-2.0 licensed, per the LICENSE file at the v6.4.1 tag, so using it costs nothing in licences; the dedicated Cloud VPS is the one xCloud line item, and your panel data stays on your own volumes.

Can you run Hydrodactyl with Docker?

Yes, and this is Hydrodactyl Docker hosting prepared for you: the template runs the upstream panel image beside MariaDB 11.8.3 and Redis 7.4.10, all pinned by immutable digest, behind HTTPS, so it works as Hydrodactyl cloud hosting on your own VPS.

What is the difference between Hydrodactyl and Pterodactyl?

Hydrodactyl is a fork of the Pterodactyl panel with a redesigned interface, a plugin and mod marketplace and a first-run setup wizard. It is a separate application with its own image and setup page. Pterodactyl has its own xCloud page.

Pterodactyl hosting

How do I sign in to Hydrodactyl?

Use the administrator email and password from the installation credentials. There is no public sign-up; accounts are created by an administrator. The first start runs database migrations for two to three minutes and shows an error page until then.

Does Hydrodactyl host my game servers?

No. This install is the control panel. Game servers run on a separate machine with the Elytra daemon, and you add that machine as a node from the admin area. No game, SFTP or daemon ports are opened by this install.

What if the Hydrodactyl administrator account was not created?

The panel's first-run setup page at /setup stays open for whoever reaches it first, so open it right away and create the administrator yourself. It closes permanently as soon as any user exists, so do this before sharing the address.

Is Hydrodactyl ready for production use?

Upstream's README calls it pre-release software under active development, with some interface elements possibly broken and bugs possible. xCloud deploys the pinned v6.4.1 release as it stands, so test it before relying on it for a live community.

Does Hydrodactyl send email?

Not until you configure it. Outgoing mail is written to the log until you set MAIL_MAILER to smtp and the host, port, username and password values in the Environment editor, then Save and Redeploy. Test a password reset afterwards.

What should I back up on a Hydrodactyl server?

The hydrodactyl_db, hydrodactyl_redis and hydrodactyl_storage volumes together, plus the generated APP_KEY and HASHIDS_SALT values, which must stay unchanged. Copy them off the server and test a restore. Game server data lives on your separate nodes.

Backups in xCloud

How do I upgrade Hydrodactyl?

Nothing upgrades it for you: the install stays on pinned release v6.4.1 until you adopt a newer template version. Back up the volumes first, read the upstream release notes, since this is pre-release software, then check sign-in and your node afterwards.

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.