Hydrodactyl Hosting Live In 5 Minutes

Deploy Hydrodactyl hosting and run your 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 machines that run your game servers.

Deploy your Hydrodactyl

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

What is Hydrodactyl?

Hydrodactyl is a modern, performance-focused game-server management panel forked from Pterodactyl. Upstream describes smaller bundles, faster builds and an accessible, reimagined interface, built with Laravel, React, TypeScript and Tailwind CSS.

It is the control panel only. Game servers run on separate machines with a Pterodactyl-compatible node daemon, and the panel's node page shows the configuration that daemon needs. xCloud deploys the panel; you attach the nodes.

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 official 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
Official image pinned by digest
Administrator login generated for you
Private MariaDB and Redis
Free SSL certificate
Server backups and snapshots
Server security updates included
30+ server locations
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

Pterodactyl Panel: The project Hydrodactyl is forked from. Hydrodactyl adds a redesigned interface, a plugin and mod marketplace and a first-run setup wizard. On xCloud the two are separate OneClick apps that can be installed independently.
Pyrodactyl: An earlier project by the maintainer who builds Hydrodactyl, according to Hydrodactyl's README.
Pterodactyl with Blueprint extensions: Blueprint is an extension framework. Hydrodactyl is an all-in-one panel and, per its README, is not compatible with Blueprint framework extensions.

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 is Hydrodactyl different from Pterodactyl?

It 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 from the Pterodactyl template, with its own image, environment keys and setup page.

How do I sign in?

Use the administrator email and password from the installation credentials. There is no public sign-up; accounts are created by an administrator.

Does this host my game servers?

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

What runs alongside the panel?

A private MariaDB 11.8.3 database and a Redis 7.4.10 instance for cache, sessions and the queue. Neither is reachable from outside; only the web interface is published.

Why does the panel show an error page right after install?

The first start runs database migrations and takes about 2 to 3 minutes. Wait, then open your HTTPS URL and sign in.

What if the 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.

Can anyone reach the login page?

Yes, the login page is reachable by anyone who can open the URL, but everything behind it needs an account an administrator created. Administrators and users can reach every game server attached to the panel, so keep administrator credentials private and consider turning on two-factor authentication.

Does the panel send email?

Not until you configure it. Outgoing mail is written to the log until you set the SMTP values in the environment editor and Save & Redeploy.

What should I back up?

The hydrodactyl_db, hydrodactyl_redis and hydrodactyl_storage volumes together, plus the generated APP_KEY and HASHIDS_SALT values, which must stay unchanged.

Backups in xCloud

What survives a restart?

The database, cache and uploaded files live on named volumes. In QA, after an xCloud Restart of all services, the location and node created beforehand were still there.

Does xCloud automatically back up or update Hydrodactyl?

No. The template pins Hydrodactyl v6.4.1 by immutable digest; new installations use the pinned release and existing sites are not automatically upgraded. To upgrade, read the upstream release notes, back up the volumes first, then bump the image tag and digest together. 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 5 GB of disk; measured idle use in QA was about 240 MiB for the panel, MariaDB and Redis together. This page sells the 6 GB tier as the entry rung, with real headroom above that baseline.

Is xCloud officially partnered with Hydrodactyl?

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