miniserve Hosting Live In 5 Minutes

Deploy miniserve hosting and share one folder as a clean, password-protected web page from a self-hosted file server on your own domain. xCloud runs the pinned miniserve 0.35.0 official image as a single container, generates a 32-character password for HTTP Basic Authentication, mounts a persistent file volume and publishes the listing over HTTPS in minutes. One credential guards everything, including uploads and deletes.

Deploy your miniserve

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

What is miniserve?

Self-hosted miniserve is a small, self-contained tool for serving files and directories over HTTP, for when you really just want to serve some files right now. Its README shows serving a directory or a single file, requiring a username and password, uploading with a form or curl, TLS and custom headers. Here it turns one folder into a clean web page, in place of a hosted file transfer service, under the MIT licence.

On xCloud the template runs the official svenstaro/miniserve 0.35.0 Alpine image as a single container, pinned by immutable digest, with a miniserve_data volume. HTTPS is published on your domain behind HTTP Basic Authentication. There are no accounts, database or sync clients, and anyone signed in can list, download, upload and permanently delete files.

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

A simple file share normally means a server, a folder, a password layer, a domain and a certificate before the first download. This is the same result without assembling any of it.

Step 01
Sign Up
Create your xCloud account and pick miniserve from the OneClick catalog. Choose your domain and set the username (default admin); the password is generated for you and shown in the protected installation credentials.
Step 02
We Deploy It For You
One click. We bring up the official miniserve image, pinned by immutable digest, as a single container with no database, bind its port to loopback only behind xCloud's HTTPS, mount the miniserve_data volume — the only state — and guard the whole site with HTTP Basic Authentication.
Step 03
Sign In And Share Files
Open your HTTPS miniserve URL and sign in when the browser asks. Upload a file or create a folder from the listing, and download any folder as a streamed .tar.gz archive.

Everything miniserve Does, On Your Own Server

miniserve runs in full here: a password-protected file browser on your own domain, serving a volume you own.

Browse And Download
Browse and download files from a clean web page.
Uploads And Folders
Upload files and create folders from the browser after signing in.
Folder Downloads
Download any folder as a streamed .tar.gz archive.
Delete From The Listing
Delete files and folders from the listing; anyone signed in can do this permanently.
Basic Authentication
HTTP Basic Authentication guards the whole site with your username and a generated 32-character password; unauthenticated and wrong-password requests are rejected.
Very Light
One container with no database; idle use measured about 9 MiB on QA, and files in the served volume survive an xCloud Restart.

Everything You Need To Run Your File Server 24/7

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

miniserve 0.35.0 deployed instantly
Official image pinned by digest
Password generated for you
Single container, no database
Port bound to loopback behind HTTPS
Kept behind xCloud nginx
Free SSL certificate
Server backups and snapshots
Server security updates included
Choose your server region
Unused balance refunded

What You Can Do With miniserve

Share one folder with a team
Put files in a single folder and give trusted people the password so they can browse and download them from a web page.
Accept uploads from others
Let someone with the password upload files and create folders from the browser, without giving them server access.
Download whole folders
Fetch a folder as a tar.gz archive from the listing when you need everything at once.
Run a deliberately small file server
One container, no database and no accounts: a fast web listing with very little to maintain.

miniserve vs Alternatives

Hosted file transfer services: A hosted transfer service holds your files on its platform. As a miniserve alternative to hosted file transfer services, miniserve serves a folder from your own Cloud VPS behind a password.
Copyparty: Copyparty is another file server with its own xCloud template, with far more features. In a miniserve vs copyparty choice, miniserve stays deliberately small, with one folder and one shared credential.
Dufs: Dufs is a small file server with its own xCloud template. In a miniserve vs dufs comparison, compare their upload, authentication and archive options against what you need.
Nextcloud: Nextcloud is a cloud-storage suite with accounts, a database and sync clients, with its own xCloud template. miniserve serves a single folder as a fast web listing.

Simple Pricing. Everything Included.

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

Cloud VPS 6 GB

Cloud VPS 16 GB

More headroom if miniserve sits alongside other file and storage 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. miniserve itself is licensed under MIT.

Docker hosting

Already Have a Server? Bring Your Own

Connect any VPS — DigitalOcean, Vultr, Linode, AWS, Hetzner or bare metal — and deploy miniserve 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 Run Your Own File Server?

miniserve 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.

xCloud works really well, I am surprised by its performance being this the release version, I have tried many paid platforms such as runcloud, cloudpages or serveravatar, as well as free platforms such as CyberPanel, CloudPanel or Hestia Control Panel and direct competitors such as SpinupWP and FlyWP. Of all those that I have tried, the platform that works best for WordPress is SpinupWP and I believe that xCloud can reach and surpass that development, its roadmap is promising. Congratulations to the xCloud team, I hope they become the leading platform in the segment, it has all the potential to achieve it!

Brian Geovanny

I've been with runcloud for the last 3 years. However, after trying xcloud for the last month, I'm switching over. They are on a roll with their setup.

Kevin Pineda

I'm moving my servers to xCloud, a cloud control panel by M Asif Rahman and the WPDeveloper team. Their roadmap looks interesting and no, there are no team mates nor API limits with xCloud! #xCloud #wordpress #hosting

Leo Koo

How Cloud Nine Web Elevated Client Experience While Streamlining Hosting Operations using xCloud

Ed Ellingham

xCloud is like having an expert server team on call — without the big agency costs. It's given me back my time and given my clients peace of mind. Highly recommended for freelancers and small teams who want reliable performance and security.

Dumitru Butucel

xCloud isn't just a solution. It's like one of that friend who got your back when you screw things up pretty bad.

Waqar Ahmed

Trust me when I say, once people explore the potential of xCloud they gonna switch from other panels, just keep delivering the best tech, lots of love for the team 😍😍

Rahul Singh

So far my experience has been smooth like silk. I didn't imagine that configuring and managing a VPS would be so easy. As of today, I have deployed 8 sites. The support is good, and they treat users with respect, even if they ask stupid questions (myself included). For the future, I hope for greater flexibility in scheduled backups and more comprehensive and consistent documentation. I'm sure that within a few months, xCloud will become the leader in its segment. This community is amazing, and the Staff here is super helpful.

Massimo Villa

Came from cloudways then to runcloud then to xcloud. Looks like I'm staying here.

Gerson El

I've recently taken all of my Vultr-hosted sites and gotten rid of cPanel for them to substitute it with xCloud. I have to say, I'm really impressed with xCloud so far! The interface is definitely the standout feature for me.

Tony Lewis

I came from Cloudways and won't go back. Highly impressed with xCloud. Glad I gave them a chance.

Jared McDowell

I like xCloud better than RunCloud, but one thing I'll point out is that some years ago RunCloud was hungry for business, the support was outstanding, and the community was active and helped each other. Maybe it was sold, there was a change in management, or they stopped being hungry, but the quality of the RunCloud offering declined and it hasn't been moving forward quickly. My point is that currently the xCloud team has the edge and it is theirs to keep or lose

David McCan

How Kevin Heinrichs Cut Hosting Costs by 84% While Running WooCommerce & Node.js Sites Efficiently

Kevin Heinrichs

I had 150 sites on cloudways and am in the process of moving them to xcloud. Much faster and better priced.

Dan Spinoza

Dear xCloud Team, I have been using xCloud for some time now and am genuinely impressed with its capabilities and the flexibility it offers by allowing users to bring their own VPS for management. It's a fantastic service, and my experience so far has been very positive. Successful migrated 5 sites on a single server. Xcloud migration tool worked great. There were few hiccups with security plugin like MalCare but disabling the plugin prior to migration worked just fine.

Rahil Maknojia

Came from runcloud. Tried xcloud and never came back.

Karl Fanega

How Advanced Web Strategies Saved Over $2,000 & Recovered 56 Hours per Month Managing 70+ Client Websites

Gary Moody

xCloud gave me what no other hosting platform could: the flexibility of a VPS with the convenience of managed WordPress. As a solo founder running an entire business on one server, that combination is an important unfair advantage.

Jorge de los Reyes Martínez

I use Server Avatar and xCloud and I'll sooner use xCloud than Server Avatar personally.

Jay Pagano

How Newman Web Solutions Ensured Perfect Uptime and Seamless Scaling For 120+ WordPress Sites with xCloud

Lori Newman

I too have moved over to xCloud. It's pretty sweet. One click n8n and uptime Kuma apps

John Aperture

I went from Cloudways to xCloud. No intention on switching in the foreseeable future.

Blaine Moore

Frequently Asked Questions

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

How much RAM does miniserve need?

The manifest asks for 1 CPU core, 128 MB of RAM and 1 GB of disk, and QA measured about 9 MiB idle. The 6 GB Cloud VPS sold on this page is far above that, and the files you serve are what grow the disk.

Is miniserve free and open source?

Yes. miniserve is MIT licensed, per the LICENSE file at the v0.35.0 tag, so licensing is free; the dedicated Cloud VPS is the only xCloud line item, and your files stay on your own volume.

Can you run miniserve with Docker?

Yes, and this is miniserve Docker hosting prepared for you: the template runs the official svenstaro/miniserve 0.35.0 image as one container, pinned by immutable digest, with a file volume and HTTPS, so it works as miniserve cloud hosting on your own VPS.

What is the difference between miniserve and Copyparty?

miniserve serves a single folder with no accounts, database or sync clients, while Copyparty is a much larger file server with many more features. Copyparty has its own xCloud page, so compare them against how much you need.

Copyparty hosting

How do I sign in to miniserve?

Use the username you chose and the generated password from the installation credentials; the browser asks once per session through HTTP Basic Authentication. The credential lives in MINISERVE_AUTH, so change it there and redeploy to rotate it.

Who can delete files in miniserve?

One credential guards everything: anyone signed in can list, download, upload, create folders and permanently delete files. There are no per-user accounts or folder permissions, so share the password only with people you trust, and keep a backup.

Can I make miniserve read-only?

Yes. Remove the upload, mkdir and delete settings in the environment editor and redeploy, and visitors can then only browse and download. Check the result by signing in and trying an upload before you share the address.

Is there an upload size limit in miniserve?

Uploads are limited to 1 GB per file at the site address. Cloudflare's own request limit, about 100 MB on most plans, applies first if the domain is proxied, so large uploads may fail there. Test a big file before you rely on it.

What should I back up on a miniserve server?

The miniserve_data volume, which holds every served file and is the only state. Because anyone signed in can delete files, keep a copy off the server, keep the password private, and test that you can restore the folder.

Backups in xCloud

How do I upgrade miniserve?

No upgrade runs automatically: the install stays on pinned release 0.35.0 until you adopt a newer template version. Back up the file volume first, read the upstream release notes, then check sign-in, a download and an upload 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.