nforwardauth Hosting Live In 5 Minutes

Deploy nforwardauth hosting and put one shared sign-in page in front of the self-hosted tools you run. xCloud runs the pinned nforwardauth v1.5.1 image as a single container, takes the username from the install form, generates a 32-character password and a cookie signing secret, and publishes the login page over HTTPS in minutes — then each site you want protected asks it before letting a visitor in.

Deploy your nforwardauth

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

What is nforwardauth?

nforwardauth is a small, open-source forward-auth service for reverse proxies such as nginx, Traefik and Caddy. When you visit a site that is protected by it, the proxy first forwards the request to nforwardauth, which checks whether it carries a valid login cookie. If it does not, you are sent to the nforwardauth login page and, after signing in, returned to the page you asked for.

It uses a single username and password account rather than a user directory. By itself it is only a login and logout page plus the check endpoints: it protects another website only after that website's reverse proxy is configured to ask it first.

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

A forward-auth setup normally means a container, a credentials file, a signing secret, a domain and a certificate before the first sign-in. This is the same result without assembling any of it.

Step 01
Sign Up
Create your xCloud account and pick nforwardauth from the OneClick catalog. Choose your domain and target server, and enter the username for the one account (the default is admin).
Step 02
We Deploy It For You
One click. We bring up a single nforwardauth container from the community image, pinned by immutable digest, generate a 32-character password and the cookie signing secret, write them to the app's environment file, and publish the login page over HTTPS on your domain. There is no database and no data volume.
Step 03
Sign In, Then Protect A Site
Save the password from the installation credentials and sign in at the login URL. Then open the custom Nginx configuration of a site you want to protect, add the auth_request check that points at your nforwardauth nginx URL, and set COOKIE_DOMAIN to the parent domain the sites share.

Everything nforwardauth Does, On Your Own Server

nforwardauth runs in full here: a login page and check endpoints on your own domain that any compatible reverse proxy can call.

One Login For Many Sites
Sign in once and the cookie covers every site behind nforwardauth that shares its parent domain, instead of a separate login for each tool.
Works With Your Reverse Proxy
Use it with nginx auth_request, Traefik or Caddy forward-auth; the proxy asks nforwardauth whether the request carries a valid login cookie.
Brute-Force Rate Limiting
Failed sign-ins are rate limited per visitor address; by default 3 failures ban the address for 300 seconds, and the limits can be changed in the environment file.
Signed-In User Header
The signed-in username can be passed to the protected site in the X-Forwarded-User header, and PASS_USER_HEADER turns that off.
A Tiny Single Container
One stateless container with nothing else running alongside it; QA measured idle use of about 1 MiB of memory.
Logins Survive A Restart
The login cookie is signed with TOKEN_SECRET from the environment file, so restarting the container keeps existing logins valid; changing the secret signs everyone out.

Everything You Need To Run Your Login Gateway 24/7

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

nforwardauth v1.5.1 deployed instantly
Community image pinned by digest
Admin password generated for you
Kept behind xCloud nginx
Free SSL certificate
Server backups and snapshots
Server security updates included
30+ server locations
Unused balance refunded

What You Can Do With nforwardauth

Put one sign-in in front of several internal tools
Protect dashboards, homepages and admin panels that share a parent domain with a single login and a single cookie, instead of a basic-auth prompt on every site.
Add a login to an app that has none
Tools without their own sign-in can sit behind an nginx auth_request check, so visitors reach them only after logging in here.
Know who is signed in downstream
Pass the signed-in username to a protected site in the X-Forwarded-User header so it can identify the visitor.
Slow down password guessing
Keep the built-in rate limiter on so repeated failed sign-ins from one visitor address are locked out for a while.

nforwardauth vs Alternatives

Authelia: A self-hosted two-factor and single sign-on portal with deny-by-default access rules. nforwardauth is smaller: one username and password account and no access rules, which suits a handful of tools behind one login.
HTTP basic auth: The built-in prompt that nginx and other proxies offer. Upstream built nforwardauth because it wanted a friendlier login page that works with password-manager autofill and does not ask for credentials on every site.
Organizr: A homepage that includes its own forward-auth. Upstream describes it as too complex and heavy for its needs, which is why nforwardauth does only the login.

Simple Pricing. Everything Included.

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

Cloud VPS 6 GB

Cloud VPS 16 GB

More headroom if nforwardauth sits alongside many other apps.

$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. nforwardauth itself is licensed by its maintainers under MIT.

Docker hosting

Already Have a Server? Bring Your Own

Connect any VPS — DigitalOcean, Vultr, Linode, AWS, Hetzner or bare metal — and deploy nforwardauth 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
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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 Login Gateway?

nforwardauth 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 nforwardauth different from per-app logins?

One account and one cookie cover every site behind it, so you sign in once rather than once per tool.

Does it protect my sites automatically?

No. Each site's reverse proxy must call the check URL. Nothing is wired into your other sites for you; the install shows the nginx auth_request URL to point them at.

How do I protect a site hosted on xCloud?

Open that site's custom Nginx configuration, add the auth_request check that points at your nforwardauth nginx URL, and redirect visitors to the login page on a 401, as in upstream's nginx example.

Custom Nginx configuration in xCloud

Can it protect sites on other domains?

Only sites under the same parent domain as the cookie domain. Set COOKIE_DOMAIN to that shared parent domain (for example example.com), otherwise the login cookie is not sent and visitors loop back to the login page.

How do I sign in?

Open the login URL from the installation credentials and use the username you chose in the install form with the generated 32-character password. There is a single account.

What runs alongside nforwardauth?

Nothing. It is a single container with no database and no other services.

What should I back up?

There is no data volume. All state is the environment file, so keep a copy of ADMIN_PASSWORD and TOKEN_SECRET. Changing TOKEN_SECRET signs everyone out.

Backups in xCloud

What happens if I restart it?

Existing logins stay valid, because the cookie is signed with TOKEN_SECRET from the environment file. The credentials file is regenerated from the environment on every start, so change the username or password in the environment file and Save & Redeploy.

How are failed sign-ins handled?

They are rate limited per visitor address. By default 3 failures ban the address for 300 seconds. In QA a wrong password was rejected and repeated failures were locked out.

Do I need HTTPS?

Yes. The login cookie carries the Secure flag, so sign-in will not stick over plain HTTP. xCloud issues a free SSL certificate for your domain.

Enable HTTPS and configure SSL

Does xCloud automatically back up or update nforwardauth?

No. The template pins nforwardauth v1.5.1 by immutable digest; new installations use the pinned release, existing sites are not automatically upgraded. Read the upstream release notes, then bump the readable tag and digest together on your own schedule. 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, 128 MB of RAM and 1 GB of disk; measured idle use in QA was about 1 MiB. This page sells the 6 GB tier as the entry rung, which leaves plenty of room for the sites you protect to run on the same server.

Is xCloud officially partnered with nforwardauth?

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