Owncast Hosting Live In 5 Minutes

Owncast hosting on xCloud lets you deploy Owncast and run a self-hosted live streaming server: stream from OBS to a player and chat page on your own domain, without a platform in the middle. xCloud runs the pinned Owncast 0.2.5 image, generates the admin password and stream key, allocates the RTMP ingest port, mounts persistent storage and publishes the player over HTTPS.

Deploy your Owncast

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

What is Owncast?

Owncast is an open source, self-hosted, single-user live video streaming and chat server. Upstream says it is for running your own live streams similar in style to the large mainstream options, with complete ownership over your content, interface, moderation and audience. A self-hosted Owncast serves viewers a public player and chat page, gives you an admin dashboard, and takes video from OBS or another encoder over RTMP. It is written in Go and released under the MIT licence.

On xCloud the template runs Owncast 0.2.5 as the official image pinned by digest, with web traffic behind HTTPS and RTMP ingest on its own allocated TCP port. Everything it keeps, from configuration and database to keys, chat and locally retained media, lives on the owncast_data volume. Admin password and stream key come from the environment on every boot.

From Sign-Up to Your First Live Stream In Just 3 Easy Steps

A live-streaming server normally means a container, an RTMP port, an admin password, a stream key, a domain and a certificate before the first frame goes out. This is the same result without assembling any of it.

Step 01
Sign Up
Create your xCloud account and pick Owncast from the OneClick catalog. Choose your domain and target server. There is nothing else to fill in: xCloud generates the admin password and the stream key for you.
Step 02
We Deploy It For You
One click. We bring up the official Owncast 0.2.5 image, pinned by immutable digest with RTMP ingest on its own allocated port, mount the owncast_data volume, and publish it over HTTPS on your domain.
Step 03
Point OBS At It And Go Live
Sign in to the admin dashboard as admin with the generated password. In OBS choose a custom streaming service, enter the RTMP server and stream key shown by xCloud, start streaming, then open the public HTTPS URL to verify playback and chat.

Everything Owncast Does, On Your Own Server

Owncast runs in full here: the public player and chat, the admin dashboard and RTMP ingest, on infrastructure you control.

HTTPS Player And Chat Page
Viewers get a public player with built-in chat on your domain, served through xCloud-managed HTTPS.
RTMP Ingest From Any Encoder
Stream from OBS or any RTMP-capable encoder to the server and stream key xCloud hands you at install.
Authenticated Admin Dashboard
Configure the stream, chat and retention from a dashboard behind the generated admin password.
Stream Key Held In The Environment
The stream key and admin password are applied from the environment on every boot; rotate them in the Environment editor with Save & Redeploy.
One Volume For Everything
Configuration, database, generated keys, chat data and locally retained media all live on owncast_data.
Firewall The Ingest Port If Unused
RTMP is raw TCP on an allocated public port, protected by the stream key; restrict it with the server firewall when remote ingest is not needed.

Everything You Need To Run Your Live Streaming 24/7

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

Owncast 0.2.5 deployed instantly
Official pinned image digest
Admin password and stream key generated for you
Kept behind xCloud nginx on port 8080
Free SSL certificate
Server backups and snapshots
Server security updates included
30+ server locations
Unused balance refunded

What You Can Do With Owncast

Stream a game or show from OBS
A streamer points OBS at the RTMP server and key, goes live, and viewers watch and chat on a page at the streamer's own domain.
Run a community or event channel
A club or conference gives its audience one URL for a live player with built-in chat, moderated from the admin dashboard.
Keep your audience off a platform
Own the interface, chat and moderation instead of renting them, with the video and chat history on a volume you control.
Test ingest before a big stream
Start a short stream from your encoder to confirm playback and chat on the public URL before announcing it.

Owncast vs Alternatives

Twitch: A hosted streaming platform run by its vendor. An Owncast alternative to Twitch is software you run: the player, chat, moderation and stored media sit on your server, and upstream describes it as single-user.
PeerTube: PeerTube has its own OneClick page. In an Owncast vs PeerTube comparison, Owncast is a single-user live stream with chat, set up around one broadcaster and one channel.
Restreamer: Restreamer has its own OneClick page. Owncast is the viewer-facing player and chat server that your encoder streams into.
MediaMTX: MediaMTX has its own OneClick page. Owncast adds the public player page, chat and admin dashboard around the ingested stream.

Simple Pricing. Everything Included.

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

Cloud VPS 6 GB

Cloud VPS 16 GB

More CPU for transcoding and more viewers per stream.

$59.99per month

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

Get started

Cloud VPS 24 GB

Owncast alongside other media services on one server.

$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. Owncast itself is free under the MIT licence.

Docker hosting

Already Have a Server? Bring Your Own

Connect any VPS — DigitalOcean, Vultr, Linode, AWS, Hetzner or bare metal — and deploy Owncast 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 Streaming Server?

Owncast 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.

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Frequently Asked Questions

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

Is Owncast free?

Yes. Owncast is open source under the MIT licence, so there is no licence fee or per-viewer charge from the project. You pay for the Cloud VPS, and live video can use substantial disk and bandwidth, so retention settings matter.

How much RAM does Owncast need?

The manifest sets a floor of 2 CPU cores, 2048 MB of RAM and 50 GB of disk, with disk the largest need, because live video segments pile up. The 6 GB plan leaves room for transcoding spikes.

Can you self-host Owncast with Docker?

Yes, and this template is Owncast Docker hosting minus the plumbing: the official owncast/owncast 0.2.5 image pinned by digest, web on port 8080 behind HTTPS, an allocated RTMP port, a generated admin password and stream key, and one data volume.

How do I stream to Owncast with OBS?

In OBS choose a custom streaming service, then enter the RTMP server address and the stream key from your xCloud credentials panel. Start streaming and open the public HTTPS URL to confirm playback and chat.

Is the Owncast RTMP port secure?

Not by encryption. RTMP ingest is raw TCP on an allocated public port, protected only by the generated stream key. If you do not need to stream from other networks, restrict that port with your server firewall.

Configure firewall management

Why does a stream key added in the dashboard not work?

The template supplies STREAM_KEY on every boot as a session override that replaces Owncast's stored keys, so a key added in the dashboard is never accepted. Change STREAM_KEY in the Environment editor and Save & Redeploy instead.

Why did my admin password reset after a restart?

The admin password comes from the environment on every boot, so a password changed only inside Owncast is replaced at the next start. Rotate it in xCloud's Environment editor and Save & Redeploy, which keeps one source of truth.

What is the difference between Owncast and PeerTube?

PeerTube has its own OneClick page here. Upstream describes Owncast as a single-user live streaming and chat server, so it suits one broadcaster running one channel. Compare the two against whether you need many users.

PeerTube hosting

How do I back up Owncast?

Back up the owncast_data volume as one unit. It holds the database, configuration, generated keys, chat data and any locally retained media. Review retention settings first, because live video can be large. Nothing schedules the copy.

Backups in xCloud

How do I upgrade Owncast?

The install stays on Owncast 0.2.5 until you adopt a newer template version. Back up owncast_data first and read the upstream release notes. Existing sites keep their installed snapshot, and nothing upgrades the app on its own.

Is there an Owncast cloud service I can use?

This page is your own Owncast cloud: a dedicated Cloud VPS running the open-source server, with your stream, chat and media on a volume you control. No other broadcaster shares the server or the audience page.

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.