OwnTracks Recorder Hosting Live In 5 Minutes

OwnTracks Recorder hosting on xCloud lets you deploy OwnTracks Recorder and run a location history server for your phone on your own domain, with a built-in web map, track view and REST API. xCloud runs the digest-pinned Recorder 1.0.4 behind an nginx gateway with a generated Basic Auth login, mounts a persistent volume and publishes it over HTTPS. Phones post over HTTP, so no MQTT broker is needed.

Deploy your OwnTracks Recorder

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

What is OwnTracks Recorder?

The OwnTracks Recorder is a lightweight program for storing and accessing location data published by the OwnTracks apps for iOS and Android. Upstream describes it as a compiled program that is easy to operate on low-end hardware: it receives points by MQTT or HTTP POST, stores them in plain files, and serves them through a built-in REST API, with an ocat command-line utility for reading them back. A self-hosted OwnTracks Recorder is a location history server you own, under GPL-2.0-or-later.

On xCloud the template runs Recorder 1.0.4 HTTP-only, with no MQTT broker, behind an nginx gateway pinned by digest. The Recorder has no authentication of its own, so the gateway puts a generated Basic Auth login on the web map, the API, the websocket and /pub. Stored points, last-known files and the geo-cache sit on the owntracks_store volume.

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

Self-hosting OwnTracks Recorder normally means wiring up the Recorder container, an nginx gateway, a Basic Auth layer and a TLS certificate before your phone can post a single location. This is the same result without assembling any of it.

Step 01
Sign Up
Create your xCloud account and pick OwnTracks Recorder from the OneClick catalog, then choose a domain. The gateway username is owntracks, and xCloud generates a 32-character password for you.
Step 02
We Deploy It For You
One click. We provision the server, bring up the digest-pinned Recorder container behind a digest-pinned nginx gateway, publish it over HTTPS, and lock every path — web, API and /pub — behind Basic Auth.
Step 03
Start Using It
Save the gateway login from your installation credentials, open the HTTPS URL, then point the OwnTracks mobile app at it in HTTP mode with the same login to start sending locations.

Everything OwnTracks Recorder Does, On Your Own Server

OwnTracks Recorder runs in full here — the open-source app is complete, and your location history sits on infrastructure you control, not a third-party tracking service.

Your Own Location History
Keep personal or family location history on a server you control instead of handing it to a third-party tracking service.
HTTP Mode, No Broker
Receive locations from the OwnTracks iOS and Android apps over plain HTTP(S) posts to /pub — there is no MQTT broker to run or maintain.
Web Map, Track And Table Views
Browse stored points on a built-in map, a track view and a table view, or query the same data through the REST API.
Protected By A Login Gateway
The Recorder has no authentication of its own, so every path — the web UI, the API, /pub and the websocket — sits behind a generated Basic Auth login.
Very Light Footprint
The verified install used roughly 8 MiB of RAM at idle, so it runs comfortably on the smallest tier with plenty of room to spare.
Backed By A Volume
Stored location files, last-known-location files and the geo-cache all live on a persistent volume that kept its data through a restart during verification.

Everything You Need To Run Your Location Tracking 24/7

Managed hosting for OwnTracks Recorder, so the gateway, the uptime and the HTTPS are not your problem.

OwnTracks Recorder 1.0.4 deployed instantly
Web map, track and table views
REST API for querying your data
Gateway login generated for you
Free SSL certificate
Server backups and snapshots
Security updates included
30+ server locations
Unused balance refunded

What You Can Do With OwnTracks Recorder

Keep family location history in-house
Phones running the OwnTracks app send points to your own domain, and the history stays in plain files on a volume you control.
Browse where a phone has been
Open the built-in map, track and table views to review stored points for a user and device without installing anything else.
Query locations from your own scripts
Pull stored data through the REST API behind the gateway login, for a home dashboard or a personal report.
Run location tracking without a broker
Receive HTTP posts at /pub with no MQTT broker to run, secure or keep patched.

OwnTracks Recorder vs Alternatives

Google Timeline: A hosted location history kept by its vendor. An OwnTracks Recorder alternative to Google Timeline stores the points your phones post, as plain files on your own server.
Traccar: Traccar has its own OneClick page. In an OwnTracks Recorder vs Traccar comparison, Traccar is a GPS tracking server for tracker devices, while the Recorder is built around the OwnTracks phone apps.
Dawarich: Dawarich has its own OneClick page. It imports GPS tracks and Google Takeout exports to map trips, whereas the Recorder just stores what the OwnTracks apps publish.
OwnTracks Frontend: OwnTracks Frontend has its own OneClick page and bundles a Recorder with a fuller map, including a heatmap and filters. This page deploys the Recorder with its basic built-in views.

Simple Pricing. Everything Included.

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

Cloud VPS 6 GB

Cloud VPS 16 GB

More devices and a longer location history.

$59.99per month

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

Get started

Cloud VPS 24 GB

OwnTracks Recorder alongside a whole self-hosted stack.

$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.

Docker hosting

Already Have a Server? Bring Your Own

Connect any VPS — DigitalOcean, Vultr, Linode, AWS, Hetzner or bare metal — and deploy OwnTracks Recorder on it through the same panel, for a per-server management fee instead of a Cloud VPS rental.

Free

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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
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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 Own Your Location Data?

OwnTracks Recorder on xCloud runs on a dedicated Cloud VPS that we provision, patch, monitor and restore. Deploy faster. Own your location history. 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.

Does OwnTracks Recorder have its own user accounts?

No. The Recorder has no built-in authentication, so this install puts an nginx Basic Auth gateway in front of the web map, the API, the websocket and the /pub endpoint. Requests with a missing or wrong password are refused.

How do I connect my phone to OwnTracks Recorder?

In the OwnTracks app set Mode to HTTP, set the URL to https://your-domain/pub, turn Authentication on and enter the gateway username and password, then set a User ID and Device ID. Those two names label your data.

Does OwnTracks Recorder need an MQTT broker?

Upstream supports MQTT and HTTP, but this install runs HTTP-only, so locations arrive as HTTP posts from the app. The no-MQTT and listen-address settings ship as they are, and changing them stops the Recorder from starting.

Can you self-host OwnTracks Recorder with Docker?

Yes, and this template is OwnTracks Recorder Docker hosting without the wiring: the owntracks/recorder 1.0.4 image pinned by digest behind a pinned nginx gateway, a generated login, the owntracks_store volume and HTTPS on your domain.

Is OwnTracks Recorder free?

Yes. It is released under the GNU General Public License, version 2 or any later version, with some bundled components under their own terms. xCloud charges for the dedicated Cloud VPS and the management around it, not for an OwnTracks licence.

OwnTracks Recorder license

How much RAM does OwnTracks Recorder need?

The manifest asks for 512 MB of RAM, 1 CPU core and 5 GB of disk, and QA saw only about 8 MiB at idle. Disk grows with every stored point. The 6 GB plan leaves plenty of room for other apps on the server.

How do I back up OwnTracks Recorder?

Back up the owntracks_store volume, which holds the stored location files, last-known-location files and geo-cache, plus the gateway password kept in the Environment editor. Nothing schedules the copy, so run it yourself and check that a restore opens on the map.

Back up and restore Docker apps

How do I upgrade OwnTracks Recorder?

The install stays on Recorder 1.0.4 until you adopt a newer template version. Copy owntracks_store first and read the upstream release notes. A redeploy keeps the volume and your stored history, and nothing upgrades the app by itself, so you choose the moment.

Is the OwnTracks Recorder container locked down?

Not fully. The Recorder container runs as root, which is the stock image default, and a non-JSON POST to /pub returns 200 because that is how upstream behaves. Only the gateway is published, behind the login, and you can restrict access further.

Configure firewall management

Is there an OwnTracks Recorder cloud service I can use?

This page is your own OwnTracks Recorder cloud: a dedicated Cloud VPS running the open-source Recorder, with your location files on a volume you control. No third party sits between your phone and the stored points.

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.