Thumbor Hosting Live In 5 Minutes

Thumbor hosting on xCloud lets you deploy Thumbor, an open-source photo thumbnail service that generates images on demand from URL parameters, on your own domain. xCloud runs the pinned official image, accepts only signed transformation URLs, limits source images to the one hostname you enter, keeps a cache volume and publishes it over HTTPS. You sign URLs from your own application with the generated key.

Deploy your Thumbor

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

What is Thumbor?

Thumbor is an open-source photo thumbnail service by globo.com: an HTTP server that generates images on demand from URL path parameters, such as a smart-cropped 300 by 200 version of an original. It resizes, crops, applies filters and optimises images, offers intelligent cropping with face and feature detection, and caches results; upstream supports several storage backends, and this template uses local file storage. A self-hosted Thumbor is a smart image resizing service on your own server, an alternative to Cloudinary. It is MIT licensed.

On xCloud it is Thumbor 7.8.0, the official image pinned by digest, as one container with a thumbor_cache volume. It rejects unsigned and /unsafe URLs, so your application must sign every path with the generated key, and it loads source images only from the one hostname you configure. The cache is rebuildable from your originals.

From Sign-Up to a Live Image Service In Just 3 Easy Steps

An image service normally means a container, a signing key, a source-domain allowlist, a cache, a domain and a certificate before the first thumbnail. This is the same result without assembling any of it.

Step 01
Sign Up
Create your xCloud account and pick Thumbor from the OneClick catalog. Choose your domain and target server, then set the Allowed Source Domain.
Step 02
We Deploy It For You
One click. We bring up the official Thumbor 7.8.0 image, pinned by immutable digest, mount the thumbor_cache volume, and publish it over HTTPS on your domain.
Step 03
Sign Your First URL
Store the URL signing key shown by xCloud in your application or signing service, never in browser-side code. Generate a transformation path with a Thumbor-compatible HMAC-SHA1 URL library and request it over your domain; unsigned /unsafe URLs are rejected.

Everything Thumbor Does, On Your Own Server

Thumbor runs in full here: resize, crop, filters and format conversion behind signed URLs, on infrastructure you control.

Resize And Crop On Demand
Request any size or crop through the URL and Thumbor renders it from the original, with smart cropping available.
Filters And Format Conversion
Apply Thumbor's filters and convert between formats per request.
Signed URLs Only
Unsigned /unsafe URLs are rejected, so nobody can use your server to process arbitrary images.
One Allowed Source Domain
Source images are restricted to the exact hostname you enter at install; other hosts are refused.
Rebuildable Cache
Cached source and transformed images live on thumbor_cache and can be regenerated from your originals.
Loopback Only
Thumbor listens on port 8888 bound to localhost and is published only through xCloud nginx and HTTPS.

Everything You Need To Run Your Image Processing 24/7

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

Thumbor 7.8.0 deployed instantly
Official pinned image digest
URL signing key generated for you
Kept behind xCloud nginx on port 8888
Free SSL certificate
Server backups and snapshots
Server security updates included
30+ server locations
Unused balance refunded

What You Can Do With Thumbor

Serve the right image size to every device
Request a resized, cropped version through the URL, so one original becomes a thumbnail, a card image and a hero image without separate files.
Crop around faces and subjects
Use smart cropping with face and feature detection, so portraits and product photos keep their subject when cut to a new aspect ratio.
Optimise formats and apply filters
Convert formats and apply filters on the fly, so a site delivers lighter images to browsers without a build step that pre-renders every variant.
Stop strangers using your resizer
Accept only signed URLs and a single source domain, so nobody can make your server fetch and process arbitrary images from the internet.

Thumbor vs Alternatives

Cloudinary: Cloudinary is a hosted image and media service. Thumbor is open source and runs on your own server, with transformations in the URL and the cache on a volume on your server.
imgproxy: imgproxy has its own OneClick page. In a Thumbor vs imgproxy comparison, Thumbor is a Python service with smart cropping through face and feature detection and an extensible plugin model.
Imagor: Imagor has its own OneClick page. Thumbor is the globo.com project, with URL-based resizing, filters, caching and integrations for many programming languages and frameworks.
Pre-rendering image variants: Generating every size at upload time stores many files. Thumbor creates the variant when it is first requested and caches it, so you keep one original.

Simple Pricing. Everything Included.

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

Cloud VPS 6 GB

Cloud VPS 16 GB

More CPU for heavier transformations and higher request rates.

$59.99per month

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

Get started

Cloud VPS 24 GB

Thumbor alongside the sites and apps it serves images for.

$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. Thumbor 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 Thumbor 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 Image Service?

Thumbor 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 much RAM does Thumbor need?

The minimum in the template is 1024 MB of RAM, 1 CPU core and 5 GB of disk. The template caps output at 4096 by 4096 pixels, and the 6 GB plan gives headroom above that floor for busy traffic.

Can you self-host Thumbor with Docker?

Yes, and this template is thumbor docker hosting without the setup: the official image pinned by digest, a thumbor_cache volume, a generated URL signing key and HTTPS on your own domain, with source images limited to one hostname.

Does Thumbor support smart cropping?

Yes. Upstream offers intelligent cropping with AI-based face and feature detection, requested through URL parameters such as a smart option. Results are cached so repeat requests are fast.

Why does Thumbor reject unsigned URLs?

The template accepts only signed transformation URLs and refuses the /unsafe form, so strangers cannot use your server as a free resizer. Sign each path with the generated key, using a Thumbor-compatible HMAC-SHA1 library on your server.

Which image sources can Thumbor load from?

Only the hostname you entered at install, without scheme or path, for example images.example.com. Requests for any other source host are refused, which keeps the service from fetching arbitrary images.

Is Thumbor an alternative to Cloudinary?

For on-demand resizing and cropping, yes. Upstream lists resizing, filters, smart cropping and caching and makes no comparison with Cloudinary. You supply the originals, the signing code and the capacity yourself.

Is Thumbor free?

Yes. Thumbor is MIT licensed, so the service costs nothing to run. The Cloud VPS is your only bill, giving you a Thumbor cloud install with no per-transformation charges.

Does Thumbor need a backup?

Mostly no. The thumbor_cache volume holds cached source and transformed images, which can be rebuilt from your originals. Back it up only if keeping a warm cache matters, and always keep the URL signing key stable and safe.

How do I upgrade Thumbor?

Thumbor stays on its pinned 7.8.0 image until a newer template version is adopted. Check the release notes first. The cache can be rebuilt, so redeploying is low risk, but keep the signing key unchanged.

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.