Unstructured API Hosting Live In 5 Minutes

Deploy Unstructured API hosting and run a private document-to-JSON processing endpoint on your own server, so your documents never go through a third-party hosted service. xCloud runs the pinned Unstructured API 0.1.2 image as one container, generates a 48-character API key enforced on every request, and publishes the API over HTTPS on your domain. The image is very large, so allow extra time and disk.

Deploy your Unstructured API

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

What is Unstructured API?

Unstructured API implements a general pre-processing pipeline for documents. Upstream says it recognises the file type and chooses the relevant partition function, covering plaintext such as txt, eml, html and md, images such as jpeg and png, documents such as doc, docx, ppt, pptx, pdf, odt, epub, csv and xlsx, and gz archives, returning structured JSON elements. Self-hosted Unstructured API is the alternative to the hosted API at api.unstructured.io, under the Apache-2.0 licence.

On xCloud it is Unstructured API 0.1.2, the official image pinned by digest, as one container with no database and no volume. There is no web UI: send the generated key in the unstructured-api-key header. The image is about 16.5 GB uncompressed and the manifest asks for 45 GB of disk, so this page starts at the 16 GB plan.

From Sign-Up to a Live Document API In Just 3 Easy Steps

Self-hosting Unstructured API normally means a very large image pull, a generated API key, a domain and a certificate before the first document converts. This is the same result without assembling any of it by hand.

Step 01
Sign Up
Create your xCloud account and pick Unstructured API from the OneClick catalog. Choose a domain and submit — the API Key field arrives pre-filled with a generated key, so there is nothing to type. The image is large, so the first install takes extra time.
Step 02
We Deploy It For You
One click. We bring up the pinned Unstructured API 0.1.2 image by immutable digest, require the generated API key on the unstructured-api-key header for every processing request, and publish it over HTTPS on your domain with the container bound to localhost.
Step 03
Send Your First Request
Copy the API URL and key from the credentials panel and send a request, for example POST https://your-domain/general/v0/general with files=@sample.txt and strategy=fast, passing the key in the unstructured-api-key header.

Everything Unstructured API Does, On Your Own Server

Unstructured API runs in full here — partitioning, optional chunking and a processing strategy per request, with your documents staying on infrastructure you control.

Documents Into Structured JSON
Titles, narrative text, list items, tables and more, with page numbers and parent relationships preserved.
Built For RAG And Search Pipelines
Feed retrieval, search and LLM ingestion pipelines from your own infrastructure instead of a hosted service.
A Strategy Per Request
Choose fast for text-based files, hi_res for layout-aware parsing, or ocr_only for scanned documents.
Every Request Requires Your Key
Anonymous and wrong keys are rejected with 401 on every processing call.
Optional Chunking
basic and by_title chunking produce embedding-ready output without a separate processing step.
Stateless By Design
Uploaded files and results are not kept as application data, and the API key survives an xCloud Restart.

Everything You Need To Run Your Document Processing 24/7

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

Unstructured API 0.1.2 deployed instantly
Official pinned image digest
Generated API key
Container bound to localhost
Free SSL certificate
Server backups and snapshots
Server security updates included
30+ server locations
Unused balance refunded

What You Can Do With Unstructured API

Prepare documents for an LLM pipeline
Partition PDFs and Office files into titles, narrative text, list items and tables, ready to chunk and index.
Keep source documents off a third-party API
Send files to an endpoint on your own server instead of a hosted service, with a key only your clients hold.
Choose speed or precision per request
Pass the fast strategy for text-based files, or hi_res for PDFs with text inside images and finer element types.
Handle a mix of file types in one call
Send emails, spreadsheets, slides, images and PDFs to one endpoint that picks the right partition function.

Unstructured API vs Alternatives

Hosted document parsing APIs: A hosted API, including upstream's own at api.unstructured.io, processes your files on a vendor's servers. Self-hosted Unstructured API runs the open source pipeline on your own Cloud VPS, with no request data retained.
Docling Serve: Docling Serve has its own OneClick page as another self-hosted document conversion API. Unstructured API centres on partitioning files into typed elements with selectable strategies.
Apache Tika: Apache Tika has its own OneClick page as a content analysis server that returns extracted text and metadata. Unstructured API returns structured elements such as titles and tables.
Gotenberg: Gotenberg has its own OneClick page and converts documents into PDFs. Unstructured API goes the other way, from documents into structured JSON elements.

Simple Pricing. Everything Included.

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

Cloud VPS 16 GB

Cloud VPS 24 GB

More cores and memory for hi_res parsing and concurrent jobs.

$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. Unstructured API itself is free and open source under the Apache-2.0 license.

Docker hosting

Already Have a Server? Bring Your Own

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

Free

Start your journey without cost.

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1 server
10 sites

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Professional

The same platform, discounted at 6–10 servers.

$4per server / month

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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

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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 Run Your Own Document API?

Unstructured API hosting 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.

Can you self-host Unstructured API with Docker?

Yes. Upstream's developer quickstart runs the API from a container image, and this template is Unstructured API Docker hosting already set up: the 0.1.2 image pinned by digest, a generated key and HTTPS. It is your own Unstructured API cloud endpoint. Allow extra time for the very large first pull.

How much RAM does Unstructured API need?

The manifest sets a floor of 2 CPU cores, 4096 MB RAM and 45 GB disk, so this page starts at the 16 GB plan. The image is about 16.5 GB uncompressed and Docker needs roughly 26 GB of working space while pulling it. Heavy strategies need more memory.

Is Unstructured API free?

Yes, Apache-2.0 open source with no software fee. You pay for the larger Cloud VPS and disk, cancellable any time. Upstream's own hosted API is a separate service that this self-hosted setup replaces, so no documents leave your server.

How do I authenticate to Unstructured API?

There is no web UI and no login. Send the generated API key in the unstructured-api-key request header on every processing request; the key is shown in the installation credentials with the API URL. Anonymous and incorrect keys are rejected.

Which file types does Unstructured API process?

Upstream lists plaintext such as txt, eml, msg, xml, html, md, rst, json and rtf, images such as jpeg and png, documents such as doc, docx, ppt, pptx, pdf, odt, epub, csv, tsv and xlsx, and gz archives. The pipeline recognises the type and picks the partition function.

Which processing strategy should I use in Unstructured API?

Pass strategy=fast explicitly for text-based files on small servers; fast is upstream's default for PDFs and images without text embedded in images. Strategy auto can escalate text-less PDFs to hi_res, which loads layout models and needs roughly 1.5 to 3 GB more RAM.

Does the Unstructured API key rate-limit requests?

No. It authenticates requests but does not throttle them, so avoid exposing high-cost strategies such as hi_res or ocr_only to untrusted clients. Put your own limits in front of the endpoint if many clients share it, because heavy requests can exhaust memory.

Why is the Unstructured API disk requirement so large?

The x86_64 image bundles large GPU runtime libraries, and Docker needs about 26 GB of working space while pulling and unpacking it, on top of what the running container itself uses. That is why the manifest asks for 45 GB of disk.

How do I rotate the Unstructured API key?

Update UNSTRUCTURED_API_KEY in the Environment editor, restart the application, and update every API client with the new key at the same time. Clients still holding the old key are rejected until they change, so schedule the switch with the teams that call it.

How do I back up Unstructured API?

There is nothing on the server to back up: no application data is stored, and the template has no volumes. Keep the API key in your client configuration and your source documents and extracted outputs in your own systems.

Backups in xCloud

How do I upgrade Unstructured API?

The install stays on pinned 0.1.2 until you adopt a newer template version. Review upstream's release notes, then redeploy and retest key rejection and a sample extraction. With no volume, there is no data to migrate, but the new image is again very large.

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.