Zensical Hosting Live In 5 Minutes

Zensical hosting on xCloud lets you deploy Zensical, a modern static site generator for project documentation from the creators of Material for MkDocs, on your own domain. xCloud runs the pinned official image with its preview server, which rebuilds the site whenever a file changes, keeps your sources on a persistent volume and publishes it over HTTPS. The site is public and read-only, and Zensical is still alpha software.

Deploy your Zensical

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

What is Zensical?

Zensical is a modern static site generator built by the creators of Material for MkDocs. It turns Markdown into searchable documentation sites with customisable output and support for many languages, and is distributed as a Python package and a Docker image. A self-hosted Zensical is a live-rebuilding docs site on your own server, in place of a hosted documentation service such as GitBook. It is MIT licensed, the version is 0.0.70, and the template notes it is alpha software.

On xCloud it is Zensical 0.0.70, the official image pinned by digest, running the upstream preview server in one container. The zensical_docs volume holds zensical.toml, the Markdown sources, the built site and the render cache. A starter site is created on an empty volume. There is no login, admin interface or web editor: you edit the files on the server, and the site rebuilds automatically.

From Sign-Up to a Live Docs Site In Just 3 Easy Steps

A documentation site normally means a generator install, a build step, a place to host the output, a domain and a certificate before the first page is readable. This is the same result without assembling any of it.

Step 01
Sign Up
Create your xCloud account and pick Zensical from the OneClick catalog. Choose your domain and target server — there are no extra fields, because Zensical has no accounts or credentials.
Step 02
We Deploy It For You
One click. We bring up the official Zensical image, pinned by immutable digest, as a single container with no database or cache, mount the zensical_docs volume at /docs and publish the site over HTTPS on your domain. The first build of the starter site takes under a minute and may show 404 until then.
Step 03
Open The Starter Site
Open your HTTPS Zensical URL to see the starter site. Then edit zensical.toml and the Markdown under docs/ in the zensical_docs volume, for example with docker exec or docker cp; the site rebuilds automatically.

Everything Zensical Does, On Your Own Server

Zensical runs in full here: a Markdown documentation site on your own domain, rebuilt automatically from files in a volume you own.

Markdown Documentation Sites
Write project documentation in Markdown and configure the whole site through a single zensical.toml.
Starter Site On First Start
A starter site is created automatically on first start, with its canonical URL set to your install domain.
Automatic Rebuilds
Pages rebuild whenever a file in the content volume changes, so an edit shows up without a manual build.
Material-Compatible Features
The image includes Material-compatible features, plus mkdocstrings-python for API reference.
One Container, No Database
A single container with no database or cache; idle use measured about 41 MiB on QA.
Persistent Content Volume
zensical.toml, the docs/ sources, the built site/ and the render cache live in the zensical_docs volume and survive an xCloud Restart.

Everything You Need To Run Your Docs Site 24/7

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

Zensical 0.0.70 deployed instantly
Official image pinned by digest
Single container, no database
Starter site created for you
Rebuilds when files change
Kept behind xCloud nginx
Free SSL certificate
Persistent zensical_docs volume
Server security updates included
30+ server locations
Unused balance refunded

What You Can Do With Zensical

Publish project documentation
Write pages in Markdown and let the site rebuild on every change, so a product's docs are online at your own address as soon as a file is saved.
Move a Material for MkDocs project
Bring an existing MkDocs configuration, since the template never overwrites a mkdocs.yml in the volume, and serve it with the Material-compatible features built into the image.
Offer searchable docs in many languages
Use the built-in search and the language support of the generator, so readers can find pages quickly in a site your team writes in Markdown.
Preview docs on a shared address
Keep a live-rebuilding site for reviewers, so colleagues read the latest draft of the docs at a URL instead of building them locally.

Zensical vs Alternatives

GitBook: GitBook is a hosted documentation platform. Zensical keeps Markdown sources in a volume on your own server and serves a site you control, with no web editor and no login.
Material for MkDocs: Zensical is built by the creators of Material for MkDocs, and upstream links a compatibility page for MkDocs projects. Only Material-compatible features and mkdocstrings-python are included in this image.
BookStack: BookStack has its own OneClick page. In a Zensical vs BookStack comparison, Zensical builds a static site from files you edit, whereas BookStack offers a web editor with accounts.
Wiki.js: Wiki.js has its own OneClick page. Zensical has no editor or accounts: your Markdown sources are the documentation, rebuilt automatically when they change.

Simple Pricing. Everything Included.

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

Cloud VPS 6 GB

Cloud VPS 16 GB

More headroom if Zensical sits alongside other documentation and developer tools.

$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. Zensical itself is licensed under MIT.

Docker hosting

Already Have a Server? Bring Your Own

Connect any VPS — DigitalOcean, Vultr, Linode, AWS, Hetzner or bare metal — and deploy Zensical 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

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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

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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 Documentation Site?

Zensical 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

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Frequently Asked Questions

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

How much RAM does Zensical need?

The template floor is 512 MB of RAM, 1 CPU core and 2 GB of disk, for one container with no database or cache. The 6 GB plan is far above that, and large sites mostly need more disk for the built output.

Can you self-host Zensical with Docker?

Yes, and this template is zensical docker hosting without the setup: the official image pinned by digest, the zensical_docs volume, a starter site on first start and HTTPS on your own domain, running the upstream preview server.

How do I edit pages on my Zensical site?

Edit zensical.toml and the Markdown under docs in the zensical_docs volume on the server, for example with docker exec or docker cp. The site rebuilds automatically after each change. There is no web editor, so keep your sources in git.

Is my Zensical site public?

Yes. Anyone who can reach the address can read every page, and there is no login. Do not publish private material unless that is acceptable, or put your own access layer such as HTTP Basic Auth in front.

Is Zensical ready for production?

It is alpha software at version 0.0.70, and this template runs the upstream preview server, which injects a livereload script into every page. Treat it as early, pin the version, and keep your sources outside the server.

Is Zensical an alternative to Material for MkDocs or GitBook?

It comes from the team behind Material for MkDocs, with a compatibility page for MkDocs projects, and it can replace a hosted docs platform. Upstream makes no direct comparison, and only built-in plugins are available here.

Is Zensical free?

Yes. Zensical is open source under the MIT licence and upstream says it remains free. Optional paid offerings such as Zensical Spark are not included. You pay only for the Cloud VPS, so this Zensical cloud install is yours.

How do I back up Zensical?

Template sites have no built-in backup, so keep your sources in git elsewhere. You can also copy the zensical_docs volume, which holds zensical.toml, the Markdown sources, the built site and the render cache. Test a restore.

Backup and restore Docker apps

How do I upgrade Zensical?

Zensical stays on its pinned 0.0.70 image until a newer template version is adopted. Copy the docs volume beforehand and check the release notes, since an alpha project can change quickly. No upgrade is automatic.

Can I use other MkDocs plugins with Zensical?

Not without a custom image. Only the plugins and Material-compatible features built into the image are available, along with mkdocstrings-python. Keep site_url free of a path, or the server answers only under that prefix. Plan around that.

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.