ZNC Hosting Live In 5 Minutes

Deploy ZNC hosting and run a self-hosted IRC bouncer that stays connected to your networks while your clients come and go. xCloud starts the pinned official image, creates the administrator with the username you choose, publishes WebAdmin over HTTPS on your domain and opens a separate TLS listener on its own port for your IRC clients. Restrict that port in your server firewall if only you should reach it.

Deploy your ZNC

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

What is ZNC?

ZNC is an advanced IRC bouncer, released under the Apache License 2.0. It stays connected to IRC networks while your clients are offline, and its WebAdmin console manages accounts, networks, modules and retained buffers; upstream also documents writing your own modules. Self-hosted ZNC is the option for people weighing IRCCloud, or who want their logs and connections on their own server.

On xCloud the template runs the official znc 1.10.2 image, pinned by digest, as one container with the znc_data volume, which holds the configuration, users, password hashes, TLS certificate, networks, modules and buffers. WebAdmin sits behind HTTPS on your domain, while IRC clients connect over TLS to a separately allocated public port using ZNC's own certificate. The generated password only bootstraps the first account.

From Sign-Up to a Live IRC Bouncer In Just 3 Easy Steps

An IRC bouncer normally means a container, an admin account, a TLS listener, a WebAdmin route, a volume, a domain and a certificate before the first network. This is the same result without assembling any of it.

Step 01
Sign Up
Create your xCloud account and pick ZNC from the OneClick catalog. Choose your domain and target server, then set the Administrator Username and either enter your own administrator password or leave it blank for xCloud to generate one securely.
Step 02
We Deploy It For You
One click. We bring up the official ZNC 1.10.2 image, pinned by immutable digest with a TLS IRC listener on its own allocated port, mount the znc_data volume, and publish it over HTTPS on your domain.
Step 03
Add A Network And Connect A Client
Sign in to WebAdmin on your domain with the generated credentials, add an IRC network, then point your IRC client at the displayed server address and TLS port and authenticate with the same ZNC username and password.

Everything ZNC Does, On Your Own Server

ZNC runs in full here: persistent connections, buffers, modules and WebAdmin, on a volume you own.

Always Connected
ZNC stays on your networks while clients disconnect, and replays what you missed.
WebAdmin Console
Manage users, networks, modules and buffers from a browser on your HTTPS domain.
Per-User Networks
Each ZNC user keeps their own networks and settings.
TLS IRC Listener
Clients connect over TLS to an allocated public port with ZNC's own certificate.
Admin Created Once
The generated credentials initialise the administrator only on an empty volume; later changes in WebAdmin persist.
One Data Volume
Configuration, users, password hashes, certificate, networks, modules and buffers live on znc_data.

Everything You Need To Run Your IRC Bouncer 24/7

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

ZNC 1.10.2 deployed instantly
Official pinned image digest
Administrator initialised 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 ZNC

Never miss a message on IRC
Keep your nick online on every network you use, so conversations while you sleep or travel are waiting in your buffers when a client reconnects.
Share one bouncer with a small group
Give each person their own ZNC user with separate networks and settings, managed from WebAdmin, on one server you control.
Switch between clients freely
Connect a desktop client, a phone and a web client to the same bouncer in turn, always seeing the same networks and channels.
Keep IRC logs on your own server
Retained buffers, configuration and modules sit on the znc_data volume on your Cloud VPS, so your history is under your control and covered by your backups.

ZNC vs Alternatives

IRCCloud: If you are weighing IRCCloud, ZNC is the self-hosted route: connections, buffers and users stay on your own Cloud VPS, under the Apache License 2.0.
Convos: Convos has its own xCloud page and is a browser-based IRC client that keeps accounts, connections and chat history on the server. ZNC is a bouncer that you connect your own IRC clients to.
Soju: Soju has no OneClick page here. ZNC's template gives you a WebAdmin console, a TLS client listener and one data volume, with the administrator initialised at install.
Running ZNC on a home machine: A bouncer on a home machine goes offline when the machine does. A Cloud VPS keeps ZNC reachable, with WebAdmin behind HTTPS and the IRC listener on its own port.

Simple Pricing. Everything Included.

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

Cloud VPS 6 GB

Cloud VPS 16 GB

More headroom for many users and large retained buffers.

$59.99per month

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

Get started

Cloud VPS 24 GB

ZNC next to Zulip and Roundcube on one communication 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.

Docker hosting

Already Have a Server? Bring Your Own

Connect any VPS — DigitalOcean, Vultr, Linode, AWS, Hetzner or bare metal — and deploy ZNC 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 IRC Bouncer?

ZNC 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.

What is ZNC used for?

ZNC is used to stay connected to IRC. The bouncer holds your connections to one or more networks around the clock and keeps the messages you missed in buffers, so your clients can disconnect and reconnect and still see them. You manage users, networks and modules from the WebAdmin console in a browser.

Is ZNC free and open source?

Yes. ZNC is open source under the Apache License 2.0, so there is no licence fee for the bouncer. xCloud's price covers the dedicated Cloud VPS that runs it and the deployment around it. The template uses the ZNC Docker Official Image at 1.10.2, so the bouncer you run is the upstream build.

Can you self-host ZNC with Docker?

Yes. For ZNC Docker hosting the template runs the official znc 1.10.2 image, pinned by digest, as one container with the znc_data volume, publishes WebAdmin over HTTPS and opens a TLS IRC listener on its own allocated port. Nobody writes a compose file or generates a certificate by hand.

How much RAM does ZNC need?

The template manifest asks for 512 MB of RAM, 1 CPU core and 2 GB of disk. The 6 GB Cloud VPS sold here leaves headroom above that floor; upstream notes that raising the per-channel buffer size can greatly increase memory use when hosting many users. Disk use grows with retained buffers and any log modules you enable.

What ports does ZNC use?

WebAdmin uses container port 8080 behind HTTPS on your domain. IRC clients use a separate TLS listener on container port 6697, published on its own allocated high port that is shown in your credentials. That port is publicly reachable, so restrict it in your server firewall to the addresses you actually connect from.

Configure firewall management

How do I connect an IRC client to ZNC?

Sign in to WebAdmin and add an IRC network, then point your IRC client at the server address and TLS port shown in your credentials, with TLS enabled. Authenticate with the administrator username and password. The client will see ZNC's own certificate, so accept or trust it the first time.

How do I back up ZNC?

A ZNC backup is the complete znc_data volume, taken while ZNC is stopped. It holds the configuration, users, password hashes, TLS certificate, network definitions, modules and retained buffers, so treat the copy as secret. Restore the whole volume together, keep it off-server and test a restore first.

Back up and restore Docker apps

How do I upgrade ZNC?

The pinned 1.10.2 image does not move by itself. Read the upstream release notes, stop ZNC and copy the whole znc_data volume, then choose a later template version. Rolling back means the earlier image digest paired with the matching volume backup, never a newer volume under an older image.

What are ZNC modules?

Modules are ZNC's extension mechanism. WebAdmin lists the modules available to each user, and upstream documents how to write your own, with optional Perl and Python support. Modules and their data live in the znc_data volume, so they survive restarts and are included in a volume backup.

Can I change the administrator password later?

Yes. The generated password initialises the administrator only when the volume is empty. A password or setting you change later in WebAdmin is kept across restarts and redeployments, and is never reset from the environment. Choose a strong password at install, since WebAdmin and the IRC listener use the same account.

Can I run ZNC in the cloud on xCloud?

Yes. Under ZNC cloud use, xCloud provisions a dedicated Cloud VPS, runs the bouncer on it and attaches your domain and certificate for WebAdmin. The IRC listener sits on its own allocated port. A VPS you rent from another provider can be attached as a self-managed server.

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.