Pre-installed Owncast with hosting providers

Some service providers offer 1-click-install options for Owncast where you can get up and running without manually installing the software yourself.

Follow your hosting provider's instructions

Follow the instructions from your chosen hosting provider to get started, as each will have their own specific process. The Owncast project will generally not be able to support issues specific to your hosting provider, so please reach out to their support if you have any issues.

What you need

1. A domain name and access to your DNS settings. This is required for supporting SSL.
2. An account with a hosting provider that supports automatic Owncast installs.

Some known providers

• DigitalOcean
• Elestio. They are fully managed, meaning they handle updates, backups, etc.
• Hetzner
• Linode/Akamai

Some of these providers may offer free credits for new accounts, or give credit to Owncast for referrals.

Setting up DNS

1. Login to your DNS provider.
2. Add an "A Record" pointing to the new server your hosting provider created, and the hostname you wish to use for Owncast.
3. Wait approximately 5 minutes, but it may take longer depending on your DNS provider.
4. When http://your_new_server:8080 in your browser loads then your install is complete.
5. You may need to reboot your new server so the SSL proxy starts, depending on your hosting provider.

The admin interface can be found by navigating to /admin on your Owncast server (e.g., https://owncast.example.com/admin).

Configuring your broadcasting software to stream to your Owncast server requires you to use the /live endpoint along with providing the stream key. (e.g., rtmp://owncast.example.com/live with stream key abc123). If your software does not allow specifying the stream key separately, you may need to append it to the URL as rtmp://owncast.example.com/live/abc123.

Default credentials

Default	Value
Admin username	admin
Admin password	abc123
Stream key	abc123

These are the default credentials for logging into the Owncast admin interface and streaming to your Owncast server. It is highly recommended that you change these values immediately after your first login to ensure the security of your server.

Next steps

1. Point your broadcasting software at your new server using rtmp://yourserver/live with your stream key. If your software doesn't have a way to specify a stream key use the url rtmp://yourserver/live/streamkey and use your stream key instead.
2. Access your server in your web browser by visiting http://yourserver:8080.
3. You can visit the Admin dashboard at http://yourserver:8080/admin where you can check visitor and server stats, change your stream key, personalize the content displayed on your page, and more. To login, use admin and the stream key as the password.

Note: Your stream key is only used by your streaming software to publish video; it is not your admin password.