Owncast

Owncast is a free and open-source self-hosted live streaming and chat server with over 11,000 GitHub stars, built to give creators and communities a platform-independent alternative to Twitch, YouTube Live, and similar services. It runs on your own VPS, accepts RTMP video from standard broadcasting software, and serves the stream and live chat to viewers through a clean, responsive web interface — with no third-party platform involved.

Common Use Cases

Independent content creators use Owncast to broadcast gaming sessions, tutorials, and live events without platform restrictions on content, monetization, or viewer data. Community organizations run live Q&As, town halls, and educational streams on their own infrastructure while keeping audience data private. Developers and open-source projects host live coding sessions and release streams with full control over chat moderation and archiving. Federated communities broadcast to Fediverse followers on Mastodon and PeerTube without requiring platform accounts, building an audience across decentralized social networks.

Key Features

• RTMP ingestion compatible with OBS, Streamlabs, XSplit, and any standard broadcasting software
• Real-time integrated chat with moderation tools, user banning, and emoji support
• ActivityPub/Fediverse support — stream follows and go-live notifications on Mastodon
• Customizable stream page with logo, name, social links, and offline content
• Stream recording with optional local archive for past broadcasts
• Multiple stream keys for different broadcasters or use cases
• Adaptive bitrate support for viewers on variable connections
• Embeddable video player and chat widget for use on external sites
• Admin dashboard for managing stream settings, viewers, and chat history
• Lightweight single-binary Go application with minimal resource requirements

Why deploy Owncast on Hostinger VPS

Running Owncast on a Hostinger VPS means your live stream is entirely on infrastructure you control, with no platform terms of service, no content restrictions, and no third party between you and your audience. Commercial streaming platforms can suspend accounts, limit quality, or demonetize channels at any time — on your own VPS, those decisions are yours alone. Hostinger VPS instances provide the low-latency network and dedicated bandwidth that live streaming demands, and you can scale compute and storage as your audience grows without changing your streaming setup. Your RTMP endpoint, admin credentials, and all viewer data remain private on your server.