Self-hosted
Why run your own video infrastructure
A hosted video platform rents you a slice of someone else's service: convenient, metered, and theirs. Xtream UI Pro is software you install on servers you control. This page says plainly what that changes, and when it is not the right trade.
Side by side
Hosted platform or your own infrastructure
Seven things that differ in practice. No vendor is named: the hosted column describes the model, not a product.
| Topic | Hosted video platform | Self-hosted with Xtream UI Pro |
|---|---|---|
| Your data | Viewers, catalogue and usage live in the provider's systems; export is what the provider allows. | The database, the media and the keys are on your servers; encrypted backups and an off-site copy are yours to keep. |
| Your viewers | Viewers sign in to the provider's player or portal; the relationship runs through their service. | Viewers sign in to your service with your lines; the player apps and boxes they already own connect to your address. |
| Cost as you grow | Fees typically follow minutes streamed, viewers or bandwidth, so a bigger audience means a bigger bill. | The licence is per plan, not per viewer; what grows is your own server and bandwidth bill, which you choose and can negotiate. |
| Apps and protocols | The provider's player, SDK or embed; set-top boxes and third-party apps when the provider supports them. | The Xtream Codes API, M3U and XMLTV, the MAG and Enigma2 portals, HLS and MPEG-TS, plus a web player: the apps and boxes viewers use today. |
| Partners and resellers | Reselling and delegated accounts depend on the provider's plans and are rarely a first-class feature. | Partner accounts with credits, permissions and dashboards up to five levels deep, the Reseller API, webhooks and ready connectors, in every plan. |
| Operational control | Capacity, regions, maintenance windows and feature changes are decided by the provider. | You enrol nodes where your viewers are, schedule maintenance, read your own metrics and logs, and update when you choose. |
| Content rights | The provider's terms govern what you may distribute, and the provider may act on complaints about your content. | You hold the rights and the responsibility for what you distribute; the software supplies no content and takes no position on it. |
The honest part
When a hosted platform is the better choice
Self-hosting is not free of effort. In these cases a hosted service is usually the right call.
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Nobody to run a server
If no one on the team is comfortable with a Linux server, updates and backups, the installer and the documentation help, but the responsibility is still yours.
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A small or occasional audience
A handful of viewers a month, or one event a year, rarely justifies a server, a domain and the time to keep them healthy.
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Features we do not have
There is no DRM, no built-in single sign-on for viewers and no ad insertion. If your content or your advertisers require them, look elsewhere or ask us first.
What you bring
What a self-hosted service still needs
The software is the infrastructure; these four things come from you.
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Servers and bandwidth
A Linux host for the panel and the origin, and more servers as nodes where your viewers are. The installer sets up the software; the hosting contract is yours.
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Content you have the rights to
Channels, films and recordings you are allowed to distribute, in the territories you serve. The platform ingests and delivers; it does not supply.
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Someone who operates it
Updates, backups, certificates and the occasional alert. The panel shows you what to do; a person still has to do it.
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A plan for your partners
Who sells what, with which credits and limits. The panel enforces the rules; you decide them.
See it on your own server
The Free plan installs in minutes on an Ubuntu server and needs no card. The plans differ by capacity and support, never by ownership.