Owncast
Own your Twitch channel: single-binary live streaming + chat.
Owncast is an open-source, self-hosted live streaming and chat platform that gives a creator complete control over their broadcast, audience, and moderation. It ships as a single Go binary with a built-in web player, real-time chat, and an admin dashboard, and it works with any RTMP encoder like OBS or Streamlabs.
Key features
- All-in-one live video streaming plus real-time chat in one binary
- Works with standard RTMP encoders (OBS, Streamlabs, Restream, and others)
- HLS output that plays in any modern browser, no plugins needed
- Web-based admin dashboard for configuration, moderation, and stats
- Full ownership of branding, interface, chat, and audience data
- ActivityPub and Fediverse federation to notify followers when you go live
- Self-hosted and privacy-respecting, with no third-party dependency
- Easy to run: single binary or container, minimal setup
Use cases
- Independent creators running their own Twitch or YouTube-style channel
- Communities and organizations hosting private or branded live events
- Federated streaming that plugs into Mastodon and the Fediverse
- Self-hosted streaming where content ownership and privacy matter
Why run it on the NetActuate edge Hosting Owncast in a PoP near your viewers shortens the HLS delivery path, lowering latency and rebuffering for a smoother watch. An edge location close to your encoder tightens the RTMP ingest hop, keeping the broadcast stable before it reaches the audience.
Frequently asked questions
How do I deploy Owncast on NetActuate?
Use the Deploy on NetActuate button to talk to our team. We provision Owncast on a NetActuate virtual machine in the point of presence you choose, close to your audience. Each deployment runs in the single location you select.
What does it cost to run Owncast?
Owncast is open-source software and free to run on the marketplace - you pay only for the NetActuate compute (virtual-machine size and location) it runs on, at standard rates. There are no usage-based software fees.
Where can Owncast run?
Owncast can be deployed in any of NetActuate's 45+ points of presence across every continent, so you can place ingest, transcode, delivery and caching close to your contributors and viewers.
Who supports Owncast?
NetActuate operates and supports the underlying infrastructure - the virtual machine, network and edge platform. The application itself is supported by its upstream open-source project.
.png){kind=icon}
.png)
