Answers
Frequently asked questions
The questions we hear most often — licensing, platform support, production use, and the philosophy behind the project.
Is KillTheHost really free?
Yes. KillTheHost is published under the GNU AGPL-3.0. You can run it privately or commercially without paying a license fee. If you offer the software as a network service you must release your modifications under the same license.
Which operating systems are supported?
Ubuntu 22.04+, Debian 12+, and Fedora 38+ are first-class. macOS 13+ (Intel & Apple Silicon) is fully supported. Windows 10/11 is supported through WSL2. Any host that runs a recent Docker engine and Python 3.10+ should work.
Can I use it in production?
Yes, with the same caveats as any single-host platform. KillTheHost does not currently orchestrate across multiple machines — if you need HA, pair it with Cloudflare Tunnel for load balancing and keep a warm standby. For most indie products and agencies, a single well-provisioned VPS or bare-metal host is more than enough.
Where does my data live?
Every byte — databases, uploads, mailboxes, configs — lives inside the data/ directory on your host. Nothing is proxied through KillTheHost-operated servers. There is no vendor to terminate your account; there is no SaaS control plane to go down.
How do updates work?
Pull the latest release from GitHub and run the launcher. Migrations — if any — run automatically on next boot. Major versions announce breaking changes in the release notes.
Is the panel secure?
The panel binds to 127.0.0.1:5000 by default and is not exposed to the network. When you add authentication (username + password + TOTP) the panel also enforces CSRF, session rotation, and rate limits. Exposing the panel to the public internet is possible but strongly discouraged unless it sits behind a Zero Trust gateway like Cloudflare Access.
How does it compare to cPanel / Plesk?
The surface area is deliberately smaller. KillTheHost focuses on the primitives you actually use every day — runtimes, databases, mail, Docker stacks, DNS, tunnels — without the legacy billing, reseller hierarchies, and plugin marketplaces. It's free, open source, Dockerised, and single-tenant by design.
Can I contribute?
Absolutely. Read the Contributing guide, file an issue, open a PR, or just tell us what's missing on GitHub issues.