Self-Hosting PandaCrawl

PandaCrawl is free and open source. Self-hosting means the app costs $0. You bring your own DataForSEO API key and pay DataForSEO directly for API usage.

There are two self-hosting paths:

• Simple: Docker, recommended for personal use on your own machine. Easiest way to get started.
• Advanced: Cloudflare, for internet-facing self-hosting across multiple devices or with your team. A SaaS-like experience with automatic database backups, and it works on Cloudflare's free plan. Slightly more setup if you're unfamiliar with Cloudflare.

DataForSEO API key setup

PandaCrawl uses DataForSEO to fetch SEO data. DataForSEO is a paid third-party service unaffiliated with PandaCrawl. You need an API key to connect PandaCrawl to it.

1. Go to DataForSEO API Access.
2. Click "Send by email" to get your credentials.
3. Copy the longer credentials labelled "Base64" credentials.
4. Set this as DATAFORSEO_API_KEY in your environment:
   • Docker: .env
   • Cloudflare: as a Worker secret in the dashboard
   • Local development: .env.local

New DataForSEO accounts include $1 of free credit to test with, and the minimum top-up is $50. See pricing to estimate what your own data would cost. Self-hosted and hosted cost the same to run: both bill DataForSEO directly on your own account, and neither adds a fee on top.

Optional features

Google Search Console

Search Console is optional and works in self-hosted deployments using your own Google OAuth client. It takes about 10 minutes of one-time setup. See the Google Search Console guide on GitHub.

AI features (Panda)

AI features like Panda, the in-app SEO agent, are optional. Set the OPENROUTER_API_KEY environment variable to enable them. Create a key at openrouter.ai/settings/keys.