🚀 Skip the Linux, certs, and config — your TAK server is ready in under 15 minutes. Deploy with TAKGRID →
TAKGRID — Guide
What Is a TAK Server?
A plain-language breakdown of TAK Server — what it does, how ATAK, WinTAK, and iTAK connect to it, and what it actually takes to stand one up.
TAK stands for Team Awareness Kit — a suite of software developed for situational awareness, originally for military use and now widely deployed across emergency response, search and rescue, public safety, and civilian teams. ATAK (Android), WinTAK (Windows), and iTAK (iOS) are the apps people actually use — showing maps, GPS positions, markers, and messages.
These apps can share data directly over multicast or radio networks in the field, but the most common and reliable setup is a TAK Server — a centralized hub that connects every device on the network. The server receives a position update from one device and relays it to everyone else who should see it. Same for markers, chat messages, and data packages. It's what lets a team stay synced over the internet, not just within radio range of each other.
TAK Server is free and open source, maintained by the TAK Product Center. Anyone can download it and run it. The catch is everything around it — the server it runs on, the certificates that secure it, the networking that makes it reachable, and the configuration that makes it actually usable.
You'll often see this same backend called an ATAK server — since ATAK is the most widely used client, people tend to name the server after it. Whether you call it a TAK server or an ATAK server, it's the same piece of infrastructure: one backend serving ATAK, WinTAK, and iTAK alike.
Core Functions
What a TAK server actually does
01
CoT Routing & Storage
Every position, marker, and message is sent as a Cursor-on-Target (CoT) event. The server routes these to everyone else on the network in real time, and stores them in a database so history, tracks, and missions persist.
02
User & Certificate Management
TAK Server is TLS-only by design. It issues and manages the client certificates that authenticate every connected device, and controls who is allowed to connect — and what they can see.
03
Data Package Hosting
Maps, certificates, mission packages, and configuration files are distributed as zipped data packages — hosted and served by the server itself.
Server Types
Which TAK server should you run?
In simple terms, a TAK server is just software that distributes CoT (Cursor-on-Target) messages between connected users. A handful of implementations exist, each with different goals, dependencies, and levels of feature completeness.
GOTS TAK Server
tak.gov
The official Government Off-The-Shelf server from the TAK Product Center — the most feature-complete option, and what TAKGRID provisions.
OpenTAKServer
docs.opentakserver.io
An open-source, Python-based alternative built to be lighter to install and run on modest hardware like a Raspberry Pi.
Taky
github.com/tkuester/taky
A minimal, single-file Python server for quick setup and testing — no database required.
OpenTAKRouter
github.com/darkplusplus/opentakrouter
A lightweight CoT router for relaying traffic between clients in larger or federated deployments.
The Problem
This is what setup actually looks like
In practice, standing up a TAK server means a terminal, a Linux distro, and a long list of commands or installation scripts — package updates, dependency installs, firewall rules, certificate generation.
If you don't already know Linux, this is where most attempts stall. And even if you do, it's still a half-day (at best) of careful, sequential work before the first client can connect.
The problem has never been whether to run your own server. It's been the setup.
01
Provision a server
A VPS or dedicated box, hardened, with the right ports open.
02
Domain & DNS
Point a domain at the server so clients can reliably reconnect.
03
Install TAK Server
Java, PostgreSQL/PostGIS, and the server package itself.
04
Build a CA
Root CA, intermediate CA, server and admin certs, wired into TLS.
05
Users, certs & groups
An account, cert, and data package per member, segmented into groups.
06
Extras & maintenance
Video, chat, federation — plus ongoing renewals and updates.
The TAKGRID Way
Same server. None of the setup.
TAKGRID runs the same official GOTS TAK Server described above — no shortcut version, no clone. What changes is everything around it: provisioning, domain and DNS, certificate authority, user and group setup, and every add-on are handled automatically.
Sign up, and in about 15 minutes you have a working TAK server with a domain, valid certificates, and your first user ready to connect from ATAK, WinTAK, or iTAK. Adding teammates is a few clicks — no manual certs, no data packages built by hand.
The infrastructure work that normally takes a day — or gets put off entirely — is just done.
Dedicated servers from
Or run on shared compute resources from $19/mo with the Scout plan — full GOTS TAK Server, LDAP, and certs included.
- Full GOTS TAK Server — every feature
- Domain, valid certs & CA, fully provisioned
- CloudTAK, Mumble, Node-RED, MediaMTX
- XMPP chat server built in
- LDAP user & group management
- Online and ready in under 15 minutes
The Comparison
Self-Hosted vs TAKGRID
Self-Hosted
TAKGRID
Cost
Self-Hosted
TAK Server itself is free and open source. But you're paying for a VPS or hardware, a domain, and the hours it takes to configure and maintain it — every month.
TAKGRID
One flat monthly price covers the server, domain, valid certificates, and ongoing maintenance — fully configured from day one.
Setup Process
Self-Hosted
Install Java and PostgreSQL/PostGIS, generate a certificate authority by hand, configure TLS, then create users, groups, and data packages one by one — all from the command line.
TAKGRID
Sign up and the server, certificates, users, and groups are provisioned automatically. Add teammates in a few clicks from the dashboard.
Time to First Connection
Self-Hosted
A few hours to a full day for someone experienced with Linux and TAK — longer with video, chat, or federation added on top.
TAKGRID
Under 15 minutes from signup to a working server with your first user ready to connect.
Skills Required
Self-Hosted
Comfort with Linux, networking, firewalls, and certificate management. This is where most self-hosted attempts stall out.
TAKGRID
None. No CLI, no Linux experience needed — just an account.
Domain & Certificates
Self-Hosted
You register a domain, point DNS, and build your own certificate authority — then keep certs renewed before they expire.
TAKGRID
A domain and valid, pre-configured certificates are included and renewed automatically.
Extras (Video, Chat, Federation)
Self-Hosted
Each one — video feeds, XMPP chat, federation — is a separate service you install, configure, and secure yourself.
TAKGRID
CloudTAK, Mumble, Node-RED, MediaMTX, and XMPP chat all ship pre-wired, no extra setup.
Ongoing Maintenance
Self-Hosted
You're responsible for updates, certificate renewals, uptime monitoring, and troubleshooting — indefinitely.
TAKGRID
Infrastructure, updates, and uptime are managed for you. Your time stays on the mission.
Get Started Today
Your team deserves mission-ready infrastructure
Deploy your first server in under 15 minutes and get your team operational on TAKGRID today.
Deploy Now