Self-hosting basics: what it means and whether it’s for you
Self-hosting is when you run an app or service yourself instead of paying a hosted provider. Your data lives on hardware you control, and you access it over your home network (and sometimes the internet).
It sounds hardcore, but it doesn’t have to be. Self-hosting can be as small as one app on a spare computer, or as big as a home lab with monitoring and battery backup.
What self-hosting actually means
At the simplest level, self-hosting is running software on a machine you administer (a NAS, a Raspberry Pi, an always-on desktop, or even a rented VPS).
The key difference is who operates the service. With a typical “hosted app,” the vendor runs the servers, handles updates, and controls most of the knobs. With self-hosting, you’re the operator: you install it, update it, back it up, and fix it when it breaks.
If you want a formal definition, Wikipedia’s overview is a solid reference: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Self-hosting_(web_services)
What you gain (and what you take on)
People self-host for a few recurring reasons:
- Control. You decide where the data lives, how it’s organized, and what features you want. This is useful if you’re tired of services changing UI or removing features.
- Flexibility. You’re not locked into one company’s roadmap.
- Cost (sometimes). It can be cheaper long-term if you already have hardware, but it isn’t automatically “free.”
The tradeoff: you become your own support desk. Updates, backups, occasional debugging, and basic security all land on you.
The biggest decision: local-only vs. remote access
Most self-hosting mistakes happen when people jump straight to “I want to access this from anywhere,” without thinking through what that implies.
There are three common models:
1) Local-only (lowest risk, lowest hassle)
Your service is only reachable on your home WiFi. For a lot of things (media servers, home dashboards, local backups), that’s enough. It’s also the easiest way to learn.
2) Remote access via VPN (often the sweet spot)
A VPN lets your phone or laptop “join” your home network securely from the outside. You’re not publishing the app to the whole internet; you’re giving yourself a private tunnel back home.
This is often the best first step if you want remote access but don’t need shareable public links.
3) Publishing services to the internet (highest convenience, highest responsibility)
This is the model where you can send someone a link like https://photos.yourdomain.com and it works anywhere.
It can be totally reasonable, but it demands more care:
- strong authentication (and ideally multi-factor)
- fast updates
- good passwords
- careful choices about what you expose
Many setups use a reverse proxy as the “front door” for one or more services, so you can handle HTTPS and routing in one place. If you want the plain-English version, see: /post/what-is-a-reverse-proxy/
Let’s Encrypt is the common source of free HTTPS certificates: https://letsencrypt.org/
What beginners usually underestimate
If you’re trying to decide whether this hobby fits your life, these are the rough edges worth knowing up front.
Backups are the whole game
Self-hosting is not a backup plan by itself. If your server dies and you don’t have backups, you didn’t “own your data,” you just moved your risk into your house.
Before you get fancy, know what you’re backing up, where it goes (ideally somewhere else), and whether you can actually restore it.
Home internet isn’t designed to be a data center
This depends on your ISP and your hardware, but common issues include power outages, router weirdness, changing IP addresses (dynamic IP), and limited upload speeds.
None of these are dealbreakers. They just mean “always on” at home looks different from “always on” in a data center.
“Just open a port” is how people get burned
Port forwarding can work, but it’s also the moment your hobby meets the real internet. If you publish a service with a weak login, a known vulnerability, or a sloppy configuration, it can get scanned and attacked quickly.
If you only remember one security guideline, make it this: start with the least exposure that meets your needs.
A beginner-friendly way to try self-hosting (without going all in)
If you’re curious, you don’t need to redesign your whole digital life. You can test the waters in a weekend.
- Pick one low-stakes service. Choose something you can live without for a day, like a personal wiki, a read-it-later server, or a small media library.
- Run it locally first. Get comfortable accessing it from another device on your home network.
- Write down how it works. A tiny “ops note” helps later: where it runs, how to update it, and what credentials it needs.
- Set up backups early. Even a basic backup is better than none, and it forces you to learn where the data actually lives.
- Only then decide on remote access. If you need it, start with VPN-style access before you publish anything publicly.
This approach keeps the stakes low and teaches you the skills that actually matter.
So, is self-hosting for you?
Self-hosting is probably a good fit if:
- you enjoy tinkering and learning by doing
- you want more control over your data and your workflows
- you’re willing to treat updates and backups as part of the project
It’s probably not worth the hassle (right now) if:
- you need “it just works” reliability and you don’t want to be on call
- you travel constantly and rely on remote access for everything
- you’re already stretched thin and tech maintenance feels like a burden
One last framing that helps: self-hosting isn’t a moral upgrade. It’s a trade. If the trade gets you control and flexibility you actually care about, it’s great. If it mostly buys you chores, it’s fine to keep paying someone else to run the servers.