Self-Hosting Guides
Hands-on guides to running your own software. 30 posts.
12 Self-Hosting Mistakes Everyone Makes Once
Twelve self-hosting mistakes everyone makes once — untested backups, exposed dashboards, DNS single points of failure — and the cheap fix for each one.
Self-Hosting GuidesUpdating Containers Without Starting Fires
A container update strategy that survives contact — version pinning, Renovate PRs, what Watchtower can safely auto-update, and rollback plans that work.
Self-Hosting GuidesPostgres for Everything: One Database to Back Your Homelab
Why one shared Postgres beats five app-bundled containers, when per-app instances still win, and the backup and upgrade routines that actually restore.
Self-Hosting GuidesSelf-Hosted Status Pages That Calm People Down
Uptime Kuma vs Gatus for self-hosted status pages, why the page must live off your own infrastructure, and incident notes that stop the messages.
Self-Hosting GuidesSSO for Your Homelab: Authentik vs Authelia
Authelia vs Authentik for homelab SSO — forward-auth vs OIDC, RAM footprints, passkey support, and the recovery planning that prevents total lockout.
Self-Hosting GuidesA Complete Self-Hosted AI Stack: Ollama, Open WebUI, Whisper
Ollama, Open WebUI, and faster-whisper in one compose file — GPU passthrough, model sizing per VRAM tier, and speech-to-text that never leaves your LAN.
Self-Hosting GuidesNextcloud vs Syncthing: Different Tools, Same Anxiety
Syncthing replicates, Nextcloud serves. How each handles conflicts, what they cost in RAM and maintenance, and the two-tool setup that ends file anxiety.
Self-Hosting GuidesImmich vs PhotoPrism: The 2026 Verdict
Immich vs PhotoPrism compared on mobile backup, ML search, performance on big libraries, and project sustainability — with a clear 2026 verdict.
Self-Hosting GuidesDitching Google Analytics: Plausible, Umami, or Matomo
Plausible, Umami, and Matomo compared on features, RAM, and script weight — plus GA4 migration paths and why the cookie banner finally goes away.
Self-Hosting GuidesProxmox, Docker, or Both? Picking Your Virtualisation Layer
When plain Docker on Debian is enough, when Proxmox earns its keep, and the VM-plus-LXC layout most homelabs converge on. A decision tree with numbers.
Self-Hosting GuidesRaspberry Pi vs Used Mini PC: Where to Run Your Homelab
The 2026 price, performance, and power math on a Raspberry Pi 5 vs a used mini PC — why the ThinkCentre wins the homelab and the Pi keeps the appliances.
Self-Hosting GuidesYour Own Spotify: Navidrome and the Subsonic Ecosystem
Turn a tagged music folder into your own streaming service with Navidrome — Picard tagging, the best Subsonic clients per platform, smart playlists, scrobbling.
Self-Hosting GuidesRSS Isn't Dead: FreshRSS, Miniflux, and Reclaiming Your Feed
Miniflux vs FreshRSS for self-hosted RSS in 2026 — five-minute setup, filters that cut the noise, full-text extraction, and the mobile clients worth using.
Self-Hosting GuidesThe *arr Stack Explained Like You're New Here
How Sonarr, Radarr, Prowlarr, and Jellyseerr actually connect, the folder layout that makes hardlinks work, and quality profiles minus the rabbit hole.
Self-Hosting GuidesNotes You Own: Joplin, Trilium, and Obsidian Sync Alternatives
Joplin, Trilium, and Obsidian LiveSync compared — sync architectures, encryption, mobile apps, and the export paths that keep your notes yours.
Self-Hosting GuidesGoing Paperless With Paperless-ngx
Paperless-ngx from scanner to searchable archive — consume-folder workflow, OCR settings, a tagging taxonomy that survives, and exporter backups.
Self-Hosting GuidesSelf-Hosted Git: Gitea, Forgejo, or GitLab?
Gitea, Forgejo, and GitLab compared for self-hosting — RAM footprints, Actions-compatible CI, GitHub migration paths, and a clear default pick.
Self-Hosting GuidesRemote Access Three Ways: WireGuard, Tailscale, Cloudflare Tunnel
WireGuard, Tailscale, and Cloudflare Tunnel compared — threat models, NAT traversal, and real performance, plus which remote access fits your homelab.
Self-Hosting GuidesNetwork-Wide Ad Blocking: Pi-hole vs AdGuard Home
Pi-hole vs AdGuard Home in 2026 — encrypted DNS, per-client filtering, DHCP, and family controls compared, plus which to install on a new network.
Self-Hosting GuidesMonitoring Your Homelab: From Uptime Kuma to Full Observability
Homelab monitoring in three tiers — Uptime Kuma running off-box, Prometheus and Grafana when you need the why, and alert rules that never cry wolf.
Self-Hosting GuidesThe 3-2-1 Backup Strategy for Self-Hosters
The 3-2-1 backup strategy applied to a homelab — restic and Borg patterns, off-site storage from $1/month, database dumps, and restore drills.
Self-Hosting GuidesSelf-Hosted Email: An Honest Assessment
Self-hosted email honestly assessed — why receiving is easy, sending is brutal, and how a mailcow-plus-relay hybrid keeps control without lost mail.
Self-Hosting GuidesHome Assistant: Your First Month, Mapped
Your first month with Home Assistant, week by week — HAOS install, a $25 Zigbee dongle, three automations that stick, and avoiding YAML burnout.
Self-Hosting GuidesSelf-Hosting Your Passwords With Vaultwarden
Self-host your passwords with Vaultwarden — the honest threat model, a hardened Docker setup, nightly SQLite backups, and emergency access planning.
Self-Hosting GuidesMaking Nextcloud Fast: A Performance Tuning Guide
Nextcloud performance tuning that works — Redis locking, OPcache, Postgres, and pregenerated previews cut page loads from 2s to under 500ms.
Self-Hosting GuidesJellyfin: The Complete Setup Guide
Jellyfin setup from zero — Quick Sync transcoding hardware, library naming the scanner parses, clients that direct play, and safe remote access.
Self-Hosting GuidesLeaving Google Photos: Immich in Practice
How to leave Google Photos for Immich — Takeout migration with immich-go, hardware sizing, ML search, and the mobile backup realities nobody mentions.
Self-Hosting GuidesCaddy vs Nginx vs Traefik: Choosing Your Reverse Proxy
Caddy, Nginx, and Traefik compared for self-hosters — automatic TLS, config effort, Docker integration, RAM use, and which reverse proxy to pick.
Self-Hosting GuidesDocker Compose Patterns for a Sane Homelab
One stack per service, a shared proxy network, env files done right, and pinned tags. Compose patterns that keep a 30-container homelab boring.
Self-Hosting GuidesSelf-Hosting 101: Your First Server, Start to Finish
The complete beginner path — what hardware to buy, which OS to install, your first three apps in Docker, and the backup habit that saves you later.