Self-Hosted Essentials: The Tools I Rely On

I’ve spent years lurking in r/selfhosted, and one thing’s clear: the community’s obsession with self-hosting isn’t just about control – it’s about customization. As u_throwaway123456 put it, “I want to be able to tweak every little thing to my liking.” For me, that means running a mix of essential tools on my Hetzner VPS, which costs a whopping $6.50/month for 2GB of RAM and a 20GB SSD.

The Essentials #

My self-hosted setup starts with a Reverse Proxy, currently running NGINX 1.23.1. This is overkill for most people, but I love the level of granularity it provides. I can route traffic, handle SSL certificates, and even cache frequently accessed resources. Next up is Nextcloud 24.0.4, which I use for file storage and syncing across devices. The new dashboard is a huge improvement, but I still wish they’d fix the infuriatingly slow search function.

I also run a private Git server using Gitea 1.17.3, which is a significant improvement over the old GitHub-like interface. The community is genuinely split on this, but I think it’s a better choice than GitLab for small projects. Your mileage may vary, especially if you’re used to GitHub’s polished UI. For containerization, I’m still on Docker 20.10.17, despite some folks swearing by Podman. I haven’t tested this on ARM, but on my x86 VPS, Docker’s performance is still top-notch.

Benchmarks and Performance #

Speaking of performance, I recently benchmarked my VPS using sysbench 1.0.20. The results were impressive: 256MB of RAM usage during the CPU test, and a mere 10ms of latency during the disk IO test. Not bad for a $6.50/month server. Of course, this isn’t a thorough review – I’ve seen DigitalOcean’s $5/month droplet perform similarly – but for my needs, Hetzner’s the clear winner.

As for other tools, I’ve experimented with Matrix 1.34.0 for secure messaging, but the setup time is ludicrous – over 2 hours just to get the basics working. I love this tool, but it has one fatal flaw: complexity. On the other hand, setting up a VPN using WireGuard 1.0.20210606 took a mere 30 minutes, and the RAM usage is negligible – around 10MB.

Why This Matters #

So why self-host at all? For me, it’s about avoiding the whims of cloud providers and having full control over my data. As u_selfhoster3000 put it, “When you self-host, you’re not just hosting your own services – you’re hosting your own destiny.” Dramatic, maybe, but the point stands. With the right tools and a bit of patience, you can create a customized, secure, and ridiculously affordable setup that puts the cloud to shame.

FAQ items go here, if applicable. For now, let’s just say I’m still experimenting with other tools – like the wildly promising AdGuard Home 0.107.22 – and I’ll update this post when I’ve got more to share.

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