The convenience of the cloud is inarguable, but so too is the risk: By uploading your files, photos, and notes to infrastructure you don’t own and control, their fate under someone else’s control is no longer under your control.
As generative AI takes over more common services while terms of service dance like quicksand beneath our feet, some people are asking a small but consequential question: can I have access to modern tools without outsourcing my data to third-party clouds? The answer is yes—by self-hosting.
- Why self-hosting is back: privacy, control, and cost
- What you’ll need to begin building a private cloud
- Building a private cloud, one step at a time
- Security you can live with for self-hosted services
- Back up without the big cloud using 3-2-1 strategies
- Cost, power, and upkeep for a sustainable home server
Cloud spending is going up, higher and highest—Gartner predicts hundreds of billions in annual public-cloud spend—but organizations and people likewise are finding robustly real digital sovereignty again. Data breaches are still costly; IBM’s latest report on the cost of a data breach puts the average global breach at close to $5 million. Amid all this tumult, self-hosting is about being in control and maintaining privacy while also knowing what you’re going to be paying every month (possibly nothing) and not sacrificing the ability to collaborate or use a mobile device.
This isn’t a fringe trend. Governments and companies are taking so-called “cloud on your terms” approaches: public sector organizations in parts of Germany have turned to Nextcloud to keep citizen data on infrastructure they control. You can do this at home, too.
Why self-hosting is back: privacy, control, and cost
Three forces meet here: privacy, control, and cost. When you run your own services, your documents aren’t being mined for product improvements or to train models, your photo library isn’t a dataset in waiting, and your usage patterns aren’t turned into ad profiles. It also means you select the features, the update cadence, and even in which jurisdiction your data resides — your home.
Security is a feature, not a bug. Misconfiguration is still one of the top risks highlighted by groups like the Cloud Security Alliance and others, though a well-hardened home server behind a VPN would likely present a smaller attack surface than most publicly exposed consumer cloud accounts. The secret is intelligent positioning, not heroics.
What you’ll need to begin building a private cloud
- Hardware: Just a modest mini PC (old Intel NUC, used small-form-factor desktop) or Raspberry Pi 5 + SSD is sufficient. If storage is your concern, a low-power tower case with several drive bays or an old NAS chassis also makes sense.
- OS: Ubuntu Server LTS or Debian are popular, well-documented options. For storage-first builds, look at TrueNAS SCALE with ZFS, snapshots, and easy sharing.
- Networking: Ideally you will want a router that supports VLANs or guest networks, as this will allow you to isolate the server from the rest of your home devices. Consider setting up a WireGuard or Tailscale VPN so that you can access your services remotely without opening dangerous ports to the internet.
Building a private cloud, one step at a time
- Install and update the server: Set up Ubuntu Server, create a non-root user, enable automatic security updates, and have a firewall set up (UFW is good). Use SSH keys, not passwords.
- Buy into protected storage: Rely on mirrored SSDs or HDDs for redundancy. LUKS provides encryption at rest on Linux; on TrueNAS, use ZFS with checksums and snapshots. A small UPS can keep writes clean during quick outages.
- Pick your platform layer: Containers make it easier to manage apps. Install Docker or Podman and deploy services reproducibly with a Compose file. Alternatively, if you’d rather use a package instead, Ubuntu’s Snap for Nextcloud is one-command bliss.
- Launch your core apps: With Nextcloud you can consider files, calendars, contacts/planner, and online document editing. Syncthing is free and open-source software that provides file synchronization directly between devices, with no requirement for files to be uploaded to a central server. For photos, Immich delivers mobile upload and search. Paperless-ngx: Convert scanned, archived documents into searchable archives. Jellyfin handles media streaming. Choose things you would actually use and start small.
- Keep it clean: The reverse proxy (Caddy or Nginx) handles TLS and routes HTTP traffic. For remote access, use VPN-only access instead of a public IP. Use level-appropriate monitoring with Uptime Kuma, and send alerts through email or a messaging app.
Security you can live with for self-hosted services
Reduce the attack surface: never show admin dashboards to the open internet. Use fail2ban on SSH, change ports (even as just a speed bump), and only use keys/VPNs for real security. Regularly patch containers and the base OS on a weekly rhythm. Back up your reverse-proxy and app configs so you can re-deploy fast.
Separation is key — put your server on a separate VLAN, block all inbound traffic from devices that haven’t been trusted by you, and limit what each service can connect to in the outside world.
Keep logs of authentication and examine them — quick, periodic checks beat forensic marathons after the fact.
Back up without the big cloud using 3-2-1 strategies
Follow the 3-2-1 rule: three copies, two types of media, one offsite. On the local side, squash them with ZFS snapshots or filesystem snapshots, and nightly backups. If “offsite” means without a third-party provider, you could stick an encrypted, small backup server at a trusted location (family member, office) and connect to it with WireGuard. Deduplication and encryption are already handled automatically by tools like BorgBackup or Restic.
Test restores. A backup you haven’t restored is a wish, not a plan. You should have quarterly drills to restore a file, then a folder, and finally an entire app stack.
Cost, power, and upkeep for a sustainable home server
A small home server sipping 10–25 watts costs about the same amount as two streaming subscriptions in electricity per year, depending on rates. And hardware can be a one-time cost equivalent to a year or two of premium cloud plans. The ongoing “cost” is attention: maybe an hour a month for updates, snapshots, and checks. In exchange, you get some privacy, long life, and vendor independence.
Self-hosting is not necessarily about rejecting the internet. It’s a matter of deciding where your data lives, who can see it, and how it will be used. How to take your “cloud” files anywhere with a DIY VPN: With an inexpensive box, a little time, and some easy-to-follow instructions, you can keep your files off third-party clouds (not to mention the NSA) while still enjoying anywhere access.