Who ever said this was about money?!
Yeah…um…no? I run a dozen different services on a $200 mini pc without issue.
Yeah same, I would like to know what are the 40+ services the writer is using.
My Server idles at 80w 😭 But at least I’m in control and it’s so fun and interesting
I’ve never heard of anyone approaching the topic to save money. It’s either privacy/ownership or just goofing around with old hardware
I mean, saving subscription costs is one draw for me personally, but at that point it’s a matter of making up my hardware investment cost versus the subscription costs over time. This isn’t an instant money saver, and it never was.
also:
-
I hate jumping around between apps to figure out what i want to watch.
-
media consolidation is a shitshow and I refuse to give any more money to the industry, especially regressive propaganda machine Fox Corp.
-
Also if all of the hardware is recycled that seems like an easy way to avoid paying anything at all
It’s going take me roughly 8 months to break even on the savings from subscription.
Assuming I value my time at -10 dollars a month…
Sounds like something a hosting service would say.
In theory, a SaaS offering should have economies of scale and should be cheaper than self-hosting, especially if you put a monetary value on the time you spend maintaining your own server(s). However, number must go up, so this may not be the case.
There are a few other factors that may come into play that make self-hosting the more economically favorable option:
- Repurposing old hardware you already own instead of buying new
- Learning skills that lead to a higher-paying job
- Sailing the high seas instead of paying for media
What a stupid article.
For real, this almost turned into one of those sarcastic “You better not self-host unless you are some goober that loves privacy, because it’ll take up so much of your time enjoying all the things you self-host!” articles. But committed to just this one guy’s experience with no limits and paying for things as a solution.
I self-host on a laptop I was about to get rid of. It costs nothing. I bought an external HD for immich, which I needed anyway.
Fine. Don’t do it to save money. Do it because we are sick and tired of outsourcing everything to a damn subscription and owning and controlling nothing in our lives anymore.
Exactly — money is not the only cost nor benefit. It’s fun, it gives me control, it’s not going to get acquired and trashed, etc.
I’ve actually start branching out now since i have a reliable stack. Docker apps are great and fun to configure (less than have the time). So many things I can do with a computer. I found Stash last month and its been crazy how it improved my workflow
Can confirm … it will be a couple of decades until I recuperated my hardware costs by not paying certain subscriptions. Still worth it.
Speaking of data storage, I’d be happy with tape backups. How did that become unaffordable technology?
Well, but if you do it together with pirating media it does save you quite a bit actually. And since you are doing it for training your local AI models it is obviously not illegal anymore either.
@FridaVanMercury @jandoenermann ah HAH
Also self-hosting doesn’t actually make you more attractive, and the people who promise it does are lying.
As with most other things, it depends on who or what you’re trying to attract. If you’re trying to attract cats, giving them a nice warm server to sleep on is always a plus.
Wait WHAT
It’s ok, babe, I þink it makes you more sexy
Boooooo
I self host using a laptop that has a broken screen and uses 10watts of power.
The only cost was replacing the main drive that died after a few years and it was $80.
Pretty sure it is saving me money, since the laptop would have been e-waste otherwise.
For me it’s about ownership and control. The things I really need (mail server, webserver for my own purposes) can really run on a raspberry pi. Done that for years.
Today it’s proxmox on a lenovo thinkcenter M710. One VM internet facing, one VM internal only (like home automation, nagios4 core, syslog to psql + grafana) way cheaper than a vps in the cloud.
I’d like to know which non self-hosted service they’re recommending that can serve files to my classic Mac collection for less than my $200 mini pc.
Or which VPS they recommend that would have taught my kids how to set up services and repair/select hardware.
Unless you’re purely a technology consumer, starting off with self-hosting is the only way to learn all the skills you need to determine what needs to be self-hosted, what needs a VPS, and what needs to sit on someone else’s technology stack.
Realistically, self-hosting has cost me around $150/year for the past 20 years. But that money has provided services and experience that either isn’t available or is MUCH more expensive to do any other way.
Generally the costs in self hosting are in paying for lessons learned as you make mistakes and have to pivot (hardware selection, software gaffes, etc.) and time. But those are costs that are easily recouped through personal development over time.
Haha, thank GOD it’s not about saving money!
It’s the principal of the matter. Plus, my data, my decisions, my control & ability to easily manage, my privacy, my ability to swap platforms, my managing costs without surprise subscription increases or ToS I won’t read, and my learning of new systems, software, code, etc. OH and my ability to say FUCK YOU to big tech.
There’s way more benefit than convenience of “cloud”.











