Add up what a household pays for cloud photo storage, a media server pass, music streaming, file sync and a camera subscription and it is a decent monthly bill for things a spare computer could do. Self-hosting means running those services yourself, on a mini PC, an old laptop, a Raspberry Pi or a NAS, so the files stay at home and the bill stops.
These are the ten self-hosted apps at the top of our Self-Hosted Apps ranking. Each one is free and open source, each has a Docker install that takes a few minutes, and each has been cloned and scanned for secrets, malicious code and known vulnerabilities before being listed. Where the scan found something you should know, it is in the notes.
1. Immich: replaces Google Photos
Immich (115k stars, AGPL-3.0) is the one that gets people into self-hosting. The iOS and Android apps back up your photos in the background, and the web app gives you the timeline, albums, face grouping, map, memories and search you are used to. The machine learning runs on your own hardware, so nobody else's model ever sees your library.
Know before you install: Immich is a photo manager, not a backup. The project asks you to keep a proper backup of the library and database as well. The scan was clean.
mkdir immich-app && cd immich-app
wget -O docker-compose.yml https://github.com/immich-app/immich/releases/latest/download/docker-compose.yml
wget -O .env https://github.com/immich-app/immich/releases/latest/download/example.env
docker compose up -d2. Jellyfin: replaces Plex Pass
Jellyfin (59k stars, GPL-2.0) streams your own films, shows, music and photos to browsers, phones, smart TVs and Kodi, fetching artwork and transcoding on the fly. Unlike Plex there is no account with a company, no premium tier and no feature behind a pass. Live TV and DVR work with a tuner.
Know before you install: nothing to warn about. A clean scan and a well-run repository. Point it at your media folders and open port 8096.
3. Navidrome: replaces Spotify, for music you own
Navidrome (24k stars, GPL-3.0) turns a folder of MP3 or FLAC files into your own streaming service, with a web player and an API that dozens of Subsonic apps on iPhone and Android already speak. Each user gets playlists, favourites and play counts, and it transcodes to save data on mobile.
Know before you install: it sends an anonymous usage report to the project by default, which a single setting turns off. Otherwise clean.
docker run -d --name navidrome --restart=unless-stopped -v /path/to/music:/music -v /path/to/data:/data -p 4533:4533 deluan/navidrome:latest4. Syncthing: replaces Dropbox
Syncthing (90k stars, MPL-2.0) keeps folders identical across your laptop, desktop, phone and server. There is no central copy: files travel directly between your devices over an encrypted connection, so it is Dropbox without anyone holding your data, and with no storage limit beyond your own disks.
Know before you install: it is sync, not backup. A file deleted on one device disappears everywhere, so turn on file versioning. By default it uses the project's public discovery and relay servers to find your devices and sends crash reports; both can be switched off.
brew install syncthing && brew services start syncthing # macOS or Linux, then open http://127.0.0.1:83845. Home Assistant: replaces every smart-home app you have
Home Assistant (92k stars, Apache-2.0) pulls lights, thermostats, locks, cameras, plugs and media players from different brands into one dashboard and automates them. It talks to devices locally wherever it can, so it keeps working when a vendor's cloud does not, and nothing about your home leaves it.
Know before you install: the official Docker command runs the container privileged with host networking, which device discovery needs but which gives the container wide access. Nothing malicious; every hit in the scan was a format check or a test fixture. For add-ons and one-click updates, install Home Assistant OS on a Raspberry Pi or buy the ready-made Green hub.
6. Paperless-ngx: replaces a filing cabinet
Paperless-ngx (46k stars, GPL-3.0) is the odd one out: it does not replace a subscription, it replaces paper. Scan a letter or drop in a PDF and it runs OCR, stores an archival copy, and tags it by correspondent and type, learning from how you filed the last one. Every bill, contract and warranty becomes searchable.
Know before you install: documents are stored unencrypted, and the project says plainly it should never run on an untrusted host. Keep it on a machine at home, with backups.
7. Uptime Kuma: replaces UptimeRobot
Uptime Kuma (93k stars, MIT) checks your websites, servers, containers and services as often as every 20 seconds and alerts you through more than 90 channels when something goes down. It also publishes a status page. If you run anything else on this list, this is how you find out it has stopped.
Know before you install: the README's Docker command opens port 3001 on every interface. Bind it to localhost until you put it behind a reverse proxy, and do not run it on the server it is monitoring.
docker run -d --restart=always -p 127.0.0.1:3001:3001 -v uptime-kuma:/app/data --name uptime-kuma louislam/uptime-kuma:28. Pi-hole: replaces an ad blocker on every device
Pi-hole (61k stars, EUPL) blocks ads and trackers for your whole network by answering DNS requests for known ad domains with nothing. Point your router at it and every phone, laptop, console and smart TV in the house is covered, including the apps a browser extension cannot reach.
Know before you install: the installer is a curl-into-bash script that re-runs itself with sudo, and the software takes over DNS for your network. Read the script first; the README shows how. It will not block YouTube's in-video ads, which come from the same domains as the videos.
9. Stirling PDF: replaces the online PDF tools
Stirling PDF (93k stars) puts more than fifty PDF operations behind one interface: merge, split, compress, OCR, sign, redact, convert to and from Office formats. The point is that a contract or a scan never gets uploaded to a stranger's website to be merged.
Know before you install: the licence is open core. The free self-hosted plan includes every PDF tool for up to five users; the engine and some modules are proprietary, and business use beyond the free plan needs a paid licence. The Java server has no lockfile, so the scan could not check its dependencies.
docker run -p 8080:8080 docker.stirlingpdf.com/stirlingtools/stirling-pdf10. Frigate: replaces a camera subscription
Frigate (36k stars, MIT) is a recorder for IP cameras that understands what it sees. It runs a cheap motion check and then real object detection, so it alerts on a person or a parcel rather than a leaf, records by event or around the clock, and keeps every frame at home. It is built to plug into Home Assistant.
Know before you install: port 5000 is an unauthenticated internal API; keep it off your network. An AI accelerator or a supported GPU is strongly recommended, and the optional DEEPX driver script runs with sudo on the host.
What you need
- A machine that stays on. A mini PC, an old laptop, a Raspberry Pi 4 or 5, or a NAS. Frigate and Immich's machine learning want more power than Pi-hole and Uptime Kuma, which run on almost anything.
- Docker. Nine of the ten install with one Docker command or a Compose file. Pi-hole prefers a plain Linux install but has an official image too.
- Backups. The services are free; the data is not replaceable. Immich, Paperless-ngx and Syncthing each tell you this themselves. An external drive and a weekly copy is enough to start.
- A way in from outside, eventually. Start on your home network. When you want your photos on holiday, add a VPN such as Tailscale or WireGuard rather than opening ports.
Where to start
Pi-hole or Uptime Kuma, because they take ten minutes and show you what running a service feels like. Then Immich, because it replaces the subscription most people resent paying. Jellyfin and Navidrome come next if you have a media collection; Syncthing if you have more than one computer; Home Assistant and Frigate when you have a weekend.
All ten, and more than 240 other scanned repositories, are in our GitHub Tools section. The No coding needed view keeps to the ones with an installer or a one-line Docker command, and the New this month view shows what we added most recently.
FAQ
Is self-hosting really free?
The software is. You pay for the hardware, the electricity and your own time, and if you use a cloud VPS instead of a home machine, for that. For most households a one-off mini PC costs less than a year of the subscriptions it replaces.
Is it safe to run these at home?
On your home network, yes, and the notes above tell you where each one needs care. The risk comes from exposing a service to the internet. Use a VPN for remote access, keep the containers updated, and run Uptime Kuma so you notice when something breaks.
Which one replaces Netflix?
None of them. Jellyfin streams media you already own; it does not provide any. If you have a shelf of DVDs or a drive of downloads, it is the best way to watch them on every screen in the house.