I love self-hosting a bunch of apps I use, so I don’t have to rely on anyone but my ISP for my digital life. Jellyfin, Immich, forgejo, memos and more.

But I know this isn’t for everyone. I just recently spent about 3 hours doing routine maintenance and fixing an issue (I caused) and I know not everyone is into doing that kind of thing.

I also wonder what it would take to get more people into this self-hosting thing. I.e., to get them off of subscription streaming services, Google, etc…, so they can own their own data, stop feeding the machine and for the general betterment of humanity. What would the world be like if half of all adults self-hosted their own services? Or even 25%?

So, for discussion, is increasing the number of self hosters a good idea? How can we make help that process along?

Edit: Fixed typos

  • @[email protected]OPEnglish
    2•7 months ago

    Yes! I think my question is: Is there a reason for a business to ever take on that hurclean task? Could they break even after developing everything you described and then selling Support as a service. And would more of the people pay to get away from the big tech companies?

    I’m not actively doing any of this, I don’t work for any company in this space, but I wish I could see a way to make this happen.

    • EbbyEnglish
      1•7 months ago

      I imagine there is money to be made. The big hurdle is initial development of the customer’s deployment app and the proxy/security location. But once those two work, a one time purchase or subscription could start bringing in revenue.

      I foresee scalability and bandwidth to be a hurdle if you have 35,000 users running on average 10 apps. This setup would automatically double needed bandwidth by delivering content on the web and communication through VPN. Spitballing, but caching (if possible) would help, video like jellyfin would hurt pretty bad, but then again that sort of isn’t selfhosting anymore.

      Oh, and it’d have to be cheaper then just buying a VPS. It’s a potential business, but trapped in a tight box of competition. Keep in mind your #1 client, those who rely on corporate solutions, would need a reason to switch and understand what they are doing. My parents aren’t going to jump ship from their walled garden because AI stole their eclipse photos.