Why I Self-Host Despite it Being Harder

In recent years, I've immersed myself in #homelab communities and embarked on a journey toward digital sovereignty. While self-hosting comes with its challenges, the benefits have far outweighed the additional effort required. Here's why I choose to self-host my digital life:

1. Freedom to Control My Digital Identity

The social media landscape has changed dramatically, and I've made the conscious decision to delete my presence on mainstream platforms like X (formerly Twitter), Facebook, and Instagram. Instead, I've embraced decentralised alternatives like Mastodon and Pixelfed. Yes, the engagement numbers are significantly lower, but that's not what drives me. I'm not chasing likes or followers – I'm pursuing authentic connections and maintaining control over my online presence.

The beauty of self-hosted solutions is that they allow me to maintain my brand while avoiding the algorithmic manipulation and data harvesting that's become synonymous with major social platforms. I can present myself exactly as I want to be seen, without having to play by someone else's rules.

2. A Centralized Portfolio That's Truly Mine

One of the most practical benefits of self-hosting is the ability to create a cohesive portfolio using tools like LinkStack. This gives me a central hub for all my work, projects, and online presence. Unlike third-party portfolio services, I have complete control over the presentation, design, and functionality. There's no need to compromise my vision to fit within the constraints of a platform's templates or guidelines.

3. True Ownership of My Data and Work

The importance of data ownership became crystal clear to me during a recent incident with GitHub. I had mirrored a legitimate plugin repository on my self-hosted GitLab instance, which proved invaluable when the original repository and all its forks were removed from GitHub due to a questionable DMCA takedown notice. Because I maintained my own copy, I retained access to this important development resource.

While hosting GitLab does require significant resources, the control and ownership it provides are worth the investment. This experience reinforced my belief that relying solely on third-party platforms puts your work at the mercy of their policies and decision-making processes.

4. Cost-Effective in the Long Run

Self-hosting has allowed me to replace numerous subscription-based services with open-source alternatives, resulting in significant cost savings:

While there are initial setup costs and ongoing maintenance requirements, the long-term financial benefits are substantial. More importantly, I'm investing in infrastructure that I control rather than paying perpetual subscriptions to third-party services.

The Real Challenges of Self-Hosting

While I'm a strong advocate for self-hosting, it's important to acknowledge the significant challenges that come with this approach. Being transparent about these difficulties helps others make informed decisions about their own self-hosting journey.

1. The Scalability Struggle

Scaling self-hosted services is significantly more complex than using cloud solutions. I constantly need to: – Monitor and manage storage capacity across different services – Implement and maintain a comprehensive 3-2-1 backup strategy (three copies of data, on two different media types, with one copy off-site) – Plan for future storage needs and hardware upgrades – Balance resource allocation between different services

What takes minutes to scale in the cloud can require days of planning, purchasing, and implementation in a self-hosted environment. This management overhead is a significant time investment that shouldn't be underestimated.

2. The Reliability Reality Check

Despite having redundancy measures in place – including UPS systems, RAID arrays, and failover configurations – my self-hosted infrastructure simply can't match the reliability of major cloud providers. They have: – Multiple data centers across different geographic regions – Teams of engineers monitoring systems 24/7 – Sophisticated automated failover systems – Enterprise-grade hardware and infrastructure

When something goes wrong with my self-hosted services (and it will), I'm the one who needs to fix it, regardless of the time or day. This responsibility can be particularly challenging during vacations or busy periods at work.

Finding the Right Balance

Despite these challenges, I still believe the benefits outweigh the drawbacks for my specific needs. The key is finding the right balance: – Not everything needs to be self-hosted – I maintain encrypted cloud backups for critical data – Some services are better left to professionals, especially when high availability is crucial – Start small and scale gradually as you build confidence and expertise – Document everything – future you will thank you when troubleshooting is needed – Build a support network in the self-hosting community for advice and problem-solving

Conclusion

Self-hosting isn't always the easiest path – it requires technical knowledge, time for maintenance, and patience when things go wrong. However, the combination of freedom, control, ownership, and cost savings makes it the right choice for me. As our digital lives become increasingly important, having sovereignty over our online presence and data becomes not just a preference, but a necessity.

Remember: Self-hosting isn't an all-or-nothing proposition. The goal isn't to completely eliminate cloud services but rather to thoughtfully choose which aspects of your digital life benefit most from self-hosting. This balanced approach helps maximize the benefits while minimizing the inherent risks and challenges.

For those considering the switch to self-hosting, remember that you don't have to migrate everything at once. Start with a single service, learn from the experience, and gradually expand your self-hosted infrastructure as your confidence and expertise grow.