Self-hosting is the practice of running and maintaining a website or service using a private web server, instead of using a service outside of someone's own control. Self-hosting allows users to have more control over their data, privacy, and computing infrastructure, as well as potentially saving costs and improving skills.^[1][2]

History

The practice of self-hosting web services became more feasible with the development of cloud computing and virtualization technologies, which enabled users to run their own servers on remote hardware or virtual machines. The first public cloud service, Amazon Web Services (AWS), was launched in 2006, offering Simple Storage Service (S3) and Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2) as its initial products.^[3]

Self-hosting web services became more popular with the rise of free software and open source software projects that provide alternatives to various web-based services and applications, such as file storage, password management, media streaming, home automation, and more. There is also a sizeable hobbyist community around self-hosting, made up of hobbyists, technology professionals and privacy conscious individuals.^[2][4]

Benefits

Some of the benefits of self-hosting are:

• The user has complete control over their data and can decide how and where it is hosted.
• The user can customize the site design and functionality according to their preferences and needs.
• The user can potentially save money by using a lower-cost hosting service or combining multiple services on one server.
• The user can improve their skills and knowledge by learning how to set up and manage their own server and services.
• The user can avoid relying on third-party providers that may have privacy issues, security breaches, outages, or changes in policies.

Challenges

Some of the challenges of self-hosting are:^[1][5]

• The user has to take responsibility for maintaining and updating their server and services, which may require technical skills and time.
• The user has to ensure that their server and services are secure and compliant with relevant laws and regulations.
• The user has to deal with potential issues such as hardware failures, network problems, power outages, or malicious attacks.
• The user may have to find reliable and affordable hosting providers that offer the features and resources they need.

Examples

There are many examples of self-hosted services and applications that can replace or complement web-based ones, such as:^{[citation needed]}

• Bitwarden - A password manager that stores all passwords in an encrypted vault
• Home Assistant - A software for home automation that puts local control and privacy first
• Nextcloud - A suite of client-server software for creating and using file hosting services