Self-hosting guides
Run your own server at home for photos, files, passwords, cameras, and media, so the data stays on hardware you own instead of a company’s cloud.
How this connects to your bitcoin
A home server is also the cheapest way to run a Bitcoin node, which lets your wallet check its own transactions instead of asking someone else’s server. Start with how to run a Bitcoin node, compare the two node operating systems in Start9 vs Umbrel, or see the ready-made boxes on my node rankings. The same box can run BTCPay Server to accept bitcoin payments.
Setup and hardware
- Self-hosting for beginners: replace Google with your own server
What self-hosting is, which apps replace Google Photos, Drive, and your password manager, which server OS to pick, and how to reach it safely on the road.
- How to build a home server (that also runs a Bitcoin node)
Build a home server for photos, files, passwords, and a Bitcoin node: hardware sizing, mini PC vs old PC vs NAS, power cost math, and setup steps.
- Raspberry Pi server projects worth building
Raspberry Pi server ideas that earn their keep: ad blocker, Tailscale exit node, file server, Home Assistant, media, and a Bitcoin node. Prices and setup.
- Tailscale vs WireGuard vs StartTunnel vs Tor: reaching your home node from away
Reach your home Bitcoin node from anywhere with no open RPC or Electrum ports: Tailscale, WireGuard, StartTunnel, and Tor compared on cost and metadata.
- Home server backups: Restic vs Borg vs Duplicati
How to back up a home server with the 3-2-1 rule: Restic, Borg, and Duplicati compared, what a Bitcoin node box needs saved, and off-site options.
Server apps
- Self-hosted password manager: Vaultwarden and Bitwarden setup
How to self-host a password manager: Vaultwarden vs official Bitwarden self-hosting, what each needs, how setup works, and the backups that matter.
- Immich: a self-hosted Google Photos replacement
Immich is a free, open-source Google Photos replacement you run at home. What it needs, how to install and back it up, and how it compares with the rest.
- Nextcloud: a self-hosted Google Drive (setup and honest trade-offs)
What Nextcloud is, whether it is free, how to install it with Nextcloud All-in-One, how it differs from ownCloud, and the trade-offs to know first.
- Self-hosted AI: run your own LLM at home
Run a private LLM at home with Ollama and Open WebUI: how much RAM each model size needs, CPU vs GPU, and how to reach it from your phone.
- Pi-hole vs AdGuard Home: which network ad blocker to run
Pi-hole vs AdGuard Home compared: encrypted DNS, Unbound, setup, block lists, the best Raspberry Pi, and why neither blocks YouTube ads.
- Jellyfin vs Plex: which media server to run
Jellyfin vs Plex compared: Plex Pass prices, the remote streaming paywall, hardware transcoding, Emby, and how to get started with Jellyfin at home.
- Home Assistant without the cloud: a local smart home
Run a local smart home with Home Assistant: Green vs Raspberry Pi vs Docker, Zigbee, Thread, Matter, dashboards, and devices that outlive their cloud.
- Frigate: local security cameras with no cloud
Frigate is a free, open-source NVR with local AI object detection. What it needs, what it costs, and how to keep cameras private for your bitcoin.
- Paperless-ngx: a self-hosted home for your paperwork
Paperless-ngx scans, OCRs, tags, and searches your paperwork on a server you own. Install it with Docker Compose and keep bitcoin records off the cloud.
- SearXNG: a self-hosted private search engine
SearXNG is a free metasearch engine you can run at home. How it works, how to install it, and what it still leaks to Google and Bing, honestly.
Other guide categories: Bitcoin self-custody, Security and privacy. Or browse and search every guide.