How to Start Self-Hosting: Complete Beginner's Guide

Why Self-Host?

Self-hosting means running services on hardware you control instead of paying cloud companies. Here’s why thousands of people are doing it:

• Save money. $10/month for Google One + $10/month for a password manager + $15/month for Plex Pass + … adds up. A $200 mini PC replaces all of them.
• Own your data. Your photos, passwords, documents, and messages stay on your hardware. No one can mine them, sell them, or lock you out.
• Learn. Self-hosting teaches you networking, Linux, Docker, and systems administration. These are real, marketable skills.
• No rug pulls. Cloud services shut down, change pricing, or remove features. Your self-hosted apps work as long as you want them to.

What You Need

Hardware

You need a computer that stays on 24/7. Options from cheapest to most capable:

Our recommendation for beginners: An Intel N100 mini PC. ~$200, fanless, sips power (6-15W), and handles everything from Immich to Jellyfin with hardware transcoding. See our best mini PC guide for specific models.

Software

Install a Linux distribution on your hardware:

1. Ubuntu Server 24.04 LTS — the most beginner-friendly option with the largest community
2. Debian 12 — more stable, slightly less hand-holding

Then install Docker — it’s how you’ll run 99% of self-hosted apps.

Network Basics

• Give your server a static IP on your local network (e.g., 192.168.1.100). See our static IP guide.
• Optional: Get a domain name if you want to access services by name instead of IP addresses.
• Optional: Set up a reverse proxy for HTTPS and clean URLs. See our reverse proxy guide.

Install Docker

Docker lets you run apps in isolated containers. Almost every self-hosted app provides a Docker image.

# Install Docker on Ubuntu/Debian
curl -fsSL https://get.docker.com | sh
sudo usermod -aG docker $USER
# Log out and back in, then verify:
docker --version
docker compose version

Learn more: Docker Compose Basics

Your First Apps

Start with these — they’re easy to set up and immediately useful:

1. Pi-hole (ad blocking)

Block ads on every device on your network. 10-minute setup, immediate impact. Pi-hole setup guide →

2. Uptime Kuma (monitoring)

Monitor your services and get alerts when something goes down. 5-minute setup. Uptime Kuma setup guide →

3. Vaultwarden (passwords)

Self-hosted password manager compatible with Bitwarden apps. Replace LastPass/1Password. Vaultwarden setup guide →

4. Immich (photos)

Replace Google Photos with auto-backup from your phone. Immich setup guide →

5. Jellyfin (media)

Stream your movies and music to any device. Jellyfin setup guide →

Common Beginner Mistakes

1. Starting too complex. Don’t try to set up Nextcloud, a reverse proxy, and SSL certificates all at once. Start with Pi-hole, get comfortable, then add more.
2. Not backing up. Set up backups before you need them. See our backup strategy guide.
3. Exposing services to the internet without security. Use a VPN (WireGuard) or Cloudflare Tunnel before port forwarding.
4. Using :latest tags in Docker. Pin specific version tags so updates don’t break your setup unexpectedly.
5. Not using restart: unless-stopped. Without it, your containers won’t restart after a reboot.

What Next?

Once you’re comfortable with the basics:

1. Add a reverse proxy (Nginx Proxy Manager) to access services over HTTPS with clean URLs.
2. Set up remote access with WireGuard or Tailscale to reach your services from anywhere.
3. Explore more apps — see our category roundups for the best app in every category.
4. Manage your containers with Portainer for a visual Docker dashboard.

Welcome to self-hosting.