Privacy

Self-Hosting Ente: End-to-End Encrypted Google Photos Alternative Google Photos is convenient. It’s also a privacy nightmare — your photos are scanned, analyzed, and stored on servers you don’t control. If you’ve been looking for a self-hosted alternative that doesn’t sacrifice the features that make cloud photo management actually useful, Ente deserves serious consideration. Ente is a fully open-source, end-to-end encrypted photo storage platform. Every photo is encrypted on your device before it ever touches your server. Not even you (as the server admin) can see the contents of uploaded photos without the user’s encryption keys. It’s been audited by Cure53, one of the most respected cybersecurity firms in the world, along with Symbolic Software for cryptography and Fallible for penetration testing. ...

Self-Hosting Pingvin Share: WeTransfer Alternative with Docker You need to send a large file to someone. WeTransfer caps free transfers at 2 GB. Google Drive wants your firstborn child’s data. Dropbox links expire at inconvenient times. And you’re already running a home server — so why not host your own file sharing platform? Pingvin Share is a self-hosted, open-source file sharing platform that does exactly what WeTransfer does, but on your hardware, with your rules, and no file size limits beyond your disk space. ...

Setting Up Gluetun: VPN Container for All Your Docker Services You’ve got a media stack running — maybe Sonarr, Radarr, qBittorrent. Or you’re running a web scraper, a Tor relay, or just a browser that needs to look like it’s in another country. You want VPN protection, but you don’t want to tunnel your entire server through a VPN and lose access to everything else. Gluetun solves this elegantly. It’s a lightweight Docker container that runs a VPN client (WireGuard or OpenVPN), and any other container can use it as its network gateway. Only the containers you choose get routed through the VPN. Everything else stays on your normal network. ...

Dropbox gives you 2GB free, charges $12/month for 2TB, and scans every file you upload. Google Drive is no different — your documents train their AI models and feed their ad network. If you want file sync without the surveillance tax, Syncthing is the answer. Syncthing is a free, open-source, peer-to-peer file synchronization tool. It syncs files directly between your devices with no cloud server in the middle. No accounts, no storage limits, no monthly fees. Your files never touch a third-party server. ...

Every search you make on Google, Bing, or even DuckDuckGo tells someone something about you. Search history builds a disturbingly accurate profile — your health concerns, financial situation, political interests, and everything in between. SearXNG flips that model entirely: you get the results, nobody gets your data. SearXNG is a free, open-source metasearch engine that aggregates results from over 70 search engines simultaneously. It strips out tracking parameters, doesn’t log your queries, and runs entirely on your own server. Think of it as a search engine that works for you instead of advertisers. ...

Google Analytics is powerful, but it comes with a cost: your visitors’ privacy. Umami is a self-hosted analytics platform that gives you the insights you need without cookies, fingerprinting, or sending data to third parties. It’s lightweight, GDPR-compliant out of the box, and looks great doing it. What is Umami? Umami is an open-source, privacy-focused web analytics tool built with Next.js and PostgreSQL (or MySQL). It tracks page views, referrers, devices, and more — all without cookies or personal data collection. The dashboard is clean, fast, and does exactly what you need without the bloat of Google Analytics. ...

Google Photos changed everything when it launched with free unlimited storage. Then they killed it. Now every photo you take counts against your 15GB free tier, and upgrading to Google One means paying $3-10/month while Google trains AI on your family photos. Immich is the answer. It’s a free, open-source, self-hosted photo and video management platform that looks and feels like Google Photos — but runs on your hardware, with your data staying yours. ...

Remote access to your self-hosted services is essential. Whether you’re checking on your media server from a coffee shop or managing your homelab while traveling, a VPN creates a secure tunnel back to your network. But which VPN should you run? The three dominant options — WireGuard, OpenVPN, and Tailscale — take very different approaches. This guide compares all three so you can make the right choice for your setup. ...

Mint is dead. YNAB costs $99/year. Your bank’s budgeting tools are terrible. Actual Budget is the answer — a fast, privacy-first budgeting app you can self-host for free. Originally a paid product, Actual was open-sourced in 2022 and is now maintained by a thriving community. It’s one of the best self-hosted finance tools available, with envelope budgeting, bank sync, and a beautiful UI that works on desktop and mobile. Why Actual Budget? Envelope budgeting — assign every dollar a job (YNAB-style) Bank sync — automatic transaction imports via GoCardless (free for personal use) Fast — local-first architecture, syncs in the background Multi-device — access from any browser, sync across devices Import — migrate from YNAB, Mint, or any CSV/OFX/QFX export Reports — spending trends, net worth, cash flow charts Rules — auto-categorize transactions 100% private — your financial data never leaves your server Prerequisites A Linux server with Docker and Docker Compose ~128MB RAM (very lightweight) A domain or local IP for access Step 1: Create the Project Directory mkdir -p ~/actual-budget && cd ~/actual-budget Step 2: Docker Compose Setup Create docker-compose.yml: ...

Discord is everywhere — gaming communities, dev teams, study groups. But it comes with baggage: data harvesting, Nitro upsells, and zero control over your data. If you’re already self-hosting, why not host your chat too? Here are the 5 best self-hosted Discord alternatives you can deploy today, ranked by feature completeness, ease of setup, and community size. 1. Revolt — The Closest Discord Clone Best for: Communities that want a Discord-like experience without the surveillance. ...