DEV Community: Darkboy7766 The latest articles on DEV Community by Darkboy7766 (@darkboy7766). https://dev.to/darkboy7766 https://media2.dev.to/dynamic/image/width=90,height=90,fit=cover,gravity=auto,format=auto/https:%2F%2Fdev-to-uploads.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com%2Fuploads%2Fuser%2Fprofile_image%2F4175462%2F89a1d3a2-2cc3-4ce0-8810-89581656bafe.png DEV Community: Darkboy7766 https://dev.to/darkboy7766 en I replaced 11 SaaS apps with self-hosted ones in a homelab: here is what each one really costs in RAM Darkboy7766 Tue, 13 Oct 2026 16:06:39 +0000 https://dev.to/darkboy7766/i-replaced-11-saas-apps-with-self-hosted-ones-in-a-homelab-here-is-what-each-one-really-costs-in-1p1b https://dev.to/darkboy7766/i-replaced-11-saas-apps-with-self-hosted-ones-in-a-homelab-here-is-what-each-one-really-costs-in-1p1b <p><em>Disclosure: I run <a href="https://www.homelabdeck.dev" rel="noopener noreferrer">HomelabDeck</a>, a directory of self-hosted apps. Every app below was installed in my own homelab (Proxmox, LXC containers), and the RAM figures come from that setup.</em></p> <p>Subscriptions add up, and your photos, passwords and documents sit on someone else's servers. Self-hosting gets that control back, but most "best self-hosted apps" lists copy each other and never show the apps running. So I installed them, took screenshots and wrote down what each one needs.</p> <h2> The short version </h2> <div class="table-wrapper-paragraph"><table> <thead> <tr> <th>Instead of</th> <th>Self-host</th> <th>RAM (estimate)</th> <th>License</th> </tr> </thead> <tbody> <tr> <td>Google Photos</td> <td><a href="https://www.homelabdeck.dev/en/apps/immich" rel="noopener noreferrer">Immich</a></td> <td>~4 GB</td> <td>AGPL-3.0</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Plex</td> <td><a href="https://www.homelabdeck.dev/en/apps/jellyfin" rel="noopener noreferrer">Jellyfin</a></td> <td>~2 GB</td> <td>GPL-2.0</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Bitwarden Cloud</td> <td><a href="https://www.homelabdeck.dev/en/apps/vaultwarden" rel="noopener noreferrer">Vaultwarden</a></td> <td>~128 MB</td> <td>AGPL-3.0</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Todoist / Trello</td> <td><a href="https://www.homelabdeck.dev/en/apps/vikunja" rel="noopener noreferrer">Vikunja</a></td> <td>~512 MB</td> <td>AGPL-3.0</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Feedly</td> <td><a href="https://www.homelabdeck.dev/en/apps/freshrss" rel="noopener noreferrer">FreshRSS</a></td> <td>~256 MB</td> <td>AGPL-3.0</td> </tr> <tr> <td>GitHub (private repos, CI)</td> <td><a href="https://www.homelabdeck.dev/en/apps/gitea" rel="noopener noreferrer">Gitea</a></td> <td>~512 MB</td> <td>MIT</td> </tr> <tr> <td>UptimeRobot</td> <td><a href="https://www.homelabdeck.dev/en/apps/uptime-kuma" rel="noopener noreferrer">Uptime Kuma</a></td> <td>~256 MB</td> <td>MIT</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Zapier / IFTTT</td> <td><a href="https://www.homelabdeck.dev/en/apps/n8n" rel="noopener noreferrer">n8n</a></td> <td>~1 GB</td> <td>Sustainable Use</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Notion / Confluence (wiki)</td> <td><a href="https://www.homelabdeck.dev/en/apps/wiki-js" rel="noopener noreferrer">Wiki.js</a></td> <td>~512 MB</td> <td>AGPL-3.0</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Google Keep</td> <td><a href="https://www.homelabdeck.dev/en/apps/memos" rel="noopener noreferrer">Memos</a></td> <td>~256 MB</td> <td>MIT</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Audible (your own files)</td> <td><a href="https://www.homelabdeck.dev/en/apps/audiobookshelf" rel="noopener noreferrer">Audiobookshelf</a></td> <td>~512 MB</td> <td>GPL-3.0</td> </tr> </tbody> </table></div> <p>RAM numbers are estimates from my tests; real usage grows with library size and users.</p> <h2> What surprised me </h2> <ul> <li> <strong>Vaultwarden is tiny.</strong> It is written in Rust and sat well under 100 MB at idle for a family-sized vault. If you only self-host one thing, this is the cheapest to run.</li> <li> <strong>Immich is the heavy one.</strong> The machine-learning container (face recognition, CLIP search) is the biggest RAM and CPU consumer and scales with your library. Plan 4 GB as a comfortable baseline for a small library.</li> <li> <strong>Jellyfin's real cost is transcoding,</strong> not the app. Direct play is light; 4K transcoding needs a capable CPU or hardware acceleration (Quick Sync, NVENC).</li> <li> <strong>Several apps need PostgreSQL</strong> (Immich, Vikunja, Wiki.js, Paperless-ngx), while Vaultwarden, FreshRSS, Gitea, Uptime Kuma and n8n get by with SQLite. Check this before you deploy.</li> </ul> <h2> Honest caveats </h2> <ul> <li>n8n uses the Sustainable Use License: the source is available, but it is not classic open source.</li> <li>Self-hosting means <strong>you</strong> own the backups and the updates. A password manager without a tested backup is a risk, not a feature.</li> <li>A self-hosted photo library is not a backup of itself.</li> </ul> <h2> How I would start </h2> <ol> <li>Pick one app that replaces something you pay for today.</li> <li>Run it in a small LXC container or on a Docker host.</li> <li>Copy the <code>docker-compose.yml</code> from its page and adjust the paths.</li> <li>Add a reverse proxy (I use Nginx Proxy Manager) and set up backups before you trust it with real data.</li> </ol> <p>Each app has a page with dashboard screenshots, the compatibility matrix and a ready-to-use compose file: <a href="https://www.homelabdeck.dev/en/apps" rel="noopener noreferrer">homelabdeck.dev/en/apps</a>. I also post short weekly notes on what I add: <a href="https://www.homelabdeck.dev/en/updates" rel="noopener noreferrer">homelabdeck.dev/en/updates</a>.</p> <p><em>What are you self-hosting that I should test next? Tell me in the comments.</em></p> selfhosted homelab opensource docker