Self-Hosted Picks — Cross-Section Index

This is the cross-section index of self-host winners. The rule across the site: free, OSS, and "your data lives on your machine" are the default. Paid SaaS appears where it genuinely earns the slot, but it's never the headline pick when a credible self-host alternative exists.

If you're shopping for a single tool by category, the deeper page is the right read. This page is the catalog: every ★ self-host pick we make, grouped roughly the way the sidebar groups things.

How to read this page

• ★ ★ = the dominant self-host pick in its category — almost always the right starting point.
• ★ = a strong runner-up or a self-host pick worth knowing if the dominant one doesn't fit.
• Each row links to the deep-dive page where you'll find install, sync, alternatives, and the "Pick this if…" honest take.

Notes & PKM

• ★ ★ Obsidian — local-first markdown vault; plugins for everything; sync via Syncthing / Git / iCloud (free) or Obsidian Sync (paid). See Obsidian deep dive and Sync & Storage.
• ★ ★ Logseq — outliner / daily-journal PKM; local-first; FOSS. See Logseq deep dive.
• ★ Org-mode + Org-Roam — the Emacs PKM stack. See Org-mode.
• ★ Trilium / TriliumNext / SilverBullet — hierarchical, scriptable PKM. See Trilium / SilverBullet.
• ★ Joplin — E2EE markdown PKM with cross-platform sync. See Joplin / Standard Notes.
• ★ AnyType / AppFlowy / AFFiNE — Notion-style local-first OSS. See AnyType / AppFlowy / AFFiNE.
• ★ TiddlyWiki5 — single-HTML-file PKM. See TiddlyWiki.
• ★ Quartz — turn an Obsidian vault into a public digital garden. See Evergreen / digital garden.
• ★ Obsidian Web Clipper / Omnivore (self-host) — capture the web into your second brain. See Capture & web clippers.

Reading & books

• ★ ★ Calibre Web Automated (CWA) — auto-import inbox, OPDS, mobile UI, the modern Calibre-Web fork. See Self-Host Libraries.
• ★ ★ AudioBookShelf — audiobook + podcast server; the Plex of audiobooks. See Audiobook Self-Host.
• ★ Komga / Stump — comics & manga; OPDS. See Self-Host Libraries.
• ★ Suwayomi — manga reader + Tachiyomi-compatible source aggregator.
• ★ AudioBookRequest / Storyteller — request workflow + audiobook→ebook alignment. See Audiobook Self-Host.
• ★ LazyLibrarian / Booklore — *arr-style ebook automation.
• ★ KOReader — the polished FOSS ebook reader for Kindle / Kobo / Boox / Pocketbook. See KOReader for tinkerers.
• ★ OPDS — the open catalog protocol behind every self-host library. See OPDS protocol.
• ★ Standard Ebooks / Project Gutenberg / Internet Archive — millions of free public-domain books. See Public domain & open books.
• ★ Calibre — the desktop hub for everything ebook. See DRM & format conversion.
• ★ Wallabag — read-it-later, the self-host Pocket. See Read-it-later.

Personal finance

• ★ ★ Actual Budget — envelope budgeting, Mint replacement, sync server is free OSS. See Actual Budget deep dive.
• ★ ★ Firefly III — full personal-finance suite: bills, budgets, rules, recurrence, reports. See Firefly III deep dive.
• ★ Beancount + Fava — plain-text accounting; version-controlled finances. See Plain-text accounting.
• ★ GnuCash — the desktop double-entry standard. See GnuCash.
• ★ Ghostfolio — open-source portfolio tracker. See Useful Self-Hosted.
• ★ Wallos — subscription-tracker; self-host Truebill / Rocket Money alternative. See Subscription management.
• ★ Maybe Finance — open-source net-worth + finance dashboard.
• ★ Rotki — privacy-focused portfolio + crypto tracker; self-host.

Estate, vital docs, digital legacy

• ★ ★ Bitwarden / Vaultwarden — Bitwarden Emergency Access for digital legacy; Vaultwarden is the self-host server. See Self-Host Vital Docs and Self-Host Passwords.
• ★ ★ Paperless-ngx — the self-host scanned-docs vault. See Self-Host Document Management.
• ★ Syncthing — encrypted P2P file sync for vital-docs replication. See Sync & Storage.
• ★ FreeWill — actually free online will service (legitimate, partners with charities). See Wills.

Language learning

• ★ ★ Anki — the SRS that's free, local, and unkillable. See Anki deep dive and FSRS algorithm.
• ★ ★ Lute — self-host LingQ alternative; reading + vocab tracking. See Reading (LingQ, Lute).
• ★ Yomitan (formerly Yomichan) — instant in-browser dictionary lookup; the JP/CN/KR mining default. See Reading (LingQ, Lute, Vocabsieve, Yomitan).
• ★ asbplayer / mpv mining — Netflix/YouTube-as-classroom; sentence mining. See Listening.
• ★ Vocabsieve — multi-source sentence mining for desktop. See Reading.
• ★ FSI public-domain courses — full DLI/FSI courses, free. See Anki shared decks.

Productivity & personal OS

• ★ Espanso — cross-platform text expansion; FOSS. See Text expansion.
• ★ AutoHotkey — Windows macro automation. See Macro automation.
• ★ Hammerspoon / Karabiner-Elements — macOS automation. See Keyboard / system tweakers.
• ★ Maccy / CopyQ / GPaste — clipboard managers. See Clipboard managers.
• ★ Flameshot / Greenshot / ShareX — open-source screenshot tools. See Screenshot & capture.
• ★ ActivityWatch — open-source RescueTime alternative. See Personal time tracking.
• ★ Beeper Bridges + Matrix / Element — open-source messaging stack.
• ★ Whisper / WhisperX — local voice dictation. See Voice dictation.
• ★ Ollama / LM Studio — run LLMs locally. See AI productivity assistants.

Household & home automation

• ★ ★ Home Assistant — the dominant FOSS smart-home brain. See Smart Home & IoT and Home Assistant deep dive.
• ★ Frigate — local NVR with object detection; integrates with HA. See Smart Locks & Cameras.
• ★ Grocy — pantry / chore / household ERP. See Pantry inventory and Chore tracking.
• ★ Mealie / Tandoor — recipe managers, self-host. See Self-Hosted Recipe Managers.
• ★ Snipe-IT / HomeBox — home/SMB asset inventory. See Inventory & Asset Management and Household Inventory.
• ★ Vikunja — self-host Todoist / chore tracker. See Chore tracking.

Server / infra (the *arr / media stack)

• ★ ★ Jellyfin — open-source Plex; no licensing tier, no telemetry. See Useful Self-Hosted.
• ★ Sonarr / Radarr / Lidarr / Readarr / Prowlarr / Bazarr — the *arr automation stack. See *arr stack deep dive.
• ★ Immich — open-source Google Photos; the obvious modern pick. See Self-Host Photos.
• ★ PhotoStructure / LibrePhotos — alternatives to Immich. See Self-Host Photos.
• ★ Nextcloud / OwnCloud Infinite Scale — self-host Dropbox / Google Drive; the swiss-army-knife of self-host. See Self-Host File Sync.
• ★ Syncthing — P2P file sync, no server required. See Self-Host File Sync.

Networking & access

• ★ ★ Tailscale — WireGuard mesh; free for personal. See VPN / mesh / overlay networking.
• ★ ★ Headscale — self-host Tailscale control plane. See VPN / mesh / overlay networking.
• ★ NetBird — open-source Tailscale alternative; self-host control plane.
• ★ Pi-hole / AdGuard Home — network-wide DNS ad-block. See Self-Host DNS / AdBlock.
• ★ OPNsense / pfSense — open-source firewall / router OS. See Networking.
• ★ Caddy / Traefik / nginx-proxy-manager — reverse proxies with auto-TLS. See Reverse Proxy.
• ★ Cloudflare Tunnel / Pangolin — free outbound-only ingress. See Tunneling.

Identity, secrets, passwords

• ★ ★ Vaultwarden — Bitwarden-compatible self-host server. See Self-Host Passwords.
• ★ ★ Authelia / Authentik — self-host SSO + MFA. See Self-Host SSO / MFA.
• ★ Keycloak — heavyweight FOSS IDP — see Identity / OIDC.
• ★ Pomerium / Cloudflare Access — zero-trust gateway. See Self-Host SSO / MFA.

Backup, storage, NAS

• ★ ★ Restic — modern encrypted dedup backup. See Backup & DR.
• ★ ★ rclone — universal cloud-storage CLI. See Backup & DR.
• ★ Borg / Borgmatic — battle-tested encrypted dedup backup. See Backup & DR.
• ★ TrueNAS SCALE / Unraid — NAS OSes; SCALE is FOSS. See NAS.

Observability, ops

• ★ ★ Grafana + Prometheus + Loki + Tempo — the open-observability stack almost everyone runs at home. See Observability.
• ★ ★ Uptime Kuma — self-host Pingdom; the home-lab monitor default. See Status pages.
• ★ Beszel — modern Cockpit-style server monitoring.
• ★ Netdata — high-resolution real-time metrics; free per-node.
• ★ Dozzle / Glances / Lazydocker — the lightweight monitoring trio.

Security & posture (defensive, free)

• ★ ★ Wazuh — full FOSS SIEM + EDR + CVE scan via agent. See SIEM Wazuh / Graylog.
• ★ ★ Suricata / Zeek — open-source IDS / NSM. See Network IDS.
• ★ TheHive + Cortex + MISP — incident response + threat intel. See Incident response and Threat intel.
• ★ Velociraptor / GRR — open-source DFIR. See DFIR Velociraptor.
• ★ Lynis — single-host security audit. See Server hardening.
• ★ OSV-Scanner / Trivy / Grype / Semgrep — code & image scanning. See Security scanning.
• ★ Coraza / ModSecurity — open-source WAF. See WAF.
• ★ OPNsense Zenarmor / Crowdsec — community-driven blocklists.

Email, comms, collab

• ★ ★ Mailcow / Mailu / Stalwart / Maddy — self-host email stacks. See Self-Host Email.
• ★ Postal / Plunk / Cuttlefish — self-host transactional email. See Self-Host Email Marketing.
• ★ Listmonk — self-host newsletter platform.
• ★ Matrix + Element / Synapse / Conduit / Dendrite — self-host chat. See Self-Host Chat.
• ★ Rocket.Chat / Mattermost / Zulip — self-host Slack alternatives.
• ★ Jitsi / BigBlueButton — self-host video conferencing. See Virtual classroom and Self-Host Video Conf.
• ★ Penpot — self-host Figma alternative. See Design.

Workflow, automation, low-code

• ★ ★ n8n — the FOSS Zapier; self-host friendly. See Workflow engines.
• ★ Activepieces / Windmill / Huginn — n8n alternatives. See Workflow engines.
• ★ NocoDB / Baserow / Teable — self-host Airtable alternatives. See Self-Host Airtable.
• ★ AppSmith / Tooljet / Budibase — self-host Retool alternatives. See Self-Host Internal Tools.

Documentation, wikis, support

• ★ BookStack / Wiki.js / Outline / Docmost — self-host Confluence. See Self-Host Wiki.
• ★ Documenso / DocuSeal — self-host DocuSign. See E-signing.
• ★ Plane / Vikunja / Focalboard — self-host project management.
• ★ Chatwoot / Tawk — self-host customer support chat. See Customer support.
• ★ Listmonk / Cal.com — self-host newsletters / scheduling. See Self-Host Scheduling.

Health, fitness, quantified self

• ★ ★ Gadgetbridge — self-host wearables aggregator. See Wearables aggregation.
• ★ OpenScale — open-source body-comp scale app.
• ★ PineTime + InfiniTime — open-source smartwatch. See Open-source wearables.
• ★ OpenAPS / AndroidAPS / Loop / Nightscout — open-source CGM + closed-loop insulin. See Diabetes / CGM tools.
• ★ OpenEMR / Medplum — open-source EHR. See Health records.
• ★ Strong / Hevy export to Anki — strength logging your way out of vendor lock-in. See Strength logging.

Education

• ★ ★ Moodle — the FOSS LMS standard. See LMS Self-Host.
• ★ Open edX / Frappe LMS / Chamilo — Moodle alternatives.
• ★ H5P — open-source interactive content authoring. See Course authoring.
• ★ BigBlueButton — open-source virtual classroom. See Virtual classroom.
• ★ Anki — the unkillable SRS. See Spaced repetition.
• ★ PhET / GeoGebra / Desmos / Manim / SageMath — free interactive STEM.
• ★ Koha / Evergreen — free / open library ILS. See Library systems.
• ★ Zotero / JabRef — free reference manager. See Research / citations.

Genealogy

• ★ Webtrees / Gramps — open-source family-tree apps. See Genealogy software self-host.
• ★ GEDCOM — the open file format that works across every app. See GEDCOM formats.

Spiritual & meditation

• ★ Sefaria — open Jewish text library; mirror locally. See Sefaria.
• ★ Quran.com / Tanzil / al-Quran cloud APIs — open Quran data sources.
• ★ OpenBible.info / Beblia — open biblical data.
• ★ PaliCanon / DhammaTalks.org / Access to Insight — open Buddhist canon. See Buddhist canon apps.

Travel

• ★ OsmAnd / Organic Maps — OSM-based offline maps. See Maps & offline nav.
• ★ Komoot / Kurviger / RWGPS — hybrid OSM-based routing for cycling / hiking / motorcycle. See Hiking & cycling routes.
• ★ AdvancedTrip / TripIt-OSS / Wanderlog free tier — trip planning where the data is yours. See Self-host trip planning.
• ★ OpenStreetMap — the foundation of every honest map app.

Audio / video / photo creative

• ★ ★ Blender — the FOSS 3D content creation suite; not just for hobbyists anymore. See 3D modeling & rigging for games.
• ★ ★ darktable / RawTherapee — open-source RAW photo workflows. See Photo workflow.
• ★ ★ Krita / GIMP / Inkscape — open-source raster / vector. See Design.
• ★ ★ Audacity / Ardour / Reaper — Reaper isn't FOSS but $60 and unlimited use; Audacity + Ardour are FOSS. See Audio production.
• ★ ★ OBS Studio — the dominant streaming + recording tool. See Video editing & streaming.
• ★ DaVinci Resolve — free tier is genuinely professional grade. See Video editing & streaming.
• ★ Kdenlive / Shotcut / OpenShot — open-source video editors.
• ★ Aseprite (paid OSS) / Libresprite (FOSS fork) — pixel art. See Pixel art.
• ★ MagicaVoxel / Goxel — voxel art.
• ★ Stellarium / KStars / N.I.N.A — open astronomy + astrophotography. See Astronomy & astrophotography.

Game dev

• ★ ★ Godot 4 — MIT, no royalty, mainstream now. See 3D game engines.
• ★ Bevy — Rust ECS engine. See 3D engines.
• ★ LÖVE / Defold / GDevelop — 2D engines, free. See 2D engines.
• ★ raylib / SDL3 / sokol — code-first minimal libraries. See Code-first engines.
• ★ GameCI — free CI/CD for Unity. See Build / CI-CD for games.

Hardware & maker

• ★ ★ OpenSCAD / FreeCAD — open-source CAD. See CAD & PCB design.
• ★ ★ KiCad — the FOSS PCB design winner. See CAD & PCB design.
• ★ ★ Klipper / OctoPrint — open-source 3D printer firmware + UI. See 3D Printing.
• ★ PrusaSlicer / OrcaSlicer / SuperSlicer / Cura — free slicers.
• ★ LightBurn ($) / xTool Creative Space (free) — laser. See Laser engraving.
• ★ CNCjs / FluidNC / grblHAL — open-source CNC controllers. See CNC.
• ★ PlatformIO + Arduino IDE — open-source MCU dev. See Microcontroller & embedded.
• ★ SDR++ / GQRX / Universal Radio Hacker — open SDR. See SDR & radio.

Self-hosted AI

• ★ ★ Ollama — the default starting point for local LLMs in 2026. See Ollama deep dive.
• ★ ★ llama.cpp — the C++ reference engine + GGUF format. See llama.cpp.
• ★ ★ Open WebUI — the dominant ChatGPT-clone UI for local. See Open WebUI.
• ★ ★ vLLM / SGLang — high-throughput batched serving. See vLLM and SGLang.
• ★ Llama 4 / Qwen 3 / DeepSeek V3 / R1 — the open weights map for May 2026. See Open weight models.
• ★ ★ Aider — the FOSS terminal AI pair-programmer. See Aider deep dive.
• ★ Cline / Roo Code / Continue.dev — VS Code agentic-coding stacks that work with local models. See Cline / Roo Code and Continue.dev.
• ★ MCP servers — Anthropic's open spec for AI tool servers. See MCP.
• ★ ★ ComfyUI — the FOSS image-gen workhorse. See ComfyUI.
• ★ ★ Whisper / Piper / Kokoro — local voice (STT + TTS). See Voice stack.
• ★ Unsloth / Axolotl / MLX-LM — local fine-tuning. See Fine-tuning.
• ★ ★ LiteLLM (proxy) + Langfuse (observability) — both FOSS. See AI observability.
• ★ Hardware tier guide — what GPU, what model, what price. See Hardware tier guide.

Civic tech

• ★ ★ Decidim — FOSS participatory democracy (Barcelona, Helsinki). See Public consultation.
• ★ ★ KoboToolbox / ODK — FOSS mobile-first survey tooling. See Field data collection.
• ★ ★ MuckRock / WhatDoTheyKnow / Alaveteli — FOIA / public-records. See FOIA & public records.
• ★ ★ FixMyStreet — FOSS 311 / report-an-issue (mySociety). See 311 apps.
• ★ ★ CKAN — the FOSS data-portal backbone behind data.gov. See Open data portals.
• ★ ★ OpenElections / OpenStates — FOSS election + legislator data. See Elections.
• ★ ★ USWDS / GOV.UK Design System — MIT-licensed government design. See Government design systems.
• ★ ★ CourtListener / RECAP — FOSS court records. See Courts & legal data.
• ★ ★ Aleph / DocumentCloud / Datasette — FOSS investigative journalism stack. See Investigative journalism tools.
• ★ ★ OpenStreetMap / Humanitarian OSM (HOT) — the open mapping commons. See Civic & humanitarian mapping.
• ★ ★ Sovereign Tech Fund / NLnet — where civic-tech and OSS infra actually gets paid. See Civic & OSS grant funding.

OSS contribution & licensing

• ★ Open Collective / Liberapay / GitHub Sponsors — receive funding as a maintainer. See OSS funding.
• ★ DCO + DCO bot — modern community OSS contributor agreement. See CLA vs DCO.
• ★ Scancode / FOSSology / OSV-Scanner — audit your dependencies. See SCA & DIY scanners.

What this list won't tell you

• It won't tell you your network can host all of this — the Self-Host Catalog goes deeper on what each needs in terms of CPU / RAM / disk / public-IP / domain.
• It won't tell you when self-hosting is the wrong call. Sometimes "I need this to work for my spouse" or "I have 30 minutes a month for ops" is the controlling fact, and Bitwarden hosted is better than Vaultwarden you forgot to back up.
• It won't tell you about every paid SaaS in each category. The deeper category pages do — paid is acknowledged where it earns the slot, but it's never the default unless self-host genuinely doesn't exist.

Pick this if…

• You're new to self-hosting: start with Useful Self-Hosted, Smart Home & IoT, and Self-Host Photos.
• You want one server to do everything reasonable: Tailscale + Caddy + Authelia + Vaultwarden + Paperless-ngx + Immich + Home Assistant gets you a long way.
• You only want to migrate one paid SaaS: see the per-category page — every "Pick this if…" closer covers the migration tradeoff honestly.