Awesome-Selfhosted

1. What is Awesome-Selfhosted?

Awesome-Selfhosted is a list, not a program you install. It catalogues more than 1,200 pieces of Free Software (open source, free to use, modify and share) that you can run on a server of your own, sorted into 95 categories: file storage, photo libraries, film and music streaming, password managers, notes, budgeting, smart home and many more.

"Self-hosted" means running a service on your own machine instead of renting it from a company. Rather than keeping your photos on a cloud service with a monthly fee, for instance, you run photo-library software on a computer at home and the pictures sit on your own disk.

The list itself is completely free, maintained by a community, and published under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 licence. Everything on the main list is Free Software; programs that do not meet that definition are kept on a separate "Non-Free" page.

Because this is a list, the guide below shows you how to use it to find the right software for your need, and what to do next to install that software. Each program has its own installation instructions on its official site.

A good fit if:

• You pay for several subscriptions and wonder whether there is a free alternative you could run yourself.
• You care about where your personal data lives.
• You have an old PC, a mini PC, a Raspberry Pi or a NAS and want to put it to work.

Not a fit yet if:

• You want to download a phone app and start using it. Most software here runs on a server and needs setting up.
• You do not want to handle backups, updates and security yourself. Running your own services means those jobs are yours.

2. What do you need?

To browse the list: just a web browser on a phone or computer. No account, nothing to install.

To actually run something from the list, you will also need:

• A machine to act as a server. An old computer, a mini PC, a Raspberry Pi, a NAS, or a rented server (VPS). A rented server costs money every month; a machine at home costs electricity. How powerful it must be depends on the software. The list does not say, so check the software's own site.
• Docker (for many of the entries). Docker runs software inside pre-packaged "containers", which makes installing quicker and keeps it from interfering with the rest of the machine. More than half of the entries carry a Docker tag. Get it from https://www.docker.com
• Patience for documentation. Every program has its own install guide.

3. Step-by-step installation

There is nothing to install for the list itself. The steps below take you from "open the list" to "I have picked a program and know where its install guide is".

Step 1: Open the web version of the list

Go to:

https://awesome-selfhosted.net/

This is the HTML version the project itself recommends. The GitHub page has the same content, but as one very long text page that is awkward on a phone.

You are in the right place when you see the title "Awesome-Selfhosted" and a list of categories in the sidebar (on a phone, tap the menu button to open it).

Step 2: Pick a category that matches your need

Think of the service you want to replace, then find the matching category. Some that newcomers often look at:

You want to	Category name on the list
Store and sync files	File Transfer & Synchronization
Back up and browse photos	Photo Galleries
Watch films or play music from your own library	Media Streaming (and its Audio, Video, Multimedia sub-categories)
Keep passwords	Password Managers
Take notes	Note-taking & Editors
Track spending	Money, Budgeting & Management
Block ads for the whole household	DNS
Run a smart home	Internet of Things (IoT)
Save recipes	Recipe Management

You can also use your browser's search (Ctrl+F on a computer, "Find in page" on a phone) to look for a keyword.

Step 3: Read an entry properly

Each program is a short entry. On the web version an entry shows:

• A name and a one-line description of what the software does.
• Website: the official site, where the install guide lives.
• Source Code: the code repository.
• Demo (when available): a live trial you can use in the browser without installing anything.
• A star count and the date of the last update to the repository. The date tells you whether the project is still being looked after.
• A platform tag such as Docker, PHP, Go, Python or deb: how the software is written or packaged. Click a tag to see every program on that platform.
• A licence tag such as MIT, GPL-3.0 or AGPL-3.0.

A ⚠ mark next to a name means that program depends on a proprietary service outside your control.

Step 4: Try the demo before installing

If an entry has a Demo link, open it and play with it for a few minutes. It is the fastest way to find out whether the interface suits you before you spend time on setup.

Step 5: Choose a beginner-friendly way to run things

The list has a category of its own called Self-hosting Solutions: tools that make installing and managing self-hosted software easier. A few names from it, as the list describes them:

• YunoHost: a server operating system that aims to make self-hosting accessible to everyone. It has a demo.
• Tipi: a home-server manager with one-click installs for apps.
• StartOS: a graphical operating system you use through a browser.
• DietPi: a minimal Debian system tuned for single-board computers.

If the command line is new to you, starting with one of these is easier than installing each program by hand.

Step 6: Follow the software's own install guide

Open the Website link for the program you chose and look for "Install", "Getting started" or "Documentation". This guide does not copy install commands for individual programs, because they change between versions and only the official site is reliable.

Optional: download the list

If you already have Git and want to read offline:

git clone https://github.com/awesome-selfhosted/awesome-selfhosted.git

The content is in the README.md file of the folder that gets created.

4. First use

A concrete example: finding a replacement for a cloud photo service.

1. Open https://awesome-selfhosted.net/ and choose Photo Galleries.
2. Scroll through the entries. You will come across Immich, described as a photo and video backup solution straight from your mobile phone and an alternative to Google Photos.
3. Look at its tags: Docker and AGPL-3.0. So to run it, your server needs Docker.
4. Check the last-update date. If it is within the past few weeks, the project is active.
5. Open the Demo to see the interface. If you like it, open Website for the official install guide.

What you should have after a first session: a shortlist of two or three programs for one need, demos tried, and a note of which platform each requires. Do not try to install five things at once; choose one service you use daily and get it running reliably first.

Some other familiar names on the list, with the list's own descriptions shortened:

Software	What it is for	Category
Nextcloud	Access and share files, calendars and contacts from any device	File Transfer & Synchronization
Syncthing	Peer-to-peer file synchronisation between machines	File Transfer & Synchronization
Jellyfin	Media server for video, audio, books and photos	Media Streaming - Multimedia Streaming
Vaultwarden	Lightweight password-manager server compatible with Bitwarden	Password Managers
Paperless-ngx	Scan, index and archive paper documents	Document Management
Pi-hole	Network-wide ad blocking	DNS
Home Assistant	Home automation platform	Internet of Things (IoT)

5. Common problems and fixes

Symptom	Cause	Fix
The GitHub page loads slowly, scrolls forever, or makes your phone stutter	The Markdown version is one very long file	Use the web version at https://awesome-selfhosted.net/ and open one category at a time
A link leads to "page not found"	That project moved or shut down	Try the Source Code link of the same entry. The list runs automated dead-link checks; you can report one at https://github.com/awesome-selfhosted/awesome-selfhosted-data/issues
You followed an old tutorial and the install failed	The software has changed since that article was written	Always follow the documentation on the software's official Website, not an old blog post
A program you heard about is not on the list	It is not Free Software, or nobody has proposed it yet	Check the Non-Free page: https://github.com/awesome-selfhosted/awesome-selfhosted/blob/master/non-free.md
The entry is tagged Docker only, and your machine says docker: command not found	Docker is not installed on the server	Install Docker from https://www.docker.com, then follow the software's guide again
After choosing, you notice the project has not been updated in ages	The last-update date was not checked first	On the web version, look at each entry's last-update date and prefer active projects
Too many options, no idea which to pick	Each category has dozens of entries	Filter by three things: has a demo, updated recently, many stars. Then try the demos of the top two or three

6. Uninstalling / updating

Updating: the community edits the list continuously (the most recent change when this guide was written was on 29 September 2026). The web version is always current; just reload the page. If you downloaded it with Git, go into that folder and run:

git pull

Uninstalling: there is nothing to remove. If you downloaded the list, delete the awesome-selfhosted folder.

Removing or updating an individual program you installed from the list is covered by that program's own documentation.

7. Frequently asked questions

Does it cost money? Browsing the list does not. Software on the main list is Free Software with no licence fee. What you may pay for is hardware, electricity, or server rental if you do not host at home.

Does it need an internet connection? You need one to read the list and download software. Once installed, many services work inside your home network; reaching them from outside takes extra configuration that differs per program.

Does my data get sent anywhere? The list is just a web page to read. With self-hosted software your data stays on your machine. Entries marked ⚠ rely on an outside service, so read those carefully first.

Will it run on a weak machine? It depends on the program. The list does not state hardware requirements; check the official documentation of whatever you pick. The Self-hosting Solutions category includes operating systems built for small single-board computers.

How do I suggest a program for the list? Contributions go through the project's separate data repository. The instructions are at https://github.com/awesome-selfhosted/awesome-selfhosted-data/blob/master/CONTRIBUTING.md