I have come to a similar conclusion, I think managed self hosting for certain services gives you the most control and privacy while still giving you all the benefits of an always on web service, and then I’ll make a home server from my old laptop for anything that needs to mostly run locally for even more control and zero cost
Another step is considering which things actually need to be an always on service, or how reachable it nerds to be. Reachability to limit Internet exposure, whether that’s pulling everything back behind VPN or just local/at home only. I was starting to look at which of those services even really need to be a service vs just some files on a NAS. Simple files and simple access not tied to apps that need troubleshooting, and probably lesser hardware requirement (compute/memory->power)
I was about to move all my photos to Proton, and then… I guess it’s a vps and Immich after all that. Sheesh.
I have come to a similar conclusion, I think managed self hosting for certain services gives you the most control and privacy while still giving you all the benefits of an always on web service, and then I’ll make a home server from my old laptop for anything that needs to mostly run locally for even more control and zero cost
Another step is considering which things actually need to be an always on service, or how reachable it nerds to be. Reachability to limit Internet exposure, whether that’s pulling everything back behind VPN or just local/at home only. I was starting to look at which of those services even really need to be a service vs just some files on a NAS. Simple files and simple access not tied to apps that need troubleshooting, and probably lesser hardware requirement (compute/memory->power)