Practical, tested guides for running your own server. Every guide is written from real experience on real hardware — no recycled forum posts, no AI filler. If we haven't tested it, we don't publish it.
Your UGREEN NAS phones home to China out of the box. Here's what it sends and how to stop all of it.
DNSPi-hole comes preinstalled on SparkBox — but most people stop there. Here's how to actually point your router at it, verify, and tune the blocklists.
Set up Vaultwarden and migrate your passwords off cloud services permanently.
WireGuard on your NAS or VPS — access your home network securely from anywhere.
Surfshark vs ProtonVPN vs NordVPN, with real speed data from our test NAS. Short answer: Surfshark, 16× faster for BitTorrent in our side-by-side test.
Jellyfin on your own hardware — stream movies, TV shows, and music to any device.
One is free and private. The other has more features. Here's which one to pick.
Sonarr + Radarr + Prowlarr + qBittorrent — automated media management through a VPN.
AI face recognition, automatic backups, timeline view — all on your own hardware.
Nextcloud on a NAS or VPS — ditch Google Drive and Dropbox without losing sync.
Swap UGOS for plain Ubuntu on a UGREEN NAS entirely over SSH — keep every photo and app in place, run ~44% less RAM, and stay reversible at every step.
UGREEN vs Synology vs building your own — tested recommendations with real benchmarks.
Which UGREEN NAS is right for you? Side-by-side comparison with measured performance data.
Cost, privacy, performance, and convenience — an honest comparison of both approaches.
The real numbers: hardware, electricity, VPS, time. Is it cheaper than cloud subscriptions?
Never touched a server before? Start here. No code, no terminal experience needed.
CasaOS vs Umbrel vs SparkBox — which makes self-hosting actually easy?
Quick setup walkthrough for every app bundled with SparkBox. Click the matching tile in your SparkBox dashboard for the in-product version.
Network-wide ad & tracker blocker
PrivacySSO + 2FA in front of your apps
PrivacyBlock ads + trackers across your whole network
PrivacySearch Google, Bing, DuckDuckGo without being tracked
PrivacyPrivate password manager
Listen to your audiobooks and podcasts anywhere
MediaStream your media to any device
MediaYour private Google Photos
MediaStream your movies, shows, and music
MediaStream your music collection anywhere
MediaYour media. Every device. The Plex experience.
Scan, organize, and search your documents
DocsMerge, split, convert, and edit PDFs
Privacy-first personal finance
WorkSelf-hosted wiki & docs
WorkYour own private Google Drive
WorkYour personal library server
WorkSave, organize, and plan your recipes
Send and receive push notifications
ChatYour own encrypted, federated chat server
Get notified when websites change
AutoAI camera recording, 100% local
AutoSmart home automation hub
AutoAutomate anything with visual workflows
Manage your server files from the browser
ToolsFollow your favorite sites in one place
ToolsSave and organize your bookmarks
ToolsRun LLMs on your own hardware
ToolsMonitor your internet speed over time