Reference
Self-hosted alternatives to popular SaaS (2026)
For every popular SaaS service in 2026, there's a self-hosted alternative you can run on an offshore no-KYC VPS. This page is the comprehensive index. Click through for setup guides where available.
Updated .
Quick start
Most of the alternatives below run on a single $2-15/month VPS at one of our recommended providers. For the cheapest path: HostHatch IS at $2/mo or BuyVM Luxembourg at $2/mo. For the most-private path: FlokiNET or Privex.
Alternatives by category
| Category | Replace this SaaS | With this self-hosted | Specs | Guide |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chat / IM | Slack / Discord / Teams | Matrix (Synapse / Conduit) | 1-2 vCPU / 2-4 GB RAM | guide → |
| Chat / IM | WhatsApp / Telegram | XMPP (Prosody / ejabberd) | 1 vCPU / 1 GB RAM | — |
| Video calls | Zoom / Google Meet / Teams | Jitsi Meet | 4 vCPU / 8 GB RAM | guide → |
| Forum | Lemmy / Discourse | 2 vCPU / 4 GB RAM | — | |
| Cloud storage | Google Drive / Dropbox / iCloud | Nextcloud | 2 vCPU / 4 GB RAM + storage | guide → |
| Photos | Google Photos / iCloud Photos | Immich / PhotoPrism | 2 vCPU / 4 GB RAM + storage | — |
| Backup | Backblaze / Time Machine | Restic + offshore VPS | 1 vCPU + cheap storage | — |
| Office suite | Google Docs / Microsoft 365 | Collabora Online / OnlyOffice (in Nextcloud) | Bundled with Nextcloud | guide → |
| Notes / wiki | Notion / Evernote / OneNote | Joplin Server / Trilium / SiYuan | 1 vCPU / 1 GB RAM | — |
| Project mgmt | Asana / Trello / Linear | Plane / Vikunja / Kanboard | 2 vCPU / 4 GB RAM | — |
| Calendar / contacts | Google Calendar / iCloud | Radicale / Baikal (CalDAV/CardDAV) | 1 vCPU / 512 MB RAM | — |
| Password manager | 1Password / LastPass / Bitwarden cloud | Vaultwarden | 1 vCPU / 256 MB RAM | guide → |
| Auth / SSO | Okta / Auth0 | Authelia / Authentik / Keycloak | 1-2 vCPU / 1-2 GB RAM | — |
| Gmail / Outlook | Mail-in-a-Box / Mailcow / Stalwart | 1 vCPU / 1 GB RAM | guide → | |
| Mailing list | Mailchimp / SendGrid | Listmonk / Mailtrain | 1 vCPU / 1 GB RAM | — |
| Microblog | Twitter / X / Threads | Mastodon / Pleroma / GoToSocial | 2 vCPU / 4 GB RAM | guide → |
| Photo sharing | Pixelfed | 2 vCPU / 4 GB RAM + storage | guide → | |
| Video sharing | YouTube | PeerTube | 4 vCPU / 8 GB RAM + lots of storage | — |
| Blog / CMS | Medium / Substack / Wix | WordPress / Ghost / Hugo | 1 vCPU / 1 GB RAM | guide → |
| Media streaming | Netflix / Spotify (your own collection) | Jellyfin / Plex / Navidrome | Better at home; offshore for remote access only | — |
| Read-it-later | Pocket / Instapaper | Wallabag | 1 vCPU / 512 MB RAM | — |
| RSS reader | Feedly / Inoreader | FreshRSS / Miniflux | 1 vCPU / 512 MB RAM | guide → |
| Code hosting | GitHub / GitLab | Gitea / Forgejo / GitLab CE | 1-2 vCPU / 2 GB RAM | — |
| CI/CD | GitHub Actions / CircleCI | Forgejo Actions / Drone CI / Woodpecker | 2-4 vCPU + runners | — |
| Container registry | Docker Hub / GHCR | Harbor / Distribution | 2 vCPU / 4 GB RAM + storage | — |
| Package mirror | PyPI / npm / crates.io proxies | Sonatype Nexus / pulp | 2 vCPU / 4 GB RAM + storage | — |
| Search engine | Google / DuckDuckGo / Bing | SearXNG | 1 vCPU / 512 MB RAM | guide → |
| URL shortener | bit.ly / TinyURL | YOURLS / Shlink | 1 vCPU / 512 MB RAM | — |
| Pastebin | Pastebin / GitHub Gist | PrivateBin / Hedgedoc | 1 vCPU / 512 MB RAM | — |
| Form builder | Google Forms / Typeform | FormBricks / Tally self-host | 1 vCPU / 1 GB RAM | — |
| Monitoring | Datadog / New Relic | Grafana + Prometheus + Loki | 2 vCPU / 4 GB RAM | — |
| Status page | Statuspage.io / BetterStack | Uptime Kuma | 1 vCPU / 512 MB RAM | — |
| Analytics | Google Analytics / Mixpanel | Plausible / Umami | 1-2 vCPU / 2 GB RAM | — |
| DNS-over-HTTPS | Cloudflare DNS / 1.1.1.1 | AdGuard Home / Pi-hole + DoH proxy | 1 vCPU / 512 MB RAM | — |
How to think about this
- One VPS can run several: Vaultwarden + FreshRSS + a small Mastodon + a Matrix Conduit instance all fit on a single 4 GB RAM VPS.
- Don't pile high-traffic things on one box: Mastodon at scale, Jitsi at scale, Pixelfed at scale each want their own VPS.
- Backup is non-optional: a self-hosted Vaultwarden you forget to back up = catastrophic loss when the disk dies. Use Restic or Borg to a different offshore VPS.
- Pick a domain pattern:
vault.yourdomain.com,chat.yourdomain.com, etc. — wildcard SSL via Let's Encrypt simplifies management.
Cost reality
For a comprehensive self-hosted "personal cloud" (Nextcloud + Vaultwarden + FreshRSS + SearXNG + a small Mastodon + a Matrix Conduit + email), expect:
- 1 medium VPS (4 vCPU / 8 GB RAM / 100 GB) at HostHatch / FlokiNET: ~$15-25/month.
- 1 storage VPS or block storage for Nextcloud / photos: ~$5-10/month.
- 1 backup destination (separate offshore VPS, smaller): ~$3-5/month.
- 1 domain at Njalla: ~$1.25/month.
- Total: ~$25-40/month for a complete personal cloud, replacing $50-200/month worth of SaaS subscriptions.