awesome-selfhosted/awesome-selfhosted - Detailed Review#

1. Overview & GitHub Stats#

• URL: https://github.com/awesome-selfhosted/awesome-selfhosted
• Stars: 243297
• License: Various (Curated list)
• Last Updated: August 2025

2. Project Description#

Awesome Self-Hosted is not a single software application but rather a meticulously curated GitHub repository that serves as the definitive directory for free and open-source software that can be self-hosted on personal servers. This comprehensive collection spans across multiple categories including communication tools, media servers, file sharing, productivity suites, and development tools. With over 243,000 stars, it represents the largest community-vetted resource for discovering self-hostable alternatives to commercial SaaS products.

3. What Software Does It Replace?#

The repository provides alternatives to numerous popular commercial services including:

• Google Drive/Dropbox: Nextcloud, ownCloud, Seafile
• Spotify/Apple Music: Funkwhale, Airsonic, Navidrome
• Slack/Discord: Mattermost, Rocket.Chat, Matrix
• Trello/Asana: Wekan, Taiga, Focalboard
• Netflix/Plex: Jellyfin, Emby, Plex (open-source alternative)
• Google Docs/Office 365: OnlyOffice, Collabora Online, Etherpad
• Twitter/Facebook: Mastodon, Pleroma, Friendica
• GitHub/GitLab: Gitea, Forgejo, GitLab CE

4. Core Functionality#

The repository functions as a categorized index with:

• Categorized Listings: Organized into 40+ categories from “Blogging Platforms” to “Wikis”
• Quality Filtering: Only includes software that is actively maintained and truly self-hostable
• License Information: Clear labeling of software licenses (AGPL, MIT, GPL, etc.)
• Technology Stack Details: Includes information about required technologies (Python, Node.js, Docker, etc.)
• Community Ratings: Implicit quality indicators through GitHub stars and activity
• Regular Updates: Maintained by community contributions and regular reviews

5. Pros and Cons#

Pros:

• 🟢 Massive collection covering virtually every self-hosting need
• 🟢 Community-vetted quality assurance
• 🟢 Regular updates and new additions
• 🟢 Clear licensing information for each project
• 🟢 Excellent categorization and searchability
• 🟢 Completely free and open-source

Cons:

• 🔴 Overwhelming for beginners due to sheer volume
• 🔴 No built-in installation tools (just a directory)
• 🔴 Quality varies between listed projects
• 🔴 Requires technical knowledge to implement solutions
• 🔴 No centralized support or documentation

6. Detailed Installation Guide (Self-host)#

Since awesome-selfhosted is a directory rather than a single application, here’s how to set up a typical self-hosted application from the list using Docker (using Nextcloud as an example):

1
# Update system
2
sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade -y
3

4
# Install Docker
5
curl -fsSL https://get.docker.com -o get-docker.sh
6
sudo sh get-docker.sh
7

8
# Install Docker Compose
9
sudo apt install docker-compose-plugin -y
10

11
# Add user to docker group
12
sudo usermod -aG docker $USER
13
newgrp docker

1
mkdir nextcloud && cd nextcloud
2
nano docker-compose.yml

1
version: '3'
2

3
services:
4
  nextcloud:
5
    image: nextcloud:latest
6
    restart: always
7
    ports:
8
      - 8080:80
9
    volumes:
10
      - nextcloud_data:/var/www/html
11
    environment:
12
      - MYSQL_HOST=db
13
      - MYSQL_DATABASE=nextcloud
14
      - MYSQL_USER=nextcloud
15
      - MYSQL_PASSWORD=your_secure_password
16

17
  db:
18
    image: mariadb:10.6
19
    restart: always
20
    environment:
21
      - MYSQL_ROOT_PASSWORD=root_secure_password
22
      - MYSQL_DATABASE=nextcloud
23
      - MYSQL_USER=nextcloud
24
      - MYSQL_PASSWORD=your_secure_password
25
    volumes:
26
      - db_data:/var/lib/mysql
27

28
volumes:
29
  nextcloud_data:
30
  db_data:

1
# Start the containers
2
docker compose up -d
3

4
# Check status
5
docker compose ps