Photo by Joshua Sortino on Unsplash
I have a hunch—and I certainly could be wrong—but I think we’re going to see a self-hosting revolution start to emerge over the next few years. The catalyst: symmetric (or nearly symmetric) upload speeds from major legacy ISPs through DOCSIS 4.0.
DOCSIS 4.0 is the reference standard that cable ISPs are beginning to roll out (read more here). This standard will enable upwards of 10 Gbps down and (potentially) around 5 Gbps up, though different ISPs may land on different numbers. When you put that much bandwidth in the hands of basically everyone, I believe it will drive a broader shift toward technology that fundamentally doesn’t need to live in the cloud anymore.
Now, I absolutely concede that not everyone cares enough to move away from standard cloud providers like Google, Apple, Dropbox, etc. But I think it opens the door for people who are interested to pull their stuff off these providers in a viable way.
I also think that any time you increase a technology’s capabilities like this, you see a new wave of applications. Massive shifts in download speeds enabled video streaming; now a lot of people watch “live TV” that way rather than using traditional cable. Similar patterns show up when there are significant improvements in power-generation infrastructure: new capabilities create new possibilities. Sometimes the technology leads the way before a seismic shift in capability, but many times it’s the reverse.
I don’t think this will be a shift we see overnight, but you can already see hints of open-source platforms that make this an exciting possibility:
- Immich — an awesome alternative to Google Photos that’s free and open source.
- Nextcloud — a free and open-source alternative to basically the whole Google Drive ecosystem.
- Jellyfin — a self-hosted media server that could replace some (or all) streaming services if you’re into cord-cutting.
- Home Assistant — local-first home automation that can replace (or reduce reliance on) cloud-tethered smart home platforms.
- Bitwarden (self-hostable) — a password manager you can self-host (great for people who want control of your vault). Many folks also use the community server implementation, Vaultwarden.
- Syncthing — continuous peer-to-peer file sync across your devices (a Dropbox-like workflow without a central provider).
- Pi-hole — network-wide ad and tracker blocking for your home network.
- Paperless-ngx — self-hosted document ingestion + OCR to build a searchable “personal paperwork” archive.
Just to name a few.
I’ve also noticed a pretty significant increase in polished, open-source, self-hostable projects—especially since containerization (specifically Docker) became mainstream. Now, look: I don’t think non-technical people are all going to go out, buy NAS servers, and learn Docker. But I do think this opens the door for:
- More people (especially those with some technical background) to see self-hosting as a viable route.
- Better tooling that becomes easier and more accessible over time—so your “Nana Meme” doesn’t need to understand Docker to set up services like these at home.
The other thing that excites me about this possibility—and this likely shift—is that it puts renewed pressure on cloud providers to compete. That means more features, better pricing, and maybe more privacy-focused services, too, since that’s certainly a big reason some of us started self-hosting in the first place.