Self-hosting is the practice of running and maintaining a website or service using a private web server, instead of using a service outside of the administrator's own control.
Self-hosting allows users to have more control over their data, privacy, and computing infrastructure, as well as potentially saving costs and improving skills.
[1][2] The practice of self-hosting web services became more feasible with the development of cloud computing and virtualization technologies, which enabled users to run their own servers on remote hardware or virtual machines.
[3] Self-hosting web services became more popular with the rise of free software projects, open source software projects and free and open-source software projects that provide alternatives to various web-based services and applications, such as file storage, password management, media streaming, home automation, and more.
There is also a sizeable hobbyist community around self-hosting, made up of hobbyists, technology professionals and privacy conscious individuals.