Slash Your Cloud Bill by 80% π
Self-host N8N, Vaultwarden, Ollama Β· Cloud cost comparison guides
A $4/month VPS runs 8 services β pay less, own more
π What is SelfVPS Guide?
SelfVPS Guide is a bilingual tech blog focused on VPS self-hosting and cloud cost optimization. We provide step-by-step deployment tutorials, open-source tool hosting guides, and real-world comparisons of major cloud providers.
Whether you're deploying N8N workflow automation, Vaultwarden password manager, Uptime Kuma monitoring, or setting up Ollama / LocalAI on your own server β we've got you covered. We also compare pricing across AWS, Hetzner, DigitalOcean, Vultr, and Alibaba Cloud to help you find the best value VPS.
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Self-Hosted Tools
One-click Docker Compose deployments for N8N, Vaultwarden, Affine, Uptime Kuma and more
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Cloud Savings
Real VPS price comparisons, cost optimization strategies, CDN savings & bandwidth tuning
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AI Self-Hosting
Run Ollama, LocalAI, ComfyUI on your VPS β private AI inference with zero data leaks
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DevOps & Security
SSL setup, firewall hardening, automated backups, monitoring alerts & security best practices
π‘ Monetize Your VPS Skills
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Save Costs
Replace expensive SaaS with self-hosted β save thousands per year
2
Build Skills
Master Docker, Linux & networking β become a high-value DevOps engineer
3
Offer Services
Help businesses deploy self-hosted tools, build private clouds
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Build Products
Package open-source tools into industry solutions, create SaaS products
π₯ Featured Posts
Your S3 Bucket Policy Is the Defense Line: Cut Object Storage Bills in Half with Lifecycle, Object Lock, and Versioning
Object storage is where cloud bills quietly explode: one upload becomes three copies, old versions pile up forever, and aborted multipart uploads eat terabytes you never see. This is a deployable bucket-governance playbook (lifecycle tiering + AbortIncompleteMultipartUpload + Object Lock retention + versioning + cost alerting) that took a 1TB backup/log bucket from ~$48/month to ~$19 β without giving up a single byte of recoverability. Full rclone + AWS CLI scripts and a real pitfall list included.
SSH Multiplexing + mosh: Cut Interactive Login Latency to ~20ms on a High-RTT VPS
Stop re-handshaking on every command: ControlMaster multiplexing cuts the handshakes for 8 SSH commands from 7 to 1 (780msβ180ms per command), and mosh (UDP + SSP state sync) survives WiFi-to-4G roaming and 800ms RTT. Includes persistent master sockets, fingerprint persistence, tmux layering, and a systemd user unit β ~12MB overhead on a 1C1G VPS.
Your Restic Backups Are Not Done Until These 6 Layers of Encryption + 2-1-1 Strategy Are In Place
Buying an S3 bucket is not backup. Treat the backup system as a security asset: 6 layers of defense in depth (client AES-256, SSE, KMS envelope, object lock, cross-region replication, key separation) plus a 2-1-1 retention strategy and quarterly recoverability drills β all for about $3/month on a 1C2G VPS.
systemd Socket Activation + cgroup Memory Budgets: 1GB VPS Boots Core Services in 30s, Idle Services Wake on Demand
Running a dozen+ systemd services on a 1GB VPS means slow boot, frequent OOM kills, and constant swap thrashing. Socket Activation puts idle services at 0MB standby, cgroup memory budgets cap each service, OomScoreAdjust protects core services β measured result: core path ready in 30s, idle memory from 1.8GB down to 640MB, zero OOM events.
Self-Host GoNotify: Run a 7MB Real-Time Alert Pusher on Your VPS, $0 Subscription
Slack/Discord alert webhooks cost money or have limits. This guide shows how to self-host a GoNotify-style real-time alert pusher on a 1C1G VPS: single-line Webhook config, Telegram/Email/DingTalk all wired, Docker image just 7MB, CPU under 0.5%. Includes a full Prometheus Alertmanager integration example, saves $5-12/month in subscriptions, and eliminates one public egress channel at the same time.
β‘ Quick Start
β Self-Hosting FAQ
What technical skills do I need?
Basic Linux command-line skills (cd, ls, vim) are enough. Every tutorial includes exact commands you can copy-paste.
How many services can one VPS run?
A 1 vCPU / 2GB RAM VPS can run 5-8 Docker containers (N8N + Vaultwarden + Uptime Kuma + Nginx + PostgreSQL). 2 vCPU / 4GB handles 15+ services easily.
Is self-hosting really cheaper than SaaS?
80% savings are realistic. Example: 1Password family costs $60/year. Self-hosted Vaultwarden on a $5/month VPS sharing 10 services costs ~$0.50/service/month. One service alone pays for the server.
Which VPS provider should I start with?
Hetzner offers the best value ($4/mo for 2 vCPU / 4GB). For US users: DigitalOcean ($6/mo) with great docs. Asian users: Alibaba Cloud HK node (no ICP needed).