--- title: 4 self-hosted alternatives to apps you're still paying... description: Four self-hosted tools can replace popular paid subscriptions: GIMP as a free alternative to Photoshop, Nextcloud instead of Dropbox for cloud storage,... canonical: https://daily.dev/posts/4-self-hosted-alternatives-to-apps-you-re-still-paying-for-every-month-lek18cxx7 twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:site: @dailydotdev og:type: website og:site_name: daily.dev og:title: 4 self-hosted alternatives to apps you're still paying for every month | daily.dev og:description: Four self-hosted tools can replace popular paid subscriptions: GIMP as a free alternative to Photoshop, Nextcloud instead of Dropbox for cloud storage,... og:url: https://daily.dev/posts/4-self-hosted-alternatives-to-apps-you-re-still-paying-for-every-month-lek18cxx7 og:image: https://api.daily.dev/og/posts/Lek18cXX7.png og:image:alt: 4 self-hosted alternatives to apps you're still paying for every month og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 630 og:locale: en --- > ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://daily.dev/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # 4 self-hosted alternatives to apps you're still paying for every month **[XDA Developers](https://daily.dev/sources/xda-developers)** · 5 min read · 0 upvotes · 0 comments ## Summary Four self-hosted tools can replace popular paid subscriptions: GIMP as a free alternative to Photoshop, Nextcloud instead of Dropbox for cloud storage, Jellyfin as a replacement for Netflix, Hulu, and Spotify, and Immich instead of Google Photos. Each requires providing your own storage/hardware but eliminates recurring subscription fees, with self-hosting requiring only time and some technical comfort rather than an elaborate homelab. ## Full article daily.dev links to this article rather than hosting it. Read it at the original source: ## Questions this post answers ### What is a good self-hosted alternative to Google Photos that offers facial recognition and automatic backup? Immich is a nearly identical clone of Google Photos offering facial recognition, automatic backup, and a similar timeline view. It requires you to provide your own storage rather than paying a monthly fee, and a NAS can pay for itself within a few months compared to Google One's $2/month for 100GB, especially when storing multiple terabytes of images. _Weighing self-hosted photo backup against Google Photos pricing is easier with daily.dev's coverage of self-hosting tools._ ### Can Jellyfin replace both Netflix and Spotify for home media streaming? Yes, Jellyfin can host both a video media library and a music library, replacing services like Netflix, Hulu, Disney+, and Spotify. It supports streaming from any screen at home or remotely via a reverse proxy, offers the same feature set as Plex without a Plex Pass subscription, and runs well on a mini-PC or Raspberry Pi connected to a NAS. _Developers comparing Jellyfin to Plex and streaming subscriptions can follow self-hosting trends on daily.dev._ ### Is GIMP a viable free replacement for Adobe Photoshop? GIMP is free, open-source, and offers essentially feature parity with Photoshop in every way that matters, despite a learning curve for users coming from Adobe software. It can be self-hosted inside Docker and accessed via a browser, or run as a desktop app, avoiding the roughly $120 per year cost of even the most basic Adobe Creative Cloud plan. _For anyone deciding between GIMP and Adobe's subscription pricing, daily.dev tracks open-source alternatives worth evaluating._ ## Similar posts on daily.dev - [5 self-hosted apps that replaced my expensive paid subscriptions without feeling like a downgrade](https://daily.dev/posts/5-self-hosted-apps-that-replaced-my-expensive-paid-subscriptions-without-feeling-like-a-downgrade-uqtqgverj) · XDA Developers · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [These 5 open-source software cost me nothing, but they're absolutely worth paying for](https://daily.dev/posts/these-5-open-source-software-cost-me-nothing-but-they-re-absolutely-worth-paying-for-st7b5xioc) · XDA Developers · 2 upvotes · 0 comments - [Self-Hosted Alternatives: Control Your Data](https://daily.dev/posts/self-hosted-alternatives-control-your-data-rhen980vm) · Docker · 19 upvotes · 0 comments --- Tags: [#self-hosting](https://daily.dev/tags/self-hosting), [#jellyfin](https://daily.dev/tags/jellyfin) [View this post on daily.dev](https://daily.dev/posts/4-self-hosted-alternatives-to-apps-you-re-still-paying-for-every-month-lek18cxx7) ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180},"sameAs":["https://twitter.com/dailydotdev","https://github.com/dailydotdev","https://www.linkedin.com/company/daily-dev-ltd"]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://daily.dev/#website","url":"https://daily.dev","name":"daily.dev","publisher":{"@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization"},"potentialAction":{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https://daily.dev/search?q={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"TechArticle","headline":"4 self-hosted alternatives to apps you're still paying for every month","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/4-self-hosted-alternatives-to-apps-you-re-still-paying-for-every-month-lek18cxx7","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/4-self-hosted-alternatives-to-apps-you-re-still-paying-for-every-month-lek18cxx7"},"datePublished":"2026-08-18T20:02:39.450Z","dateModified":"2026-09-13T19:45:05.290Z","description":"Four self-hosted tools can replace popular paid subscriptions: GIMP as a free alternative to Photoshop, Nextcloud instead of Dropbox for cloud storage,...","image":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/posts/517ef4c7ae11f6cd97b7928162cfc86d?_a=AQAEuop","thumbnailUrl":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/posts/517ef4c7ae11f6cd97b7928162cfc86d?_a=AQAEuop","isAccessibleForFree":true,"articleSection":"XDA Developers","inLanguage":"en","publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180}},"author":{"@type":"Organization","name":"XDA Developers","logo":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/s--kCg6yyAP--/f_auto,q_auto/v1774964407/logos/xda-developers?_a=BAMAMiWQ0","url":"https://daily.dev/sources/xda-developers"},"commentCount":0,"discussionUrl":"https://daily.dev/posts/4-self-hosted-alternatives-to-apps-you-re-still-paying-for-every-month-lek18cxx7","interactionStatistic":[{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"LikeAction"},"userInteractionCount":0},{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"CommentAction"},"userInteractionCount":0}],"keywords":"self-hosting,jellyfin","timeRequired":"PT5M"} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https://daily.dev"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"XDA Developers","item":"https://daily.dev/sources/xda-developers"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"4 self-hosted alternatives to apps you're still paying for every month"}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"FAQPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/4-self-hosted-alternatives-to-apps-you-re-still-paying-for-every-month-lek18cxx7#faq","mainEntity":[{"@type":"Question","name":"What is a good self-hosted alternative to Google Photos that offers facial recognition and automatic backup?","acceptedAnswer":{"@type":"Answer","text":"Immich is a nearly identical clone of Google Photos offering facial recognition, automatic backup, and a similar timeline view. 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