--- title: I cancelled all my cloud storage subscriptions | daily.dev description: A developer cancels $371/year in cloud storage subscriptions by setting up a self-hosted home server on a Mac Mini using open-source alternatives. The setup... canonical: https://daily.dev/posts/i-cancelled-all-my-cloud-storage-subscriptions-ojmu1yhew twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:site: @dailydotdev og:type: website og:site_name: daily.dev og:title: I cancelled all my cloud storage subscriptions | daily.dev og:description: A developer cancels $371/year in cloud storage subscriptions by setting up a self-hosted home server on a Mac Mini using open-source alternatives. The setup... og:url: https://daily.dev/posts/i-cancelled-all-my-cloud-storage-subscriptions-ojmu1yhew og:image: https://api.daily.dev/og/posts/ojMU1yHeW.png og:image:alt: I cancelled all my cloud storage subscriptions 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. # I cancelled all my cloud storage subscriptions **[Anthony Sistilli](https://daily.dev/sources/anthonysistilli)** · 15 min read · 53 upvotes · 14 comments ## Summary A developer cancels $371/year in cloud storage subscriptions by setting up a self-hosted home server on a Mac Mini using open-source alternatives. The setup includes Immich for photo storage (replacing iCloud), Nextcloud for file sync (replacing Dropbox and Google Drive), Jellyfin for media streaming (replacing Netflix and Discovery+), and Audiobookshelf for audiobooks (replacing Audible). Docker is used to containerize all services, and Tailscale enables remote access. Total monthly savings come to roughly $58.50. The post also covers using Kiwix to download offline Wikipedia and textbooks, and using AI tools to assist with setup. The author acknowledges ignoring the recommended 3-2-1 backup strategy and humorously walks through the complexity of setting up a torrent-based media pipeline. ## Full article daily.dev links to this article rather than hosting it. Read it at the original source: ## Questions this post answers ### What open-source tool can replace iCloud or Google Photos for storing photos and videos on my own server? Immich is an open-source self-hosted alternative to iCloud and Google Photos that mirrors their photo and video library experience. It runs locally on hardware like a Mac Mini, syncs via a desktop and mobile app, and can be set up by forking its repository and having it deployed with AI assistance, without prior self-hosting experience. _Anyone comparing self-hosted photo storage against iCloud or Google Photos can find real setups discussed on daily.dev._ ### What is the self-hosted alternative stack for automatically downloading and streaming TV shows and movies like Netflix? Jellyfin serves as the media server, paired with Jellyseerr for browsing and requesting content, Sonarr and Radarr for identifying the right files, and Prowlarr for managing trusted torrent indexers. Together these pass a request down a chain from selection to indexing to download, landing the file on local storage for streaming to any device on the network, including a TV. _Developers weighing Jellyfin against paid streaming subscriptions can track setup experiences like this on daily.dev._ ### What tool lets me download all of Wikipedia and reference textbooks for offline access on a home server? Kiwix is a service that lets someone download large reference datasets in bulk for offline use, including the entirety of Wikipedia along with medical, electronics, and physics textbooks spanning roughly the last hundred years. It runs alongside other self-hosted services in Docker containers on a home server for fully offline access. _Readers building offline knowledge archives can find self-hosting walkthroughs like this on daily.dev._ ## Community discussion Top comments from developers on daily.dev. **@ricktonoli** · 7 upvotes > I'm all for this, I've been running a similar setup for a while now and yes, it's great to do and on face value seems like the right thing, but in the end I think to costs add up. What you're not seeing here is (like others have said) backup considerations, hardware replacement (drives fail), redundancy, security, infrastructure and risk management. Now, if you love doing that kind of thing, and I do, then it's a great learning experience and definitely worth doing. Just don't sell this as a cheaper option, sell it rather as a learning / privacy option. You will still pay, just in different... **@brunoc** · 4 upvotes > Missing part: No redundancy **@baz14** · 3 upvotes > Moving away from monopolistic vendors is a great way to gain **full control over your data** 💪 > > But for non-admins, a VPS is usually the better option. Renting one is inexpensive and eliminates the need to budget for hardware maintenance/admin/upgrades. It also typically includes convenient management tools/backups/static public IP. Easy resource scalling (increase/decrease CPU cores/RAM/SSD). > > A dedicated server is mainly justified when you have very large amounts of data or need to run a large number of VMs **@gresakg** · 2 upvotes > This video is some really bad advice and pure "content for the cotent" because I am sure that guy didn't actually cancel all those subscriptions. Your home computer is just as safe as everything you own: get robbed or have a fire accident and you loose everything, get a hardware failure, bye bye the files for ever. That happened in the past and will continue to happen. The device is sitting in your home while you're on vacation: an internet problem, you loose connectivity to your files, a power problem idem. You need that document you stored on your home cloud? Well forget about it. > My advice... **@page011** · 2 upvotes > 30 dollars a month? > > > Nah I would rather spend $2,000 on a mac mini and $500 on storage, and waste all my time setting it up and maintaining it with less features and more overhead. ## Similar posts on daily.dev - [Mass quitting Apple](https://daily.dev/posts/mass-quitting-apple-p1aksq4g7) · Lobsters · 2 upvotes · 0 comments - [I built my first home server for under $200, and it replaced 4 monthly subscriptions](https://daily.dev/posts/i-built-my-first-home-server-for-under-200-and-it-replaced-4-monthly-subscriptions-a2bwnnlt0) · XDA Developers · 4 upvotes · 1 comments - [5 Docker containers replaced my most expensive subscriptions](https://daily.dev/posts/5-docker-containers-replaced-my-most-expensive-subscriptions-vjmieaafd) · XDA Developers · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [I ditched expensive cloud storage subscriptions for a $0 Nextcloud server on an old laptop](https://daily.dev/posts/i-ditched-expensive-cloud-storage-subscriptions-for-a-0-nextcloud-server-on-an-old-laptop-i3qfsecns) · XDA Developers · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [2026 is the Year of Self-hosting](https://daily.dev/posts/2026-is-the-year-of-self-hosting-ocn7tvk3u) · Hacker News · 166 upvotes · 19 comments --- Tags: [#open-source](https://daily.dev/tags/open-source), [#docker](https://daily.dev/tags/docker), [#self-hosting](https://daily.dev/tags/self-hosting), [#jellyfin](https://daily.dev/tags/jellyfin) [View this post on daily.dev](https://daily.dev/posts/i-cancelled-all-my-cloud-storage-subscriptions-ojmu1yhew) ```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":"I cancelled all my cloud storage subscriptions","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/i-cancelled-all-my-cloud-storage-subscriptions-ojmu1yhew","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/i-cancelled-all-my-cloud-storage-subscriptions-ojmu1yhew"},"datePublished":"2026-08-11T13:56:29.916Z","dateModified":"2026-09-13T18:31:10.949Z","description":"A developer cancels $371/year in cloud storage subscriptions by setting up a self-hosted home server on a Mac Mini using open-source alternatives. 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What you’re not seeing here is (like others have said) backup considerations, hardware replacement (drives fail), redundancy, security, infrastructure and risk management. Now, if you love doing that kind of thing, and I do, then it’s a great learning experience and definitely worth doing. Just don’t sell this as a cheaper option, sell it rather as a learning / privacy option. You will still pay, just in different ways, but the money will not go into some oligarchs pocket but into investing into your privacy and future (learning).","datePublished":"2026-08-13T00:31:58.762Z","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/ojMU1yHeW#c-cjH8WcTnf","author":{"@type":"Person","name":"Rick Tonoli","url":"https://daily.dev/ricktonoli","image":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/s--1mKwVOZD--/f_auto/v1745813607/avatars/avatar_54gVqSdbL9DajhGSKNFpY"},"interactionStatistic":{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"LikeAction"},"userInteractionCount":7}},{"@type":"Comment","text":"Missing part: No redundancy","datePublished":"2026-08-12T14:55:10.926Z","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/ojMU1yHeW#c-s8DQ9JQQQ","author":{"@type":"Person","name":"Bruno","url":"https://daily.dev/brunoc","image":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/s--ROIOlQJx--/f_auto/v1725998163/avatars/avatar_TeZizJZSuBTGwvQCNjapX"},"interactionStatistic":{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"LikeAction"},"userInteractionCount":4}},{"@type":"Comment","text":"Moving away from monopolistic vendors is a great way to gain full control over your data 💪\nBut for non-admins, a VPS is usually the better option. Renting one is inexpensive and eliminates the need to budget for hardware maintenance/admin/upgrades. It also typically includes convenient management tools/backups/static public IP. Easy resource scalling (increase/decrease CPU cores/RAM/SSD).\nA dedicated server is mainly justified when you have very large amounts of data or need to run a large number of VMs","datePublished":"2026-08-12T08:08:15.477Z","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/ojMU1yHeW#c-CLipHPvxF","author":{"@type":"Person","name":"Baz","url":"https://daily.dev/baz14","image":"https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/a/ACg8ocKd2iFU8YS4sV-rBJptuYSF8EHeQnm23N_dcXE1uON7_GMIlZg=s96-c"},"interactionStatistic":{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"LikeAction"},"userInteractionCount":3}},{"@type":"Comment","text":"This video is some really bad advice and pure “content for the cotent” because I am sure that guy didn’t actually cancel all those subscriptions. Your home computer is just as safe as everything you own: get robbed or have a fire accident and you loose everything, get a hardware failure, bye bye the files for ever. That happened in the past and will continue to happen. The device is sitting in your home while you’re on vacation: an internet problem, you loose connectivity to your files, a power problem idem. You need that document you stored on your home cloud? Well forget about it.\nMy advice is: if you need IA to setup opensource software stay on traditional cloud and pay. It’s way cheaper for you. If you can at least setup a VPS and a syncing service to another cold backup storage, then use a VPS for this. You’ll still pay a monthly fee, but at least you’ll know exactly what and where you’re storing and where is your backup. Backup storage can be very cheap, allways choose a different data center for it. My backups are in Finland for example. Backup storage can usually has limited access options. This is good because it has less attack surface for the hackers.\nAnd you can still have one backup at home.","datePublished":"2026-08-15T06:24:25.796Z","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/ojMU1yHeW#c-PiwmW5e2q","author":{"@type":"Person","name":"Grergor","url":"https://daily.dev/gresakg","image":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/s--Mh3EhDVj--/f_auto/v1762860597/avatars/avatar_Z0Y5lKjimjGDZtplRmL1r?_a=BAMAK+ZW0"},"interactionStatistic":{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"LikeAction"},"userInteractionCount":2}},{"@type":"Comment","text":"30 dollars a month?\nNah I would rather spend $2,000 on a mac mini and $500 on storage, and waste all my time setting it up and maintaining it with less features and more overhead.","datePublished":"2026-08-13T09:37:09.801Z","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/ojMU1yHeW#c-GUSlciyVj","author":{"@type":"Person","name":"Nigel","url":"https://daily.dev/page011","image":"https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/a/ACg8ocK9NWA-YOqxzVkAyu8zjUcC4TT5IUWb4mOYl6UdDlRvgaa8Ug=s96-c"},"interactionStatistic":{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"LikeAction"},"userInteractionCount":2}}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"FAQPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/i-cancelled-all-my-cloud-storage-subscriptions-ojmu1yhew#faq","mainEntity":[{"@type":"Question","name":"What open-source tool can replace iCloud or Google Photos for storing photos and videos on my own server?","acceptedAnswer":{"@type":"Answer","text":"Immich is an open-source self-hosted alternative to iCloud and Google Photos that mirrors their photo and video library experience. It runs locally on hardware like a Mac Mini, syncs via a desktop and mobile app, and can be set up by forking its repository and having it deployed with AI assistance, without prior self-hosting experience. Anyone comparing self-hosted photo storage against iCloud or Google Photos can find real setups discussed on daily.dev."}},{"@type":"Question","name":"What is the self-hosted alternative stack for automatically downloading and streaming TV shows and movies like Netflix?","acceptedAnswer":{"@type":"Answer","text":"Jellyfin serves as the media server, paired with Jellyseerr for browsing and requesting content, Sonarr and Radarr for identifying the right files, and Prowlarr for managing trusted torrent indexers. Together these pass a request down a chain from selection to indexing to download, landing the file on local storage for streaming to any device on the network, including a TV. 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