If you have a homelab, then you’ve likely considered self-hosting every service you use. I’ve thought about that too, but there are certain services that I outright refuse to host at home.
5 I'll Leave Email to the Professionals
Everyone uses email, so self-hosting it is a no-brainer, right? Wrong. There are a number of reasons not to self-host your own email server, but the main reason I refuse to do it is that I like my emails to be seen by the recipients.
You see, most of the large email providers have spam filters that filter out emails which aren’t signed by another large email provider. That means if I self-hosted my own email server, the emails I sent could (and would likely) end up in someone's spam box.
There’s just no easy way around this one. I rely on email to run my business and for corporate communication, and I can’t risk having my email land in a contact’s spam box, so I just stick to using Google Workspace for my email.
4 I Need My Cloud Storage to Be Completely Reliable
While I’ve thought about (and even tried) replacing my cloud storage with a self-hosted cloud service, I just can’t bring myself to do it. I rely on my cloud storage for a number of things.
I store just about my entire life in the cloud, which has pros and cons. One of the pros is I always have access to all of my files anywhere in the world, so long as I have an internet connection.
Self-hosting doesn’t provide me this reliability. If my home internet goes out, so would my cloud storage access. Power goes out? There goes my access. Server maintenance? Bye bye shared file downloads.
Since I rely on my cloud storage for so much, I need it to be as reliable as possible—and self-hosting just doesn’t deliver that.
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3 There's Just No Reason to Host My Own Git Repository
While others might have reason to self-host their own code revision repository, I don’t have that need. I simply choose to use GitHub for that, because it works, it’s free, and I know it.
I’ve used GitHub for over a decade at this point, and I’m very familiar with it, so I’m going to continue using it. The stuff I have on my GitHub is simple, and I don’t mind it being public.
Sure, a self-hosted git repository is more private, and I would have more control over it. However, it would add extra complication, make accessing it outside the network more difficult, and be susceptible to the same reliability problems that keep me from hosing my own cloud storage.
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If you need version control for your projects, want to host it yourself, but don't want to use barebones git, you can set up a Gitlab server to store all of your code while providing easy access through a web interface.
2 Sometimes It's Worth Hosting a Website Offsite
I’ve self-hosted my own websites many, many times. It’s a great option for simple sites or services that can handle downtime, but it’s not always the best option.
My wife’s blog, my ecommerce store, and my own blog are all hosted off-site. Why? Again, it comes down to reliability.
When I was running my small business and handling dozens (or more) transactions per month, I needed a service that was up more than my home network is. Because I tinker on my home network, there’s definitely downtime related to that.
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My business couldn’t be at the whim of me tinkering in my office, so I decided to keep those websites off-site.
Now, if I’m just running a site for fun, I have no problem hosting that at home. In fact, my home network does have probably a 98% uptime, but it’s the fact that I’m 1.99% shy of professional hosts that keeps me from hosting core websites at home.
1 Apple Music Just Works Better Than Anything I Could Do Myself
I run my own Plex server with all of my movies and media right here at home, and I love it. I won’t even consider not having a Plex server at this point.
I also run my own audiobook server and absolutely love it, so much so that I wouldn’t have it any other way now either.
However, when it comes to music, I pay for Apple Music through my Apple One Premiere membership without question. One reason is it works well in my all-Apple smart home, but it’s deeper than that.
With movies and TV shows, I don’t mind sitting down to find the content I want and then source it all, rip it all, categorize it all. Movies are easy to do that with. Music? Not so much.
I enjoy finding new music as I listen, instead of before I listen. This is possible with Apple Music’s radio functionality, and that’s just something I can’t replicate at home. If I were to only listen to music that I had on my server, I’d rarely discover new music.
That alone keeps me from hosting my own music server. I know others that do this, but it’s just not for me.
While I won't host these five services in my homelab, there are plenty of other things that I self-host! One of my favorite things is Scrypted, as it allows me to record all of my home security cameras to local storage instead of paying someone to use their cloud. It's more private, offers AI features on all cameras, and keeps everything local.
