Hi everyone, I posted about my Safebox project earlier, but now I’d like to hear your thoughts on something a bit broader. I’ve been noticing a pattern in self-hosting communities, and I’m curious if others see it too.
Whenever someone asks for a more beginner-friendly solution, something with a UI, automated setup, or fewer manual configs, there’s often a response like: “If you can’t configure Docker, reverse proxies, and Yaml files, you shouldn’t be self-hosting.”
Sometimes it feels like a portion of the community views complexity as a badge of honour. Don’t get me wrong, I love the technical side of self-hosting. I enjoy tinkering, breaking things, fixing them, learning along the way. That’s how most of us got into it.
But if we want more people to own their data, escape Big Tech, and embrace open-source alternatives, shouldn’t we welcome solutions that lower the entry barrier?
There’s room for:
- people who want full control and custom setups
- people who want semi-manual but guided
- people who want it to work with minimal friction
Just like not every Linux user compiles from source, but they’re still Linux users.
Where do you stand? Should self-hosting stay DIY only or is there value in easier, more accessible ways to self-host?
Safebox aims to make self-hosting more approachable without sacrificing data ownership, so I genuinely want your honest take before releasing it more widely.
Some technical highlights of the project, for those interested:
Safebox runs on Linux, macOS, and Windows, supports both x86 and ARM64 (including Raspberry Pi, Banana Pi, and others), and handles domain/subdomain setup, Let’s Encrypt certificates, DNS configuration, reverse proxy (nginx), and also offers WireGuard-based remote access.
The project is currently in beta, and we’d really appreciate feedback from anyone interested in testing it, whether it’s about usability, stability, features, design, or honestly anything at all. You can find all the info about beta testing on our Discord channel.
If you’d like to try it out, check the Github repo: https://github.com/safeboxnetwork/framework-scheduler
Website: https://safebox.network/
Discord: https://discord.gg/aBP8bz6N8J
Thanks in advance to anyone who gives it a look or shares their thoughts.
This is the part that I don’t like. Couple this with condescending labels like ‘normies’ et al, I can kind of understand why selfhosting is still something that only a small segment of the population engages in. I realize that people like to differentiate themselves from others. It doesn’t matter if you’re collecting stamps or you’re the tiddlywinks champion of the world, we like to draw a line between ‘us’ and ‘them’, which is a pretty poignant song by Pink Floyd btw.
As @[email protected] pointed out, there are very serious consequences to self hosting too. The first Linux server I stood up got taken over fairly quickly, and over night began attacking other servers. That’s serious shit and the owners of said servers don’t take it lightly, and rightfully so. The owners of the platform you may be hosting on don’t take it lightly either. So, yeah, there are some basics one needs to learn and implement before they can begin a successful, resilient, hardened, server, and it’s not a lot of point and click solutions. Again…shit’s complex. It’s why there are so many specialists in the field, but now you as the selfhoster have to wear all the admin hats.
The doors to selfhosting should swing wide for all, and I try to be as accommodating as I possibly can because I know how I struggle and have struggled with things from time to time.
Safebox looks pretty interesting. I’ve often thought, if I were a much younger man, I would’ve loved to produce a type of ‘server in a box’. But I am well past being a younger man, so I’ll leave that up to you young guns.