Popular Self-Hosted Apps for Unraid — A Tour

What "Self-Hosting" Really Means

Self-hosting means running your own copy of an online service on a computer you own, instead of paying a company to run it for you somewhere far away.

You already use services someone else hosts every day. Netflix hosts the movies you stream. Dropbox hosts the files you save. Google hosts your photos. Self-hosting is doing that same job on your own server, in your own home, so your stuff stays with you.

• Privacy - your files and photos stay on your hardware, not a stranger's.
• No monthly fee - you paid for the server once, and the apps are usually free.
• Control - you decide how it works and when it changes.

Plex - Your Own Media Server

Plex is the app that turns your collection of movies, TV shows, and music into your own private, Netflix-style service that you can watch on almost any screen.

You point Plex at the folders where your video files live. It then fetches the cover art, descriptions, and episode details, and lays it all out in a polished grid. On your TV, phone, or tablet, you get a nice app with posters to browse - it just happens to be your own collection instead of a rental catalog.

• People who have ripped their own DVD and Blu-ray collection.
• Families who want the same easy experience on every TV in the house.
• Anyone who wants to share their library with a relative in another town - note that watching from outside your own home now needs a paid Plex Pass on your server.

Jellyfin - The Free, Open Alternative

Jellyfin does the same core job as Plex - it turns your media files into a polished, streamable library - but it is completely free and open, with no paid tiers and no company account required.

Where Plex is a company's product with an optional paid pass, Jellyfin is a community project. Every feature is free. Nothing about your library is tied to an outside account, because there is no outside account - it all lives on your server.

The "arr" Apps at a Glance

You will hear people mention Sonarr, Radarr, and friends - nicknamed the "arr" apps. At a high level, they are helpers that keep a media library organized and tidy.

Think of them as a diligent librarian for your collection. They watch for the things you have told them you want, help fetch them, then rename and sort the files neatly into the right folders so that Plex or Jellyfin can display them cleanly. The names simply split the job up by type.

• Sonarr - looks after TV shows.
• Radarr - looks after movies.
• Lidarr - looks after music.
• Prowlarr - a shared helper that connects the others to your sources.

Nextcloud - Your Own Private Cloud Drive

Nextcloud is your own version of Dropbox or Google Drive, running on your server. Your files sync across your devices, but they live at home on hardware you own.

You install an app on your phone and computer, and a folder of files stays in sync everywhere, just like the big cloud services. The difference is that the files sit on your server, not on a company's computers. You can also share a link to a file with a friend, keep a shared calendar, and store contacts.

• People who want to stop paying a monthly cloud-storage bill.
• Small businesses that want their documents to stay in-house.
• Anyone uneasy about their private files living on someone else's servers.

Immich - Automatic Phone Photo Backup

Immich is built for one beloved job: automatically backing up the photos and videos from your phone to your own server, the way Google Photos or iCloud does - but at home.

You install the Immich app on your phone, and from then on every picture you take is quietly copied to your server in the background. You get a clean, searchable gallery you can browse from anywhere, with timelines, albums, and even face and place grouping - all without a monthly photo-storage bill.

• Parents with thousands of photos who are tired of "storage full" warnings.
• People who want their memories off a company's servers and onto their own.
• Anyone who wants one shared photo library for the whole household.

Home Assistant - The Smart-Home Hub

Home Assistant is a powerful hub that pulls all your smart-home gadgets - lights, plugs, thermostats, sensors, cameras - into one place and lets them work together, without depending on the cloud.

Instead of juggling a separate app for every brand, Home Assistant gives you one dashboard for everything, plus the ability to create clever automations, like turning on the porch light at sunset or getting a nudge if a door is left open. It is a favorite of people who want their smart home to be truly theirs.

Pi-hole and AdGuard Home - Network-Wide Ad Blocking

Pi-hole and AdGuard Home do something delightful: they block ads and trackers for every device on your home network at once, from a single app on your server.

Normally each device has to block ads on its own, and phones and smart TVs often cannot. These tools work differently. They sit in the middle of your network and quietly refuse to load known ad and tracking addresses, so ads simply never arrive - on your laptop, your phone, your tablet, even your TV. No plugin needed on each device.

A Password Manager Like Vaultwarden - With Caution

Vaultwarden lets you run your own private password vault on your server - your own version of a service like Bitwarden - so all your passwords sync between devices without living on a company's computers.

The appeal is obvious: your most sensitive information, held on hardware you own. It works with the same friendly apps and browser add-ons as the commercial version, so day to day it feels just as easy. But this is the one app where I want you to slow down and think hard.

• It must be backed up, or a drive failure could lock you out of everything.
• It must be kept updated, because it holds the keys to your whole life online.
• It must be reached safely, never by opening it straight to the internet.

Notes and Document Apps

If you keep notes, recipes, or documents scattered across sticky pads and random files, a self-hosted notes app can gather them into one tidy, searchable place that syncs to your phone and computer.

There is a whole family of these apps, and they range from simple to fancy. At a high level they all do the same friendly thing: give you a private home for your written stuff that you control, instead of leaving it in a company's app.

• Simple note apps - quick jots, checklists, and reminders that sync everywhere.
• Wiki-style apps - organized pages for household info, how-tos, and reference.
• Document apps - edit word-processor and spreadsheet files in your browser.

Using the Server as a Backup Target

One of the most useful and least flashy jobs a home server does is quietly acting as the place your other computers back themselves up to.

Instead of buying a separate backup drive for every laptop in the house, you point them all at the server. Your Windows or Mac computers can copy their important files to a shared folder, on a schedule, so that if a laptop is lost or dies, the files are safe at home. There are also dedicated backup apps that make this tidy and automatic.

• Households with several computers and no backup plan.
• Small businesses that need their machines backed up in one place.
• Anyone who has ever lost files and never wants to again.

Download Tools

A home server is a natural place to run download tools - apps that fetch large files in the background so your laptop does not have to stay awake, and so everything lands neatly in the right folder.

These come in a few flavors. Some manage ordinary downloads and keep going even if your computer is off. Others tie in with the media library helpers to fetch content automatically. At a high level, they are just patient workers that download things for you and file them away.

• Grabbing large files, such as Linux install images, without tying up your PC.
• Managing downloads for the whole household from one place.
• Feeding files into a media library so they show up in Plex or Jellyfin.

Dashboards Like Homepage and Heimdall

Once you have a few apps, you will want one tidy page that links to all of them. That is what a dashboard app such as Homepage or Heimdall gives you - a friendly front door to your server.

Instead of remembering a different web address and port number for every app, you open one page and click a nice tile for each one. Many dashboards can even show you a little status for each app, so you can see at a glance that everything is running.

• Anyone running more than two or three apps.
• Households where family members need an easy way in.
• People who like a neat, at-a-glance overview of their server.

The Databases Quietly Running Behind Some Apps

As you add apps, you may notice a few extras appear with names like MariaDB, PostgreSQL, or Redis. Do not panic - these are helpers that some apps need in order to work.

A database is just an organized filing system for an app's information. Bigger apps, like Nextcloud or Immich, keep their lists and settings in one of these databases rather than in a plain file, because it is faster and more reliable. You usually do not touch them directly - they hum along in the background doing their job.

• They are normal and expected - many popular apps rely on one.
• They use a bit of memory, so they count toward your planning.
• Their data is part of your app, so it must be backed up along with the app.

Media Extras - Audiobooks, Comics, and More

Movies and TV get all the attention, but a home server is just as happy holding your audiobooks, e-books, comics, podcasts, and photos. There are friendly apps for each.

These work much like Plex or Jellyfin, but for a different kind of collection. You gather your files, the app makes them pretty and searchable, and you enjoy them from a nice app on your phone or tablet - your own private library, in whatever form you like to read or listen.

• Audiobooks and podcasts - apps that stream your listening to your phone.
• E-books - keep and organize your reading, and send books to your reader.
• Comics and magazines - browse your scanned collection page by page.

How to Pick Just a Few, Not All of Them

The most common mistake I see is enthusiasm - installing fifteen apps in a weekend, then feeling swamped when none of them are quite set up. Do the opposite. Choose a few, on purpose.

A server running three apps you use every day is a joy. A server running fifteen apps you half-configured is a chore. Fewer, well-kept apps beat a pile of neglected ones every time.

• Write down the two or three problems you actually want solved.
• Match one app to each problem - no more.
• Ignore everything else for now, no matter how neat it sounds.
• Get those apps working and comfortable before you add anything.

Planning Memory and Power as You Add Apps

Every app you run uses a slice of your server's memory (RAM) and processor (CPU). One or two apps barely register. A dozen busy ones can bog a modest server down. A little planning keeps things smooth.

Think of your server's memory like counter space in a kitchen. A couple of dishes fit easily. Keep piling on, and eventually there is no room to work. Some apps are light snackers; others - like photo apps, media servers doing conversions, and virtual machines - are hearty eaters.

• Add apps one at a time, and watch how the server feels afterward.
• Know which apps are heavy - media conversion, photos, and virtual machines.
• If the server slows down, that is your sign to pause, not push on.
• More memory is often the cheapest, biggest upgrade you can make.

Where to Learn Each One

This guide gave you the lay of the land. When you are ready to actually set up an app, you will want a good, current guide for that specific app - and there is a rich community happy to help.

One gentle warning: guides can go stale as apps change. Favor recent ones, and if a step does not match what you see, trust the app's own current documentation over an older video.

• The app's own website and docs - always the most accurate for that app.
• The Community Applications listing - each app's page has links and notes.
• The Unraid community forums - friendly people who have set it up before.
• Well-known video walkthroughs - handy for seeing the steps in action.

What's in the 27-page PDF

• What "self-hosting" really means, in plain words
• The big media apps - Plex and Jellyfin - and the helpers around them
• Private cloud, photo backup, and smart-home options
• Ad blocking, password managers, notes, and dashboards
• How to pick just a few apps instead of all of them
• How to plan your server's memory and power as you grow

Why I wrote this

I write these as printable handouts because a guide you can keep in a drawer beats a web page you have to find again. No jargon, no judgment, no rushing. If you'd rather have someone sit beside you and go through it together, that's a flat $99 first visit with the 30-day follow-up included — serving Portage County from Atwater, Ohio. — Bill