https://techdigest.site/ 2026-09-08T00:00:00Z Independent, operationally honest reference for self-hosting: 105 tools profiled with real resource numbers, upgrade traps, backup surfaces and head-to-head comparisons. Tech Digest https://techdigest.site/guides/backups-that-restore/2026-09-07T00:00:00Z

Three-two-one for a home server, why sync is not backup, append-only repositories, retention that matches reality, and the timed restore rehearsal.

https://techdigest.site/guides/choosing-hardware/2026-09-07T00:00:00Z

Three concrete home server builds with real prices, and the buying order that matters: RAM first, Intel iGPU second, disks third, CPU cores last.

https://techdigest.site/guides/database-backup-consistency/2026-09-07T00:00:00Z

Why cp of a live data directory restores corrupt, what a torn read is, and the exact Postgres, MariaDB and SQLite commands to run inside Docker.

https://techdigest.site/guides/dns-for-self-hosters/2026-09-07T00:00:00Z

Why .local and .lan are dead ends, how wildcard records and split horizon actually work, and where an ad blocker stops being enough of a DNS server.

https://techdigest.site/guides/docker-compose-conventions/2026-09-07T00:00:00Z

A Compose layout that still makes sense after two years: one directory per service, bind mounts under one root, pinned tags and a shared proxy network.

https://techdigest.site/guides/gpu-transcoding-and-local-ai/2026-09-07T00:00:00Z

Transcoding wants an Intel iGPU and about 10 W. Local models want VRAM and a lot more. Two workloads, two different pieces of hardware, and the flags each app needs.

https://techdigest.site/guides/migrating-a-service-between-machines/2026-09-07T00:00:00Z

A procedure: inventory, export, move, verify, cut over DNS. Plus the UID mismatches, arm64 gaps and encryption keys that ruin an otherwise perfect restore.

https://techdigest.site/guides/mini-pc-vs-nas-vs-used-enterprise/2026-09-07T00:00:00Z

A three-way decision with real idle wattage and cost per year: the quiet mini PC, the prebuilt NAS with its vendor OS, and the loud used enterprise bargain.

https://techdigest.site/guides/monitoring-minimum-viable/2026-09-07T00:00:00Z

Monitoring should cost less than the thing it watches. Three tiers, what to alert on versus graph, and why most homelabs should skip Prometheus.

https://techdigest.site/guides/power-and-running-costs/2026-09-07T00:00:00Z

Every number shown: idle watts times hours times price, plus disks, domain, off-site backup and the replacement cycle, compared against the subscriptions you drop.

https://techdigest.site/guides/remote-access-without-port-forwarding/2026-09-07T00:00:00Z

Mesh VPN, plain WireGuard, outbound tunnel or a real open port. A decision tree, how to detect CGNAT, and why exposing an app login page is the wrong answer.

https://techdigest.site/guides/reverse-proxy-and-tls/2026-09-07T00:00:00Z

One proxy, two ports, one certificate story. How to pick between HTTP-01 and DNS-01, forward the right headers, and avoid the 413 and websocket traps.

https://techdigest.site/guides/security-hardening-baseline/2026-09-07T00:00:00Z

A finite, prioritized hardening checklist for a self-hosted server, ordered by what actually compromises people, plus the advice that is not worth your time.

https://techdigest.site/guides/self-hosting-first-server/2026-09-07T00:00:00Z

Four decisions on a first home server are expensive to reverse: the OS, where data lives, how you reach it, and backups. Here is the path that works.

https://techdigest.site/guides/sso-for-self-hosters/2026-09-07T00:00:00Z

Forward auth gates the request. Header auth trusts anything. Only native OIDC gives you one identity. What each mechanism really buys, and which stack to run.

https://techdigest.site/guides/storage-layout-zfs-btrfs-raid/2026-09-07T00:00:00Z

RAID is not a backup: one disk plus a real backup beats a mirror with none. Then ZFS, btrfs, mdadm and SnapRAID compared, with a pick per situation.

https://techdigest.site/guides/update-strategy/2026-09-07T00:00:00Z

Automatic container updates are how self-hosters lose data. Notify-only, pinned tags and a monthly window with a snapshot first is the right default.

https://techdigest.site/guides/when-not-to-self-host/2026-09-07T00:00:00Z

Email, anything your family depends on, password vaults without backups, public services on a home line: the cases where self-hosting is the wrong call.

https://techdigest.site/compare/actual-budget-vs-firefly-iii/2026-09-07T00:00:00Z

One assigns money to envelopes before you spend it, the other records where it went in a ledger that balances. Encryption, importers and restores compared.

https://techdigest.site/compare/authelia-vs-authentik/2026-09-07T00:00:00Z

Authelia gates requests in 35 MB, authentik issues OIDC, SAML and LDAP for about a gigabyte. Which one your stack needs, and what forward auth quietly does not do.

https://techdigest.site/compare/beszel-vs-netdata/2026-09-07T00:00:00Z

A 4 MB agent with hard-coded 30 day retention against 150 MiB and per-second detail. Real numbers, real limits, and which one belongs on your hardware.

https://techdigest.site/compare/bookstack-vs-wiki-js/2026-09-07T00:00:00Z

Wiki.js 3.0 has been in preview since 2022 and still is. BookStack ships boring releases every month. Which one your documentation survives in.

https://techdigest.site/compare/caddy-vs-nginx-proxy-manager/2026-09-07T00:00:00Z

A web form against four lines of Caddyfile. What NPM's release cadence looks like now, what its database does when it gets confused, and which one you can rebuild.

https://techdigest.site/compare/caddy-vs-traefik/2026-09-07T00:00:00Z

Caddy is a text file you own, Traefik builds its routes from Docker labels. Which one is right, what v3 broke, and when the label magic costs more than it saves.

https://techdigest.site/compare/coolify-vs-dokploy/2026-09-07T00:00:00Z

Two git-push PaaS platforms for your own server. Real licences, real RAM floors, how young they are, and what survives when the platform itself breaks.

https://techdigest.site/compare/crowdsec-vs-fail2ban/2026-09-07T00:00:00Z

Patterns you maintain and a firewall rule, or a shared threat signal and a separate bouncer. What leaves the box, the defaults that fail, when neither helps.

https://techdigest.site/compare/docker-vs-podman/2026-09-07T00:00:00Z

Rootless, systemd Quadlet units, and exactly where docker-compose compatibility breaks under Podman. A clear recommendation and who should ignore it.

https://techdigest.site/compare/duplicati-vs-restic/2026-09-07T00:00:00Z

Duplicati left beta in January 2025 after eight years. Whether that changes the recommendation, plus the database rebuild that ruins evenings.

https://techdigest.site/compare/forgejo-vs-gitea/2026-09-07T00:00:00Z

The fork history, Gitea Ltd, Forgejo's move to GPL-3.0, and whether the two have really diverged. A straight answer for anyone choosing today.

https://techdigest.site/compare/freshrss-vs-miniflux/2026-09-07T00:00:00Z

Miniflux is one Go binary and a Postgres database. FreshRSS is PHP you can bend. Both speak Google Reader and Fever, so pick on temperament, not clients.

https://techdigest.site/compare/gitea-vs-gitlab-ce/2026-09-07T00:00:00Z

GitLab documents an 8 GB minimum and Gitea idles at 150 MB. What that gap actually buys, what Community Edition is missing, and which one you need.

https://techdigest.site/compare/headscale-vs-wg-easy/2026-09-07T00:00:00Z

A mesh with NAT traversal against a hub-and-spoke tunnel you fully understand. CGNAT, client version coupling, and when hosted Tailscale beats both.

https://techdigest.site/compare/immich-vs-nextcloud/2026-09-07T00:00:00Z

Nextcloud Photos is a viewer over a folder, not a Google Photos replacement. Here is when that is fine, and when you need Immich alongside it.

https://techdigest.site/compare/immich-vs-photoprism/2026-09-07T00:00:00Z

Immich replaces the phone backup. PhotoPrism indexes the archive you already sorted. Pick by which problem you have, with the real RAM cost of each.

https://techdigest.site/compare/jellyfin-vs-emby/2026-09-07T00:00:00Z

Jellyfin is the fork of the last open Emby. One is free forever, the other asks $119 once. Here is exactly what that money buys you in 2026.

https://techdigest.site/compare/jellyfin-vs-plex/2026-09-07T00:00:00Z

Plex now charges for remote playback of your own files. Jellyfin gates nothing but ships rougher TV apps. Which one belongs on your server, and why.

https://techdigest.site/compare/kavita-vs-calibre-web/2026-09-07T00:00:00Z

Calibre-Web needs a Calibre library it cannot create. Kavita needs filenames it can parse. That, and a 2025 RCE, decide which one you install.

https://techdigest.site/compare/keycloak-vs-authentik/2026-09-07T00:00:00Z

Keycloak has realms, token exchange and an auditor-friendly name. authentik has forward auth and a UI shaped for homelabs. Which one, and what upgrades cost.

https://techdigest.site/compare/mailcow-vs-stalwart/2026-09-07T00:00:00Z

Eighteen containers and a documented 6 GiB floor, or one Rust binary at 150 MB. Licence gates, backup traps, and why neither fixes deliverability.

https://techdigest.site/compare/minio-vs-garage/2026-09-07T00:00:00Z

MinIO's repository was archived in April 2026 and its community build lost SSO and the console in 2025. What Garage replaces, and when to skip S3 entirely.