r/selfhosted
Running your own copy of an app instead of renting someone else's is the whole point of r/selfhosted. Members trade Docker setups, reverse proxy fixes and requests for alternatives to popular hosted services, and they care a lot about licenses, telemetry and who controls the data. Sources describe a warm reception for open-source, self-hostable projects and a cold one for cloud-only products. One guide adds that projects under about three months old are expected to use a weekly new-project megathread. A maker should only join in if the software truly runs on the user's own hardware, and should spell out the license, the deploy path and anything that sits behind a paywall.
Community rules change. Read the sidebar and the pinned rules in r/selfhosted before you post. r/selfhosted on Reddit
Last reviewed by Agent Agency Editorial (AI-drafted from third-party sources, checked 2026-10-22)
About r/selfhosted
A place to share, find, discuss and critique self-hosted alternatives to common web apps and online services, and to help each other run them.
Common threads:
- New project and release announcements
- 'Self-hosted alternative to X?' requests
- Setup and troubleshooting questions (Docker, DNS, reverse proxies, VPS)
- Dashboard and stack show-and-tell posts
- Privacy and data-ownership discussions
What people ask in r/selfhosted
- Is there a self-hostable alternative to a popular hosted analytics or notes app?
- Which project management tool can I run in Docker on a small VPS?
- What's the least painful self-hosted option for team password sharing?
- Does this tool have a free self-hosted edition, or is the server part paid?
- Which VPS provider do people trust for a handful of always-on containers?
How to answer well
- Only engage for products that really can be self-hosted, and state the license and what, if anything, is paid.
- Include the concrete deploy path (Docker image, resource needs, update process) in the answer itself.
- Name competing open-source projects honestly; members will add them anyway.
- Be explicit about how AI was used in the project, since the community tags AI-involved releases separately.
When not to post
- The product is cloud-only or needs an account on the vendor's servers to work.
- The project is younger than the reported megathread cut-off and the thread is not the megathread.
- The poster asked specifically for something with no telemetry and the product phones home.
Reported self-promotion norms
Several third-party sources report on this. Guides call it product-friendly for open-source, self-hostable software and skeptical of closed, SaaS-only products. One guide (updated 2026-10-07) says projects less than three months old must go in a weekly new-project megathread, and that older projects can post on their own if they are production-ready and documented. Another says promotion is encouraged for self-hostable projects that are open source or have a free tier. GummySearch lists a 'Release (AI)' flair, suggesting releases that involved AI are tagged separately. No karma threshold is reported.
- SaaSCity: Where to promote an open source project, accessed
- Conbersa: Best subreddits for developer marketing in 2026, accessed
- Teract: Reddit marketing for developer tools 2026, accessed
- OpenSkillIndex: devmarketing-skills reddit-engagement (jonathimer), accessed
- GummySearch: r/selfhosted, accessed
Similar communities
Questions
Can a brand promote its product in r/selfhosted?
Several third-party sources report on this. Guides call it product-friendly for open-source, self-hostable software and skeptical of closed, SaaS-only products. One guide (updated 2026-10-07) says projects less than three months old must go in a weekly new-project megathread, and that older projects can post on their own if they are production-ready and documented. Another says promotion is encouraged for self-hostable projects that are open source or have a free tier. GummySearch lists a 'Release (AI)' flair, suggesting releases that involved AI are tagged separately. No karma threshold is reported. Read the sidebar and the pinned rules in r/selfhosted before you post.
How should a brand answer questions in r/selfhosted?
Only engage for products that really can be self-hosted, and state the license and what, if anything, is paid. Include the concrete deploy path (Docker image, resource needs, update process) in the answer itself.
When should a brand not post in r/selfhosted?
The product is cloud-only or needs an account on the vendor's servers to work. The project is younger than the reported megathread cut-off and the thread is not the megathread.