Knowledge Base · Getting started

What should my first 3 self-hosted services be?

By Tiny · how I pick

Updated October 2026. No affiliate links on this page.

Everyone rushes to set up a media server first. Start with these three instead:

Together they make your server useful to the whole house right away, reachable from anywhere, and quick to tell you when something breaks. Add Jellyfin, Immich, and the fun stuff after these are running.

Words you'll see in this guide
  • Self-hosting: running an app on your own hardware at home instead of paying a company to run it for you.
  • DNS: the internet's phone book. It turns website names into addresses your device can reach.
  • Mesh VPN: a private network where each of your devices connects directly to the others, like Tailscale.
  • Port forwarding: telling your router to let outside internet traffic reach a device in your home.
  • Container: a sealed box that holds an app and everything the app needs to run.

See the full glossary

Service 1: a win everyone notices

An ad blocker for the whole network: Pi-hole or AdGuard Home

This blocks ads and trackers for every device on your network, including phones and TVs, with no setup on each device. Everyone in the house notices within minutes, which makes it a great first project. It needs almost no power.

  • AdGuard Home: a single container with a clean interface and built-in encrypted DNS. The simplest fresh install.
  • Pi-hole: the bigger community and more tutorials. It's what I run on my Raspberry Pi 4.

Either one is a good choice.

Service 2: reach it from anywhere, safely

Tailscale

Once your server does something useful, you'll want to reach it when you're out. Install Tailscale on the server and on your phone or laptop, and they find each other from anywhere with nothing exposed to the public internet. It's free for personal use and takes minutes.

It also replaces the beginner mistake of opening router ports. More detail in accessing your home server without port forwarding.

Service 3: find out before anyone else does

Uptime Kuma

A server is only useful while it's running. Uptime Kuma is a clean, self-hosted dashboard that watches your apps and alerts you by phone, email, or chat the moment one goes down. You hear about it from the dashboard, not from a family member complaining.

Why this order:
  • Ad blocking gives you a win you can see, which makes the whole project feel worth it.
  • The VPN makes everything you add later reachable.
  • Monitoring tells you when something breaks.
Get these three working and every app you add next sits on a solid base.

All three run on almost nothing

None of these need real power. A Raspberry Pi, an old laptop, or the cheapest mini PC runs all three at once. You can start today with hardware you already own. See whether a Raspberry Pi is enough, and what any box costs to run all day with the power cost calculator.

Then the fun stuff

With the basics working, add the apps people love to show off: a Jellyfin or Plex media server, an Immich photo library, or Nextcloud for files. Learn Docker first, since it runs all of them.

Quick answers

What should my first self-hosted service be?

A network-wide ad blocker: Pi-hole or AdGuard Home. It blocks ads and trackers for every device on your network, everyone notices right away, and it runs on almost any hardware.

What are good first self-hosted services for beginners?

The classic starting three are an ad blocker (Pi-hole or AdGuard Home), Tailscale so you can reach your server safely from anywhere, and Uptime Kuma to tell you when something goes down.

Pi-hole or AdGuard Home for a first ad blocker?

Both are excellent. AdGuard Home is a single container with a cleaner interface and built-in encrypted DNS. Pi-hole has the bigger community and more tutorials.

Should my first service be a media server like Plex?

Not first. Media servers are the fun part, but start with ad blocking, remote access, and monitoring so your server is useful, reachable, and reliable before you add more.

Where to go next

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