Ask HN: What do you run on a $5 VPS that's worth keeping online 24/7?
Hacker News users, inspired by the 'AI shed' concept, enthusiastically share the myriad of practical and often quirky services they run on budget-friendly VPS or mini PCs. The discussion highlights a strong community drive for self-reliance, cost savings, and technical mastery in a world increasingly reliant on cloud services, often leveraging AI to simplify complex setups.
The Lowdown
The original poster, inspired by DHH's 'AI shed' idea, wonders what useful, long-term applications warrant keeping a $5-$10/month Virtual Private Server (VPS) or mini PC online 24/7. As a self-proclaimed 'Linux guy,' they acknowledge a blind spot for automatable tasks and seek justification for the maintenance overhead. The Hacker News community responds with a veritable cornucopia of creative and practical uses, demonstrating a vibrant culture of self-hosting and digital independence.
Key applications and services mentioned include:
- Networking & Security: VPNs (Wireguard, Tailscale, AlgoVPN, Yggdrasil), DNS servers (authoritative, Pi-hole, AdGuard Home), reverse proxies (Caddy, Nginx, Traefik, Pangolin) for homelab access and security, firewalls, and network monitoring.
- Media & Content: Self-hosted media servers (Jellyfin, Plex), audio streaming (Gonic, Navidrome, Audiobookshelf), torrent clients (qBittorrent, Transmission) for 'Linux ISOs,' and personal photo albums (Immich).
- Productivity & Personal Tools: Password managers (Vaultwarden), note-taking (Joplin, Trillium, Memos), task managers (Vikunja, Actual Budget), RSS aggregators (Miniflux, FreshRSS), custom web apps, and personal knowledge bases (Bookstack).
- Development & Automation: Git servers (Gitea, Forgejo), CI/CD runners, personal dashboards, data scraping/monitoring tools (Uptime Kuma, Prometheus/Grafana), coding agents, and bespoke micro-SaaS applications.
- Communication: IRC bouncers, XMPP/Matrix servers, Discord bots, and Jitsi Meet instances for private video conferencing.
- Specialized Use Cases: Home automation (Home Assistant), game servers (Minecraft, Factorio, Valheim), specialized data analytics, unique local utilities (Berlin appointment finder, NYC subway tracker), and even an online mushroom shop.
Ultimately, the consensus is that a cheap always-on server offers immense utility for those willing to tinker, providing a personal digital space, reducing reliance on third-party services, and serving as a playground for learning and automation. The cost is often seen as negligible compared to the value derived from personalized control and self-sufficiency.
The Gossip
A Plethora of Practical Projects
Commenters showcased an astonishing array of services they run on their budget-friendly hardware. From essential network infrastructure like DNS and VPNs (Wireguard, Tailscale) to personal media servers (Jellyfin, Plex) and productivity tools (Vaultwarden, Immich), the common thread was replacing subscription services or creating bespoke tools. Many highlighted self-hosted Git instances (Gitea, Forgejo) and various AI-powered coding agents or chat interfaces for personalized automation and development.
VPS vs. Home Server: The Great Divide
A significant debate centered on the merits of a cloud VPS versus a local home server (often a mini PC or Raspberry Pi). Advocates for home servers emphasized more 'bang for your buck,' control over hardware and storage, and lower long-term costs, especially when repurposing old machines. However, they acknowledged challenges like power outages, internet stability, and the responsibility of hardware maintenance. VPS proponents countered that cloud instances offer superior uptime, reliability, and security (by isolating public-facing services from the home network), while eliminating hardware concerns. Many use a hybrid approach, with a VPS acting as a 'front door' or VPN hub for home-based services.
The 'Linux ISOs' Lexicon
The term 'Linux ISOs' became a running gag, thinly veiled euphemism for pirated media (movies, music, books). Users humorously discussed torrenting, managing, and streaming their 'Linux ISO' collections via qBittorrent, Jellyfin, and other self-hosted solutions. This theme touched on the practicalities of storage, bandwidth, and the cultural implications of digital ownership versus streaming subscriptions.
Tailscale's Traversal Triumph
Tailscale was a standout tool, frequently praised for simplifying secure network access to homelabs and disparate devices, especially for those behind CGNAT. Users lauded its ease of setup, MagicDNS, and Let's Encrypt integration. However, a spirited sub-discussion emerged regarding its privacy implications due to centralized logging and US jurisdiction, with some opting for self-hosted alternatives like Headscale or pure Wireguard setups, despite the latter's steeper learning curve for NAT traversal.
Oracle's 'Always Free' Offering
Many commenters highlighted Oracle's 'Always Free' tier as an exceptionally generous option, providing substantial CPU and RAM resources that far exceed typical $5/month VPS offerings. There was some debate about recent reductions in specifications for new accounts (from 4 vCPUs/24GB RAM to 2 vCPUs/12GB RAM) and the potential for existing 'grandfathered' instances to be impacted or terminated, creating an underlying sense of precarity for those relying on it.
AI: The New Sysadmin Assistant
A recurring theme was the transformative role of AI and coding agents in simplifying the setup, configuration, and maintenance of self-hosted services. Users reported leveraging LLMs like Claude Code to generate scripts, debug issues, and manage complex deployments, making advanced self-hosting more accessible to tinkerers. Some even dedicated cheap VPS instances as 'AI sheds' for these agents.