Hello everyone!

I recently switched my Android phone to a custom ROM, and while setting things up, I wanted push notifications without relying on Google. That’s how I discovered UnifiedPush.

Really liking the concept, I decided to rent a small VPS (1 vCPU, 2GB RAM) and started hosting NTFY. So far, it’s been working great. Over time, I’ve added a few more services like FreshRSS and Audiobookshelf.

All of this is just for personal use, so the resource usage is minimal (the whole setup only uses around 500MB of RAM). I really enjoy how much value you can get out of such a small machine.

That brings me to my question:

What other lightweight, self-hostable tools would you recommend? I’m especially interested in small, resource-efficient services that you’ve personally found useful.

Thanks in advance for any suggestions!

  • Paddle0681@lemmy.worldEnglish
    0·
    27 days ago

    I found https://github.com/TwiN/gatus recently and its been a welcomed alternative to UptimeKuma (I have many hosts I monitor, so having a configuration file makes it far easier).

    I run a Prometheus server at work, for doing ICMP latency checks, thats all I need at home. Gatus is super simple for my needs.

  • poVoq@slrpnk.netEnglish
    0·
    28 days ago

    XMPP server (Prosody) that can also act as a Unified Push distributor.

    • tofu_oligarch@sopuli.xyzOPEnglish
      0·
      28 days ago

      Nice! I think XMPP is the best approach to messaging, as it is decentralized and can be E2E (and more mature than e.g. Matrix). The problem is that I won’t be able to convince anyone I know to use XMPP (Signal was a huge struggle already).

      • poVoq@slrpnk.netEnglish
        0·
        28 days ago

        For now you can use XMPP with the Slidge Signal gateway. At some point there will be an issue with Signal due to their centralized servers in the US and then you will be happy to not depend on it so much.

    • tofu_oligarch@sopuli.xyzOPEnglish
      0·
      28 days ago

      No, so far I just hope nothing breaks :) will take a look!

      With so many recommendations in this thread, Forgejo must be great. I’ve used it with Codeberg, but self-hosting seems a lot better (especially if they introduce federation at some point).

      Thanks!

      • Pika@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
        0·
        28 days ago

        I’m not PC but, one benefit of using a central server for syncthing is an always on backup that doesn’t require another client device to be on, it also allows for easier creation of new shares.

        For example, with syncthing you can set the “servers” client device to auto approve/accept any shares that are to trusted devices, then when you get a new device, instead of needing to add that device to every device you share on the syncthing network, you only need to add that device to the server and then you can have your other clients connect to the servers share instead of device to device. It’s easier. You can also configure the shares on the server to use encryption by default too, since you don’t really ever need to actually see the files on the server since it’s basically a install and forget style client.

        As an example of what I mean:

        I have 10 different devices that run syncthing, 9 clients and a “server” client. these clients are not always on at the same time, and as such when I change a file, the files can become desynced and cause issues with conflicts. By having a centralized server, as long as the server is on(it always is) and client itself is online, it’s going to always sync. I don’t need to worry about file conflicts between my clients as the server should always have the newest file.

        Then for example say my phone died. Instead of needing to readd every seperate client that the phone needs to share with to the new device, I only need to add the phone as a trusted source on the “server” client via the webui -> click share to that device on every share the phone needs, and then remap the shares to the proper directories on the mobile device. this is vs having to add every device to the phone, and the phone to every device it needs access to ontop of reconfiguring all the shares. It’s simpler, but fair warning does cause a single point of failure if the server goes offline.

      • rem26_art@fedia.io
        0·
        28 days ago

        In addition to what others have said, Syncthing will use public relay servers if it can’t make a direct connection between your devices. Everything is encrypted, so it’s not unsafe or anything as far as i know, but if you want to run your own private Syncthing relay server, you can. (Or run your own public one)

  • yardratianSoma@lemmy.caEnglish
    0·
    26 days ago

    glance averages around 20MB of RAM per day on my home server. Others have mentioned syncthing, which is also very light on resources, and super useful.

  • Decronym@lemmy.decronym.xyzBEnglish
    0·
    28 days ago

    Acronyms, initialisms, abbreviations, contractions, and other phrases which expand to something larger, that I’ve seen in this thread:

    Fewer Letters More Letters
    SFTP Secure File Transfer Protocol for encrypted file transfer, over SSH
    SSH Secure Shell for remote terminal access
    XMPP Extensible Messaging and Presence Protocol (‘Jabber’) for open instant messaging

    2 acronyms in this thread; the most compressed thread commented on today has 8 acronyms.

    [Thread #182 for this comm, first seen 21st Mar 2026, 16:50] [FAQ] [Full list] [Contact] [Source code]

  • SayCyberOnceMore@feddit.ukEnglish
    0·
    28 days ago

    Radicale - I ditched Nextcloud for it as no-one needed to see a calendar, it’s on their phone…

    I also use it to sync a calendar for Home Assistant too

    And it effectively backs up my Contacts too.

  • chunkystyles@sopuli.xyzEnglish
    0·
    27 days ago

    I’m thinking about finding an alternative to ntfy. The maintainers are increasingly vibe coding it.

  • gedaliyah@lemmy.worldEnglish
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    27 days ago

    Possibly underrated: CopyParty. Its an entire fileserver in a little over 1 MB. You can host it on anything that runs python and the client can be anything with a browser. It’s unbelievably simple and efficient. If I knew self hosting was this easy I would have started sooner.

    • chunkystyles@sopuli.xyzEnglish
      0·
      27 days ago

      There’s also an image for Copyparty if you’re already hosting stuff as containers. It’s super handy.

  • BinaryUnit@lemmy.worldEnglish
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    26 days ago

    Low-footprint services are are great I have been using Shaarli for bookmarks for quite a while it never failed me, and is very easy on server resources ~50Mb of RAM

    • tofu_oligarch@sopuli.xyzOPEnglish
      0·
      28 days ago

      Ohh good idea! At some point they stopped sending me videos as I was not able to watch them anyway :( thanks <3

    • BruisedMoose@piefed.socialEnglish
      0·
      28 days ago

      What’s the flow there? Receive link, copy, open MeTube, paste, download watch?

      Tiktok and Instagram links are so frustrating when friends send them.

      • jws_shadotak@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
        0·
        27 days ago

        Just checked out Seal. My impression:

        It uses the same backend as MeTube (yt-dlp), so they have the same capability as far as website support and file formats.

        Seal looks like a good option if you don’t have access to your home network or if you don’t have a dedicated machine to host things.

        I still prefer MeTube because it’s a web UI that I can access from any machine. I use a VPN to stay connected to my house so I could still use MeTube while away.

        Is it primarily for iPhone users?

        MeTube is just a web UI, not a phone app. It is accessible by any device that can see the local IP and port of the host machine.