In 2023 nearly all services we use are Software as a Service (SaaS), which means even if there are Desktop clients, the data most likely is still stored in “the cloud”. This is not necessarily a bad thing, but it means that you are dependent on the service provider to keep your data safe and secure.

Generally I am not an opponent to this movement as it makes using Software a lot easier and more convenient, for the company running it and for most users using it. But I am also not a fan of being dependent on a company to keep my data safe and secure, especially when this company has a track record for leaving people in the rain.

This is why I am very concerned about where my data is stored and how I can make sure I will always have access to my data.

Why and what I think about degoogling

There have been a lot of blogposts and articles about degoogling, there is even a complete subreddit about the topic. While most of those are mainly about the privacy angle, which is not wrong, for me, it is more about risk management.

Privacy

It is really nearly impossible today to have convenience with complete privacy, as any kind of SaaS will run some sort of analytics to know how their product is doing, and I don’t even blame them. Having been on the other side of the stick, I can confidently say that nobody specifically cares about you and your user behaviour. You are merely a data point is a sea of data and only the software really knows about you. There is no one sitting in an office and stalking Dennis Schmalacker on how he is using Google Services or how he is using his email. So as a European citizen under the GDPR I am willing to accept this level of privacy and move on to another topic.

The same applies for ads and targeted marketing. Working with our marketing guys very closely and having a look over theirs shoulder from time to time, I can confidently say that there is no evil mastermind behind the scenes, that is trying to manipulate you into buying something you don’t want. Only the very high-end marketing companies are able to really target the right people with the right ads, and even then it is not a guarantee that you will buy something. And they mostly know that running ads on pages that have a proven customer base is a lot more effective than trying to target people that have never heard of your product. So again, I am willing to accept this level of privacy and move on, nonetheless I am using an adblocker.

Data ownership

I want to talk about risk management, especially about the risk of loosing my data and access to essential services. In this regard degoogling doesn’t only mean getting away from Google services for me, but generally taking my data to where I can actually make proper backups of the raw data. Moving from Google to another SaaS provider doesn’t really solve the problem, as I am still dependent on the provider to keep my data safe and secure. If that provider decides to suddenly deny me access to my data, I am screwed out of countless memories and important documents.

With the introduction of the GDPR and the possibility to export my data from services offered in Europe, there is a possible way to make backups of my data. But this is not a perfect solution, as I am not able to automate this process, since most services have a manual process to export the data. Also depending on the service, I may have my data, but the data format is completely usable to set up most self-hosted services.

The services I am self hosting

Email

Email is one of the fundamental pieces of the modern internet. It is the way to communicate with other people and companies, but more importantly it is the way to access most of the services we use today. Every service you use is connected to an email address that you identify yourself with, the auth in authentication and authorization.

Losing access to you email address essentially means you have lost all access to all other services. This is why I decided to run my own mail server with my own domain. This was even if I ever decided that running my own Mail server is too much work, I can still move to another provider and take my identity with me.

I decided to use the MailU project, which is a collection of dockerized services, that provide a complete mail server, with webmail, spam filtering, IMAPS and SMTPS. It is quite easy to set up and maintain, while being quite secure and feature rich. The only custom-made part is the management UI, which is a simple web UI that allows me to add and remove users, as well as manage the domains and aliases. Everything else is proven and battle tested software, like Postfix, Dovecot, Rspamd, etc.

Running your own mail server is not for everyone, as it is quite a bit of work and understanding needed. Especially if you depend on your emails being delivered it is mostly a better idea to use a service like Google Workspace or Microsoft 365. Since for me 99% of my emails are received and only a small percentage are sent, I am not too worried about my emails not being delivered, as I can always troubleshoot every email by hand. That doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t set up all the mechanisms to make sure your emails are delivered, like DKIM, SPF, DMARC, etc. which MailU does by default or is very helpful in doing so.

Photos

The next essential service for me is Google Photos, which stores all of my digital photos and videos from the last 10 years.

Loosing access to this would mean loosing access to countless memories and moments that I have captured over the years. Sadly the convenience and usability of Google Photos is unmatched by any other service I have tried, especially looking at the app and the web interface. So I am still actively using Google Photos, but I also have a second solution for all my photos and videos.

Here is use [PhotoPrism](https://www.photoprism.app/, which is a self-hosted photo management solution, which I also support monetarily on Patreon. A new solution in the form of Immich is also in active development, which is a lot closer to Google Photos in terms of usability and user experience, but I have yet to properly try it out. So far I am very happy with PhotoPrism and have come to like a lot of the decisions they have made.

For backups from my phone I use PhotoSync, which is a paid app that allows me to sync my photos and videos to my server via WebDAV, selectively per folder on my phone, just like the google photos app. Another app that has popped up in recent months is the Gallery for PhotoPrism which I also use sparingly.

Drive

In terms of file storage I am using two systems, Paperless-ngx and since a few days Filebrowser. I am also using a Samba Share to store some files in my home network, but mostly I am not in the need of a Google Drive replacement. For the few docs I need to write privately, I either use Google Docs or the Office 365 Family Subscription I have.

I have set up Paperless to automatically import all the emails in archive folder, which should be important enough to be saved in the long term. I have made the experience over my life that most paper or even PDFs are not worth keeping and the ones you want to keep are mostly on paper. So my Paperless is not that full, but I am super happy with it either way. If you use it you will not get around classifying your documents, which is a bit of work, but it is worth it in the end.

Filebrowser is a new addition to my stack, as I have been looking for a way to simply share files with friends and family. Filebrowser acts as a simple dropbox where I can easily move files between systems if I need to. I have not yet made any extended experiences, but up until now it a strong contender.

The samba share is a simple VM on my homeserver that allows me to save files from my windows gaming machine, so I can avoid having any private files in there. Ideally this machine can be re-setup at any time and I only need to download my games again. It also allows me to easily move files between my main macOS machine and the Windows machine.

VPN

I am using WireGuard as my VPN solution, which is a simple and easy to use VPN solution. I have two VPN setups, one to access my home network and one to access my server network. I am pretty happy with the setup and already managed to set up a more extensive site2site tunnel for my girlfriend.

The services I am still using

Even though I am managing to run a lot of essential services myself, there are still some services I am using, that I have not yet found a good replacement for. What is most essential for me when using those services is that I am paying to use those services. This way I am less likely to be the product and more likely to be the customer.

Passwords

I am using 1Password as my password manager. 1Password offers a superb UX and is available on nearly all platforms, where you would need your passwords.

Android, Calendar & Contacts

Even though I am running my own mail server, I am still using Google Calendar and Contacts. I have not yet found a good replacement for those services, as they are so deeply integrated into Android. I tried running a baikal server and some other solutions, but there has been nothing with the right UX yet for me. Running a whole Nextcloud instance just for calendar and contacts is also not really an option for me, as I don’t want to manage a whole Nextcloud instance, when I wouldn’t use it.

I also use the stock Android that has come with my phone, the OnePlus 7T, as alternative ROMs are not really an option.

I am a Google One subscriber, which gives me a slightly different relationship with Google, as I am paying for the storage of my photos, emails and drive and get the benefit of having a support line, if something goes wrong. Still Google One is not Googles main product and I could be banned at any time.

For search, I am using Kagi, which is a alternative search engine and currently a lot better than Google Search, which has deteriorated significantly in the last year. In the beginning I was using the smallest paid plan, but was since upgraded to the unlimited plan. I am roughly using 1000 search queries a month across all my devices.

YNAB

For my budgeting I am using YNAB, which is a budgeting app, which helps me keep track of my finances. I just started using it this year and I am really happy with it. As always I am paying for the service, as there is nothing comparable in the open source world, which is fine for me, as I am happy to pay for the app.

The conclusion

My conclusion and advice for everyone is to have a look at self-hosting, if and only if you are comfortable hosting software yourself. If you have no experience with running servers and software, I would advise against it. What you are doing is essentially running a production grade service yourself, that you would like to depend on.

If you are not that experienced, I would advise you to always pay for the services you use. There are a lot of good options out there, including Google Workspaces, Microsoft 365, Ionos, Nextcloud, etc. The difference between a free Google Account and a Workspace account, is that Google is not using your data for any kind of analytics, as the companies using those services would be very unhappy with that. The same for Microsoft 365. If you are paying, and they market it mostly to entrepreneurs and companies, they are not using your data for analytics, as they would open themselves up for liabilities.

What’s next?

Looking at my current situation, I am quite happy with the services I am running and the services I am using. I will probably take another jab at running my own calendar and contacts server, but I haven’t seen any changes or newcomers in the last year. Otherwise, I don’t think there is much to do for me and I think I have found a good balance between convenience, data ownership and privacy.

I may look into hosting my own password manager, but up until now 1Password is not known for being very easy on the ban hammer, so I am not too worried about loosing access to my passwords. Which reminds me, I should probably make a backup.

Provide me feedback or leave your opinion in the HackerNews discussion