Cloud storage is an incredibly useful technology that makes it easier than ever to keep copies of your files forever. But there are several downsides to this, including the cost, the possibility that someone could access your account, or the simple fact that you’re trusting a giant corporation like Google or Microsoft to keep your data away from prying eyes. When Microsoft’s OneDrive has a list of disallowed file types, you know the company at least some of them access to that information.
I recently went down the rabbit hole of self-hosting, and Nextcloud and Immich have proven to be the perfect solution to host my files, keep them secure, private, and share them with the people who matter.
Why am I done with cloud storage?
It was difficult to find a common language
Personally, the biggest reason I wanted to move away from cloud services was cost. I ended up paying $7 a month for OneDrive a few months ago, but I was getting close to the 40GB limit on my free account (I’ve been using OneDrive for a long time, so I have some loyalty bonuses).
Meanwhile, my wife has always used Google Drive and Photos, so we’re split between platforms, and neither of us wants to compromise. I’ve never been a fan of Google services – not for any logical reason, but I’ve given up on the switch – and he felt the same way about Microsoft.
It didn’t make sense to pay for two cloud services, and on top of that, these services cost way more than we really wanted to spend. Of course, $10/month for 2TB isn’t a bad deal by any means, but we won’t be using anywhere near that maximum capacity either. So we were in limbo for a long time until the idea of self-hosting came up.
Nextcloud is perfect for file management
Everything is back up and working as expected
The first service I wanted to host myself was Nextcloud, a pretty beat up replacement for OneDrive or Google Drive. The big difference, of course, is that everything is stored on your own private server and you have full control over your data.
Nextcloud, which replaces OneDrive and Google Drive, is everything I want it to be and then some. At its core, it’s a simple file storage and management tool, and it works perfectly. There’s not much that can go wrong here, but you can create folders, subfolders and whatever else you need to organize your files the way you want, keeping them safe and sound on your own server. Nextcloud can also output PDF files out of the box, and it comes with a calendar and even an email client, although I don’t really use the latter.
Nextcloud also allows you to create multiple users, so while I can have my own account, my wife has one for herself and our files are completely separate. But we can also easily share files with each other. It’s even possible to share files with users outside our home network, although we haven’t touched on that. I rarely share files with outsiders, and if I do, it’s for work where I need to use work resources anyway.
What’s even better is that Nextcloud has a desktop app that can sync just as easily as OneDrive. You simply install Nextcloud and your files are available in File Explorer, including the ability to download them for local storage if required. This feature doesn’t work on a Mac, so I have to choose between loading it all or not showing up, but it still works well enough.
I can even edit Office files
Nextcloud Office is also a thing
One of the best things about Nextcloud is its scalability. Nextcloud is an ecosystem in itself, with the ability to install apps like Nextcloud Tasks, Passwords, and most importantly, Nextcloud Office. While I talked about Nextcloud Tasks before, Office is the most important part for me, and you can set it up in several ways.
Nextcloud Office is based on Collabora Office, a LibreOffice-based Office suite designed for online collaboration. To use Nextcloud Office, you need to set up a Collabora Office Document Reading (CODE) server, or you can set up a separate instance on a NAS, or you can set up the built-in CODE server on Nextcloud, which has a bit of a bad performance, but makes things easier.
I went with the latter for simplicity, but it does the job very well. I don’t edit Office files very often and prefer to work locally most of the time anyway, but it’s nice to have this built-in feature that lets you open those Office files on any device for the occasional quick look or simple edit. I am considering setting up a standalone server as I have noticed some performance hiccups when editing large Excel files.
Google Photos, but all mine
I could have a centralized service to store files and photos, and Nextcloud offers a useful app called Memories that offers a nice photo management experience. But I’ve heard a lot of good things about Immich, so I wanted to build this one instead, and I love it.
Everything about Immich is designed to look and feel like Google Photos, only this time everything is hosted on my own server and on my own terms. Photos and videos are automatically sorted chronologically, and I can easily find memories from certain periods in my life. I can also create albums for special memories like trips and special events, all displayed chronologically.
What’s more, despite being completely native, Immich also has AI features similar to Google Photos, so it can recognize people in photos and make it easier to find images of specific objects or people.
Like Nextcloud, Immich supports multiple user accounts, so my wife and I have separate storage, but I can share albums with it to include memories of our time together. Again, it’s possible to share photos with users outside of our network, but that’s not something I need.
It’s secure and remotely accessible
Reverse proxies and VPNs are useful
Even though all these files are stored on a server I keep at home, I can still access them all remotely when I’m out and about. I set up Tailscale to allow remote connections to my home server using a tunneled connection, meaning traffic sent between the server and my device cannot be intercepted and the connection is completely secure.
Even better, I also bought and set up a custom domain, so I could access these services more easily with custom URLs set up in Nginx Proxy Manager. It’s not mandatory, but it makes things almost as easy as a regular cloud service, so I don’t have to miss the convenience of a typical cloud service.
That’s not to say I don’t use the cloud at all. I created a Backblaze account for my TrueNAS server to back up my Nextcloud and Immich instances on a daily basis. This gives me peace of mind as well as reducing the risk of exposing my information to people I don’t know or companies who might use it for who knows what. Plus, Backblaze is cheaper than something like OneDrive or Google Drive.
Nextcloud and Immich have made self-hosting worth it
My self-hosting journey has led me to build a few different services that I love, but Nextcloud and Immich were difficult to learn about self-hosting on my own. I love not being dependent on a cloud service that I’m not fully in control of, and I love that I can still access my files from anywhere, on any device.
It’s only been a few weeks, but I can’t imagine relying on typical cloud services to store my files anymore. The control is in my hands and I can change anything I want about how these files are stored and made available. This is a perfect solution.
