It all started with a Mac Mini M1 collecting dust on my boss’s desk.
His original plan was to donate it to the company for some streaming project the marketing team was working on. I saw an opportunity — asked if I could buy it instead, and got it at a very friendly price. What a steal.
That little machine kicked off what I now call my subscription freedom journey — a slow but steady mission to replace every paid cloud service with something I own and control.
Jellyfin Over Plex
The first thing I set up was Plex. It’s the most popular self-hosted media server out there, and I’d heard good things. But then I saw the pricing — you need a Plex Pass subscription to unlock most of the features that actually matter. I figured I could wait for a sale, but even discounted, it still felt like too much for something running on my hardware, serving my files.
So I tried Jellyfin — the fully free and open-source alternative. There’s some wonkiness on certain platforms (looking at you, iOS), but as a web app? It looks great and gets the job done. No subscriptions, no paywalls, no “premium” tiers hiding basic features behind a paywall.
I think I’ll be staying with Jellyfin for a while.
Once I had my library set up, I started sharing access with friends. Turns out, being the person with a media server makes you very popular.
Immich — My Own Google Photos
Next up was photos. I’ve been wanting to move away from Google Photos for a while, and Immich gave me exactly that — a self-hosted Google Photos alternative that actually looks and feels modern.
The app works well, the timeline view is clean, and the facial recognition is surprisingly good. It’s everything I need without handing my entire photo library to Google.
Expanding Storage
My 2TB external SSD was filling up fast with the media library and photos combined. So I ordered a DAS (Direct Attached Storage) enclosure with 2 HDD bays, along with an 8TB HDD to start expanding properly.
This gives me room to grow the Jellyfin library and Immich backups without worrying about running out of space anytime soon. And with a second bay available, I can add another drive down the line for redundancy or even more storage.
Personal Cloud Drive — But Local Only
I’m also planning to set up my own personal cloud drive — something like a self-hosted Google Drive. But unlike my media and photo servers, this one I won’t expose to the internet.
Instead, I’ll use Tailscale to access it securely over my own private network. That way, I can reach my files from anywhere — phone, laptop, wherever — without opening any ports or dealing with public-facing security concerns. It stays local, but accessible.
What’s Next
The journey doesn’t stop here. I’m already thinking about:
- Audiobook server — so I can listen to audiobooks on my runs without needing an Audible subscription
- Music server — to finally break free from Spotify and Apple Music
- The Arr Stack — once I have a few friends actively using the Jellyfin server, I want to set up Sonarr, Radarr, and the rest of the automation suite. Friends can request movies and shows, and the system automatically downloads them to the library. It’s like having your own personal Netflix with a request system built in.
The Bigger Picture
What started as a cheap Mac Mini purchase is turning into a full self-hosted ecosystem. Every service I spin up is one less subscription I’m paying for, one less company holding my data, and one more thing I actually own.
It’s not always as polished as the commercial alternatives — but it’s mine, it’s free, and it works. And honestly? Tinkering with all of this is half the fun.
The subscription freedom journey continues.