Self-Hosting and Static IP Addresses: Privacy, Control, and Reachability

There's a growing community of tech enthusiasts who are getting into self-hosting. By using static, externally reachable, IP addresses, these individuals are finding ways to boost their privacy, control, and reachability online. Self-hosting is a game-changer for anyone who wants to take their independence and confidentiality seriously.

Deplatforming and Censorship Resistance

One of the biggest benefits of self-hosting with a static IP address is the ability to resist deplatforming and censorship. In a time when your content can be taken down or restricted based on various policies, self-hosting ensures that you have a safe haven for free speech and innovation. With your own server and a static IP, you control your content and make sure it stays accessible no matter what external pressures come your way. You're the only one who can turn your server off.

Privacy Policies are not Deterministic

Relying on third-party hosts means you're putting your trust in them to keep your data safe. But trust alone isn't enough. How many times did you share a secret with someone to find out everyone knows that secret? Now, make increase the risk by an order of magnitude due to the fact that you probably don't know all the employees in the third-party host. By self-hosting, you eliminate the need to give others your secrets, ensuring that your data stays confidential.

Emerging Self-Hosting Providers

If you want to get into self-hosting, there is a simple step you'll need to take first. As most devices are stuck behind routers, they are not externally reachable. In order to circumvent this, you'll need an external reachability provider. This is crucial for making your online services accessible, whether you're running a blog, a business application, or streaming media.

We listed the top 3 external reachability providers today:

1. IPv6.rs

IPv6rs takes the top position with its real IPv6 IP addresses and free reverse proxy for IPv4 traffic. Setting up a self hosted website is a breeze with IPv6rs. IPv6rs also offers "Cloud Seeder", an open-source instant server setup wizard that makes it simple to deploy isolated server appliances on your computer with a click. With support for a wide range of appliances like Mastodon, Nextcloud, WordPress, and more, Cloud Seeder by IPv6.rs is making self-hosting accessible to everyone.

2. Ngrok

Ngrok is a handy tool for exposing local servers to the internet through secure tunnels, making it easy to test webhooks and demo projects without deploying them. However, it doesn't provide a real IP address, which limits control and stability compared to self-hosting with an IP as IPv6rs provides.

3. Your own VPS

Setting up your own VPS can be a powerful way to gain full control over your hosting environment and customize it to your exact needs. However, it also means you have to manage everything yourself, which can lead to issues such as dealing with your ISP if they suspect you're hosting data on their servers, handling bandwidth limits, and troubleshooting any technical problems that arise.