What a stupid article.

For real, this almost turned into one of those sarcastic "You better not self-host unless you are some goober that loves privacy, because it'll take up so much of your time enjoying all the things you self-host!" articles. But committed to just this one guy's experience with no limits and paying for things as a solution.

I self-host on a laptop I was about to get rid of. It costs nothing. I bought an external HD for immich, which I needed anyway.