What each app needs
Most of these services sit idle most of the time. The ones that will actually stress your machine are Jellyfin when it transcodes, Immich when it processes a photo backlog, and Tube Archivist when it downloads. Everything else is comfortable on very modest hardware.
| App | CPU | RAM | GPU | Storage |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jellyfin (direct play) | Low | Low | Not needed | However big your library is |
| Jellyfin (transcoding) | Medium–High | Medium | Really helps | Same, plus scratch space |
| Jellyseerr | Low | Low | No | Small |
| Sonarr / Radarr / Lidarr | Low | Low | No | Small — config and databases |
| Bazarr | Low | Low | No | Small |
| Jackett | Low | Low | No | Small |
| qBittorrent + Gluetun | Low | Low–Medium | No | Working space for downloads |
| Immich | Medium | Medium–High | Helps a lot | Large and always growing |
| Kima | Medium | Medium | Optional | Your music library |
| Uptime Kuma | Very low | Very low | No | Tiny |
| ArchiveBox | Medium | Medium | No | Grows steadily |
| Tube Archivist | Medium | Medium–High | No | Large — video adds up fast |
Transcoding
Direct play is when the device you're watching on can already handle the file, so Jellyfin just hands it over. Almost no CPU. Transcoding is when it can't, so Jellyfin has to rebuild the video on the fly. That's where a weak machine falls over.
Store files in formats your devices actually play, keep subtitles as separate files rather than burned-in where you can, and remember that remote viewing over limited upload bandwidth will force a transcode no matter how good your files are.
If you do need it, hardware transcoding is the difference between one struggling stream and several easy ones. Intel QuickSync — available on most Intel chips with integrated graphics — is the most straightforward option, well supported and cheap to get hold of in used and mini PC hardware. A dedicated GPU works too, but is rarely necessary at home.
Choosing a device
There's no single right answer here. These are the paths most people end up on, and what each one is genuinely good at.
Mini PC
Small, quiet, low power, and most Intel models include QuickSync for transcoding. The best balance of effort and result for a first server.
- Very low running cost
- Storage usually needs an external enclosure
- Sits happily on a shelf
Used business desktop
Ex-office machines are plentiful, well built and easy to work on. Room for several drives, easy to upgrade, and parts are everywhere.
- Best value per pound spent
- Bigger and louder than a mini PC
- Check it has the ports and bays you need
NAS
Purpose-built for always-on storage with drive redundancy. Most modern models run Docker, though usually with less CPU headroom than a comparable PC.
- Drive redundancy handled for you
- Simple to manage and expand
- Weaker transcoding on entry models
Old laptop
A perfectly reasonable place to start. The built-in battery even acts as a small UPS, so a brief power cut won't take the server down.
- Set it to stay awake with the lid shut
- Storage expansion is limited
- Watch heat if it lives in a cupboard
Raspberry Pi
Fine for Jellyfin direct play, the *arr apps and Uptime Kuma. Not the machine for transcoding, Immich processing or heavy archiving.
- Tiny power draw
- Use an SSD, not an SD card
- Some images need ARM builds
Custom build
Maximum control over drives, transcoding and expansion. Worth it once you've outgrown something else and know what your bottleneck actually is.
- Most expensive up front
- Most work to plan and assemble
- Best long-term headroom
Self-hosting realities
The server itself is usually the easy part. The things that catch people out are the boring realities of a home internet connection.
- Upload speed. Watching from outside your house uses upload, not download, and home connections are often lopsided. This is the single biggest limit on remote streaming.
- CGNAT. Some providers don't give you a real public address, which makes traditional port forwarding impossible. A mesh VPN like Tailscale sidesteps this entirely.
- A changing IP address. Most home connections don't keep the same address forever. Dynamic DNS or a tunnel solves it.
- Power cuts. Decide whether the server should come back on by itself, and whether a small UPS is worth it.
- Drives fail. Not if — when. Redundancy keeps you running; backups are what actually save your data. They aren't the same thing.
- Noise and heat. A server in a living room has different requirements from one in a garage.
When a VPS makes sense
A VPS is someone else's computer with good uptime and a real public address. That makes it excellent for some jobs in this stack and a poor fit for others, and the dividing line is almost always storage.
Good fits
- Uptime Kuma, so your monitoring isn't on the machine it monitors
- A reverse proxy or entry point for remote access
- A VPN endpoint back into your home network
- Status pages and small websites
Poor fits
- A large Jellyfin library
- A growing Immich photo collection
- Tube Archivist and long-term archives
- Anything where bandwidth charges could surprise you
The common pattern is a hybrid: bulk storage and media at home where drives are cheap, with a small VPS handling monitoring and the public-facing side of things. You get reliable remote access without paying monthly for terabytes.
Cost comparison
Owned hardware costs more on day one and almost nothing after that. Rented hardware is the reverse. Over a couple of years the gap is usually wider than people expect.
Quiet, low power, often has QuickSync. Storage generally lives in an external enclosure.
Easiest startMore drive bays and more room to grow. Bigger, warmer and a little louder.
Best valueBuilt for storage and redundancy. Drives are a serious separate cost worth planning for.
Storage firstExactly the machine you want. Most expensive and most work, but the most headroom.
AdvancedRunning in minutes with a real public address. Storage is limited and gets pricey quickly.
Small servicesScales without buying drives. Watch retrieval and bandwidth charges, which are easy to miss.
ArchivesThese are rough estimates for orientation only, and they move around constantly. Drive costs, electricity rates and provider pricing all vary — check current prices yourself before buying anything.
Hardware picks
The links below are affiliate links. If you buy through one, this project earns a small commission at no extra cost to you — it pays for the domain and the hardware used to test these guides.
It changes nothing about the advice. Every recommendation here is a description of what to look for, not a specific product we were paid to name. If a cheaper option is better, that is what the page says — see the cost comparison, which recommends a used office PC over anything new. Full detail on the disclosures page.
These are searches rather than single products, because specific models go out of stock and get superseded constantly. Each one is filtered to the specifications that actually matter for a media server, and each explains what you are looking at.
VPN & VPS providers
Gluetun works with a wide range of VPN providers, so this is mostly a question of price, privacy policy and which countries you want to appear in. VPS choice comes down to what you're running and where.
Some links here may eventually be affiliate links, and where that's the case it will say so plainly right next to the link. No service is listed because it pays a commission, and none of the technical guidance changes based on who does. Right now none of the links below are affiliate links. Prices and terms change often, so check with the provider directly.
VPN providers
Mullvad
Flat pricing, no accounts tied to your identity, and a long-standing privacy record. Well supported by Gluetun including WireGuard.
Proton VPN
From the Proton Mail team, with a clear privacy stance and solid WireGuard support. Works well as a Gluetun provider.
Private Internet Access
Long-established provider with broad Gluetun support and a large server network. Runs an affiliate programme we haven't joined.
Surfshark
Competitively priced with unlimited device connections and Gluetun compatibility. Also runs an affiliate programme we haven't joined.
VPS providers
Hetzner
Consistently good value with reliable hardware and generous transfer allowances. A community favourite for small always-on services.
DigitalOcean
Straightforward interface and unusually good documentation, which makes it friendly if this is your first server. Runs an affiliate programme we haven't joined.
Vultr
Wide choice of locations and instance sizes, useful if you want the server geographically close to you.
Contabo
Notably more storage per pound than most competitors, which suits archive workloads. Performance is less consistent, so match it to the job.
Other tools you might want
None of these are part of the core modules, and you don't need any of them to start. They're the things people tend to add once the server has been running a while and they've found the rough edges.
Putting it together
If you want a shortcut through all of the above: get a used mini PC or office desktop with 16 GB of RAM and an Intel chip with QuickSync, put a decent-sized drive in it, and use Tailscale so you never have to open a port. That covers most of this stack comfortably and costs less than a couple of months of streaming subscriptions.
Add a small VPS later if you want monitoring that survives your server going down. Add drives when you run out. Upgrade the machine when you actually hit a wall, not before.
The best server is the one you'll actually keep running.