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Running a Private Cloud on a Budget: My Homelab Setup

4 min read

Running a Private Cloud on a Budget: My Homelab Setup

Building your own private cloud used to be the domain of enterprise teams or hardcore enthusiasts with racks of servers and sky-high power bills.
But in 2024, with a little planning and a modest budget, you can build a surprisingly powerful and reliable homelab right in your garage, closet, or even under your desk.

Here’s a breakdown of how I built my own self-hosted cloud setup, what it costs, and the services I run every day.

Why Build a Homelab?

For me, it started as a learning project — but it quickly turned into something essential:

  • Total control over my services
  • No more monthly SaaS fees
  • Full data ownership
  • A safer sandbox for experiments and deployments
  • And yes… it’s just fun

Whether you're a developer, sysadmin, or just privacy-curious, running your own stack is incredibly rewarding.

🧱 The Hardware

I kept things simple, quiet, and power-efficient. Here's what I use:

🖥️ Main Server (Proxmox Host)

  • Mini PC: Beelink SER5 (Ryzen 5 5560U, 32GB RAM, 1TB NVMe)
  • Power usage: ~15W idle / ~35W under load
  • Cost: ~€400

📦 Network

  • Router: Ubiquiti EdgeRouter X
  • Switch: TP-Link 5-port gigabit (unmanaged)
  • UPS: APC Back-UPS 700VA — enough to gracefully shut down on outages

🗄️ Storage

  • External USB SSD for backups
  • rclone to back up snapshots to the cloud (encrypted)

I chose Proxmox VE as the hypervisor because it’s rock solid and supports both LXC containers and VMs with minimal overhead.

☁️ What I Run on It

👨‍💻 Virtualization & Containerization

  • Proxmox VE – Manages the entire homelab
  • Docker + Portainer – For easy app deployment inside containers
  • LXC – Lightweight containers for specific services (e.g., Pi-hole, Tailscale)

🧠 Core Services

  • Pi-hole – Network-wide ad and tracker blocking
  • Tailscale – Secure remote access (VPN without the config pain)
  • Uptime Kuma – Self-hosted uptime monitoring
  • Nginx Proxy Manager – Manages reverse proxies and HTTPS via Let’s Encrypt

🧩 Developer Tools

  • Gitea – Lightweight Git hosting (no more relying on GitHub for private stuff)
  • Code Server – VS Code in the browser
  • Drone CI – Minimal CI/CD for personal projects

🎥 Media & File Services

  • Plex – For movies and shows
  • Syncthing – Decentralized file sync between devices
  • MinIO – S3-compatible object storage for backups and experiments

🔐 Security Measures

  • Fail2ban on every container
  • All services behind Cloudflare Zero Trust for external access
  • Only allow access via Tailscale when possible
  • Daily encrypted backups to an off-site location via rclone + restic

💸 Monthly Cost

  • Electricity: ~€3–5/month (low-power hardware)
  • Cloud backup storage (Wasabi/Backblaze): ~€2/month
  • Total: Under €10/month to run my own private cloud

Not bad compared to paying for 5+ SaaS tools every month.

🧪 What I’ve Learned

  1. You don’t need a rack to run serious infrastructure.
  2. Power draw matters — efficiency pays off long-term.
  3. Proxmox + Docker is the dream team for flexibility.
  4. Backups aren’t optional — automate and test them.
  5. DNS, networking, and HTTPS are the trickiest parts — but the most valuable to learn.

Final Thoughts

Building a homelab isn’t just about saving money — it’s about taking ownership of your tech stack.
You’ll learn more in a few weekends than in months of tutorials. And the best part? Once it’s running, it just works.

Whether you're trying to escape Big Tech, sharpen your DevOps skills, or just host your own Plex server, a private cloud is more doable than ever.

Curious about my Proxmox templates, Docker stack, or network layout? Drop a comment or reach out — happy to share!