Thanks to all who participated in the 2023 Self-Host User Survey! In total, there were just shy of 1,900 responses, which we've visualized below using Chart.js.
Please note the following as you browse the results:
- Questions that accepted multiple responses have been appended with *
- Questions that accepted free-form responses have been appended with ^
- The survey contained three questions that accepted free-form text responses. We've tried our best to clean up misspellings and eliminate irrelevant or unrecognizable responses.
- Many of the Demographic questions provided a 'Prefer not to respond' option. We removed these responses from several of the charts below when we felt they did not add value to the analysis.
As usual, feel free to reach out if you have any suggestions or ideas for next year's survey. Happy selfh.st/ing!
Environment
Do you self-host for personal or enterprise purposes?
If self-hosting for personal use, approximately how many unique users are registered across your applications?
Why do you self-host?*
Select the hardware option(s) used to deploy your self-hosted software.*
Do you deploy a network-attached storage device (NAS) for storage?
Do you typically avoid self-hosting sensitive or important data? (Passwords, photos, etc.)
Select the operating system(s) currently installed on your server(s).*
Are you utilizing hosted cloud storage for offsite backups?
If utilizing hosted cloud storage for offsite backups, which provider(s) do you use?*
Containers
Do you ever use containers to deploy self-hosted software?
Do you deploy Kubernetes to manage your self-hosted software?
Do you prefer container installations to bare metal?
If you ever use containers to self-host, which container platform(s) do you utilize?*
If you ever use containers to self-host, do you use a management platform (Portainer, Yacht, etc.) to deploy them?
If you ever use containers to self-host, do you prefer manual or automatic updates?
Networking
If self-hosting for personal use, do you deploy a firewall aside from the router provided by your ISP? (OPNsense, pfSense, etc.)
How do you access your self-hosted software remotely?
Do you use a custom domain for your self-hosted applications?
If you own a custom domain, who is your domain name provider?^
Additional Commentary: Overall, there were 192 individual domain providers submitted as responses to this question. The chart above categorizes any with fewer than 10 as 'Other', which in total consists of 178 providers across 286 responses.
If accessing your self-hosted content through a reverse proxy, which web server are you currently deploying?
Software
Are you self-hosting your own e-mail server?
Do you deploy any self-hosted software for purposes related to media streaming?
If self-hosting media, which media server do you deploy to stream video content?
Do you deploy any self-hosted software for smart home or home automation purposes?
Are you self-hosting a game server of any kind?
How do you prefer to manage self-hosted databases?
What is your favorite self-hosted application or software?^
Additional Commentary: Overall, there were ~275 individual pieces of software submitted as responses to this question – the chart above omits any with less than 10. We've decided to omit an 'Other' category for visualization purposes, as it consists of a staggering 251 applications across 485 responses.
Demographics
What is your age range?
What is your gender?
What country do you currently reside in?^
Other participating countries with fewer than 10 responses
| Argentina (6) | Finland (4) | Mauritius (1) | Singapore (2) |
| Bangladesh (1) | Georgia (1) | Mexico (5) | Slovakia (4) |
| Belarus (1) | Greece (5) | Moldova (1) | Slovenia (2) |
| Bolivia (2) | Guatemala (1) | Mongolia (1) | South Africa (8) |
| Bulgaria (2) | Hong Kong (4) | Nepal (1) | South Korea (1) |
| Chile (1) | Hungary (7) | New Caledonia (1) | Taiwan (3) |
| China (2) | Indonesia (4) | Panama (2) | Thailand (1) |
| Colombia (2) | Ivory Coast (1) | Peru (2) | Tunisia (1) |
| Costa Rica (1) | Jamaica (1) | Philippines (4) | Turkey (3) |
| Czech Republic (7) | Japan (4) | Puerto Rico (1) | Uganda (1) |
| Denmark (8) | Latvia (1) | Romania (7) | Ukraine (8) |
| Egypt (1) | Lithuania (1) | Russia (8) | Vietnam (2) |
| El Salvador (1) | Malaysia (4) | Saudi Arabia (1) | |
| Estonia (2) | Maldives (1) | Serbia (3) |
If employed, do you work in a technical field?
What is your primary mobile device's operating system?
Have you donated to a self-hosted project in the last year?
What is the highest level of education you have completed?
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