With that out of the way, and the fact that you likely already have your pitchforks out, Plex is the biggest self-hosted app that helped me replace a monthly subscription. Really, it was the original self-hosted app that replaced a subscription for me.<\/p>\n
Plex (Jellyfin would work too) allowed me to completely take control of my media consumption. My wife and I were able to completely cancel all of our streaming subscriptions once I built out a media server at the house. It wasn’t necessarily cheap up front, but I was able to reuse some old hardware and hard drives I already owned to help with the cost some.<\/p>\n
Now, over 5 years after building it, we have saved thousands and thousands of dollars from not paying for streaming services. Sure, it’s more difficult to run your own media server, and there are some downsides, like downtime when I maintenance the homelab or having to source my own media, rip it, and categorize it all.<\/p>\n
However, it’s all worth it to save the cost of paying for Netflix, Hulu, Disney+, Discovery+, Paramount+, and all the other + subscriptions that are out there.<\/p>\n
![\"plex](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/plex-logo.png\"){kind=logo}
<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\tBrand \t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tPlex<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\tFree trial \t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tFree version available<\/p>\n
With Plex, you can keep a single, unified Watchlist for any movie or TV show you hear about, on any service\u2014even theater releases! You can finally stop hopping between watchlists on all your other streaming services, and add it all on Plex instead.<\/p>\n
![\"jellyfin\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/jellyfin.png\")
<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\tOS \t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tWindows, Linux, macOS, Android, iOS, Fire TV, Roku OS, WebOS, Xbox, <\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\tPrice \t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tFree<\/p>\n
Jellyfin is the volunteer-built media solution that puts\u00a0you\u00a0in control of your media. Stream to any device from your own server, with no strings attached. Your media, your server, your way.<\/p>\n
Audiobookshelf let me take control of my audiobooks<\/p>\n
No more Audible for me<\/p>\n
![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/screenshot-2025-06-05-at-11-26-13-am.png\")
<\/p>\n
2025 marked the year that I started listening to audiobooks, and 2026 is no exception. I loved Audible at first, but it got expensive and slightly frustrating to deal with. So, I searched for another solution and found Audiobookshelf<\/a>.<\/p>\n I actually owned a lot of audiobooks already on CD from many years ago with Adventures in Odyssey<\/a> and Jonathan Park<\/a>, and I couldn’t listen to those with Audible. I had to use two separate apps, and it was quite frustrating.<\/p>\n So, when I found Audiobookshelf<\/a> and started moving all of my audiobooks over, I was very happy. Of course, this meant that I had to purchase my new audiobooks elsewhere besides Audible, but most audiobook publishers actually sell their audiobooks directly, bypassing Audible entirely.<\/p>\n Audiobookshelf is easy to run and there are some great apps out there for it. I love running my own audiobook server now, and there’s nothing that could make me go back to relying on Amazon for my audiobooks again.<\/p>\n Hosting my own Minecraft (or other game) servers makes game nights with friends fun again<\/p>\n Game server hosting can be extremely expensive<\/p>\n For the longest time, I never played multiplayer games that didn’t have their own servers. Things like Minecraft, Satisfactory, and many other games which require you to host your own server somewhere just weren’t in my multiplayer playlist. Game server hosting is expensive.<\/p>\n My homelab allowed me to start self-hosting my own game servers on equipment I already owned for free<\/a>, and it’s something that I’ll never go away from. The convenience of spinning up a game server with whatever specs I need within a few minutes for free is just too nice to leave.<\/p>\n I’m thankful to have a pretty powerful homelab where I can run Minecraft servers<\/a> with 24GB or even 32GB of RAM if they’re super mod-heavy. However, you could run game servers on anything, even an old Raspberry Pi.<\/p>\n Game server hosting is not something I ever thought I would offer when I got into this hobby, but it’s one of the things that’s definitely saved me quite a bit over the years.<\/p>\n n8n allows me to create automations for anything without paying<\/p>\n Make, Zapier, and other automation platforms are just too expensive<\/p>\n I used to use Make, Zapier, and several other automation platforms years ago to handle some automated tasks that I had need for. Things like copying email addresses from one service to another, keeping inventories in sync between ecommerce platforms, and several other tasks.<\/p>\n The problem is, most of the cloud-hosted automation platforms became quite expensive for their paid plans, and very limited on their free plans. Discovering n8n<\/a> was all I needed to get back into the automation game without paying a dime.<\/p>\n Now, I use n8n<\/a> for things like automating the download of podcasts in MP3 format, taking email subscribers from my SquareSpace website and copying them over to my Kit subscription list, and so much more.<\/p>\n The great part is, n8n is so powerful that I’m always finding a new use for it<\/a>. I’ve only scratched the surface of what it’s capable of, and can’t wait to continue to integrate it with my life\u2014all without paying a single cent.<\/p>\n LinkStack gives me full control over my link landing page without costing a dime<\/p>\n I love Linktr.ee, but it’s too limiting without paying<\/p>\n I’ve used Linktr.ee<\/a> for many years as a link-in-bio tool. Outside of writing for How-To Geek, I’m an Instagram and YouTube content creator in the maker niche, specifically focusing on woodworking, CNC machining, and laser engraving\/cutting.<\/p>\n So, my link-in-bio tool is invaluable when I’m talking about a new product. For years, I’ve used Linktr.ee, and it’s worked well for my uses. However, it wasn’t quite as customizable as I’d like, and I always wanted to take more control over the page than Linktr.ee would let me.<\/p>\n![\"An](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/a7307801-1.jpg\")
\n Credit:\u00a0Patrick Campanale \/ How-To Geek<\/p>\n![\"An](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/an-n8n-automation-on-an-imac.png\")
\n Credit:\u00a0Adam Davidson \/ How-To Geek<\/p>\n![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/a7309129.jpg\")
\n Credit:\u00a0Patrick Campanale \/ How-To Geek<\/p>\n
![\"GEEKOM](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/geekom-a5-mini-pc.png\")
<\/p>\n![\"ACEMAGIC](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/acemagic-k1-mini-pc.png\")
<\/p>\n