Raspberry Pi projects can leverage the computing chops of the tiny SoC to build something very cool. In my college days, it was mostly about attaching a sensor to the Pi and then creating a device out of it. But as the computing prowess of Raspberry Pi grew, it became a perfect fit for self-hosted services. You can run customized operating systems on it, or apps that can help you switch to privacy-focused alternatives and save a lot of money on subscriptions.

The unpredictable nature of web services — be it availability, abrupt policy or pricing changes, or a sheer lack of concern for users — is why self-hosting is popular now. You can easily build any of these Raspberry Pi projects and save money on your cloud storage, credential protection, or document management subscriptions.

Nextcloud

Ditch Google

Nextcloud is a feature-packed, self-hosted cloud storage service that can replace your paid provider. The simplest use case that I recommend is syncing your files across multiple devices and accessing them on your local network. Even if you don't need the file sync feature, simply having a web portal to access your hard disk data from a phone or computer is very convenient. You can make it work outside your local network by deploying Tailscale on it and then accessing it remotely.

It runs nicely on a Raspberry Pi with enough memory, but can struggle on low-end models like the Pi Zero 2W. You can go with a Pi 4B or 5 and make your own personal cloud storage service. Another useful thing about Nextcloud is its app suite, which can replace your documentation and collaboration tools.

There's also a huge collection of plugins that make Nextcloud even better and help you make micro-adjustments. If you're setting it up as a single service on the Raspberry Pi, I suggest using DietPi, which makes the daunting install painless. Use Docker and containerize the Nextcloud instance so that you can manage multiple services on the same Pi.

Vaultwarden

Passwords stay on your server

Paying for a password manager seems wasteful to me because stellar options like Vaultwarden exist. Soaring subscription costs and the unstable security of paid password managers like LastPass pushed me towards self-hosting a password manager. Vaultwarden is based on Bitwarden with an extremely lightweight design that runs fantastically on any Raspberry Pi, including the Pi Zero 2W.

Setting up a password manager isn't as complicated as you think, and I don't need to pay $5 per month for LastPass or any other such service. My passwords stay secure on my home server and aren't exposed to anything outside. I can use the browser extension to simply log in to my self-hosted server account and view the saved passwords or sign in to my favorite sites. It can generate random passwords whenever I need one and even offers a file-sharing feature, which creates a download link.

There's also no limit on cross-platform use, and it doesn't nag you to upgrade every time you open the tool. It's not difficult to set up, and you can install it in a Docker container or on any Raspberry Pi operating system.

Stirling-PDF

Adios Adobe

Stirling-PDF is a small tool I keep in my self-hosted stack. I don't prefer uploading documents to sketchy free web tools, and Adobe Acrobat for editing files is an expensive choice. It's perfect for hosting on a Raspberry Pi, especially if you want to have a local PDF editor. The files stay on your server, and you don’t need to sign up to use the tool.

I'm quite overwhelmed by the features, but mostly stick to file conversion (Word or images), edits, and image extraction. All of these work as intended, and despite running as a Docker container on a regular Pi, it works like any other web-hosted PDF tool. You can run batch file processing without any problems, and the tool easily handles it. I can save $8 per month and do trivial tasks like PDF editing with complete privacy.

Paperless-ngx

Document management for free

Most of the products I buy and the bills I pay generate a digital invoice. Safekeeping them on a disk seems smart, as you have a backup copy, other than the option of downloading it from the website. Whenever my gadgets falter, the Amazon invoice is essential to get the warranty benefit. However, scrolling through two to three years of account purchase history or finding the bill on the hard disk is a chore.

I've used Evernote in the past for both documents and notes, but it's grown expensive with time. The idea of storing financial data on a third-party cloud service doesn't sound appealing to me anymore. Paperless-ngx helps me auto-scan and organize these digital documents and assign them tags for easy search and sorting. I can narrow down a category and use the tags to locate a bill or a document faster. One more thing that I find useful is the OCR support that can scan text from images.

I've even combined Paperless-ngx with a local LLM for automatic analysis and chat. It works with natural language and pulls files based on the prompts I enter. The AI part is a little overwhelming for Raspberry Pi, but the tool’s fantastic even without the AI enhancement. Everything works locally, and the scanning and tagging happen automatically after you upload anything to the server.

Don’t waste money

I would prefer investing in new gadgets or computer upgrades rather than wasting money on some popular, overpriced web solutions. Paperless-ngx is my absolute favorite among all the self-hosted services because I despise manually searching for old files. You can save a lot by ditching your current cloud storage or password manager tool. The initial setup phase can be overwhelming, but gaining total privacy and control over your personal data is pure bliss.