One of the best parts of my home lab isn't even physically in my home. I know, scary thoughts, but no rules are saying that you can't do this, and when the part in question is a cheap virtual private server (VPS) it makes plenty of sense. I absolutely love my VPS, and use it all the time to host services, test out new remote access tools, and generally anything I want within the limits of the hosting company and the plan I'm paying for.

But if you've recently picked up a VPS to use and are wondering what to put on it, the simple answer is: anything the hosting company will let you. I tried putting Proxmox on mine, but the hosting company said they don't support nested virtualization without renting a more expensive bare metal server. Which is fair, but there could be some services your VPS host won't like you using other than virtualized ones. But I've used the other ones on this list, and some are my must-have tools to put on my own VPS.

IRC bouncer

Older messaging protocols aren't designed for async but there's a fix

It's no secret that I've been on the internet for a long time, but my favorite chat app has been around even longer. IRC is from the 1980s, and was already a force of real-time chat long before AOL, Discord, or even web browsers existed. But it has one issue: you're only online if your client app is connected. None of the modern convenience of Discord or Slack, where you can get asynchronous messages saved for you until you're next online.

Obviously, the answer is to stay online forever, but that is difficult enough from a residential internet connection nowadays, and back in the dial-up days, it was impossible. What you could do is install an IRC bouncer (BNC) on your VPS, which essentially pretends to be you, from your account, while your main computer is offline. This meant you could log chats, keep direct messages people sent you, and anything else, and you could get it to respond with an away message. I moved around a lot in the early 00's and having a VPS with an IRC bouncer running on it meant I could stay online and in touch with friends no matter where I was, which was invaluable.

Minecraft server

Don't get suckered into paying for Realms

The number of games that you can self-host a server for is pretty short these days, but Minecraft is perfect for a VPS because it doesn't need much in the way of resources, and it's substantially cheaper than paying for Realms. That costs $8 a month, while I pay only $32 a year for my VPS. RackNerd's site is a little tricky to find the cheap deals, but if you look around you'll find the same deal (actually with even more storage and RAM than I'm paying for).

You can set up servers for your favorite Minecraft version, and run modpacks if you want. Just be careful not to overload your VPS, which can easily happen. But having the server on a VPS also makes it more secure, and then you don't have to open ports into your home network or figure out ways to bypass your firewall when you want to play with your friends.

Remote access methods

Headscale, NetBird, Pangolin, and many more all work better when outside your home network

Being able to remotely connect to your home network or home lab is essential when you've got services running on a home server or NAS. Many users start with Tailscale and let them handle the control server, and that's a perfectly fine way of handling remote access and security. But there are any number of self-hostable services to remotely access your network, including an open-source version of Tailscale's servers called Headscale, and these give you more control over access and teach valuable skills while setting them up.

The reason these are perfect for putting on a VPS is because it's not on your home network, and has a static IP. The hosting provider is responsible for securing it against DDoS and other attacks, and you can drop your remote access tool of choice onto the VPS and connect to it from anywhere, with near perfect uptime which is especially important if you live in an area like me where frequent blackouts occur.

It doesn't matter if you install ZeroTier, Pangolin, RustDesk, Wiredoor, or NetBird, or any of the other options available, the most important thing is that it's on a publicly accessible static IP address that's not your home address. Not to mention that a VPS is often several times cheaper than any VPN service, and self-hosting gives you control over your data.

Email server

Just make sure the VPS provider doesn't block Port 25

Look, normally I'd say not to bother when it's an email server, because they're a pain to get working from a home connection. ISPs in the US particularly like to block Port 25, which is necessary for email to be sent, and the workarounds involve NAT traversal or using a VPS as a forwarder to get that Port 25 traffic working. So, if you're absolutely set on self-hosting an email server and want your mail behind your home network, the VPS can help get the correct ports into your network.

But if you're using the VPS for that, you might as well host the email server on the VPS. That way, you can connect to it from anywhere, and even set IMAP up to your smart devices so that email syncs perfectly just like if it was coming from Gmail. Except, without Gmail's fancy spam filters, so you'll want to look into adding those to your new email server, as well as DDoS protection, antivirus, and a few other things to make it secure. Or you could just keep letting Google read your mail, your choice.

Encrypted file storage

Plus, you can store your home lab documentation

Even the cheapest VPS gives you around 20 GB of disk space to use, and the $32 a year package I subscribe to gives 120 GB to use. Granted, that's not quite as cheap as Google Drive, but you can do a lot more with a VPS than with simple cloud storage services, and one of those things I like to use mine for is essential storage. This storage holds various important things like identification, which was all securely encrypted with Veracrypt before uploading to the VPS.

But it's not just important personal documents that I store there. Since it's my home lab, I also have Ansible, Terraform, and n8s files to recreate my home lab at a minute's notice if (or more accurately, when) something goes wrong, and I have to fix it again. If I wanted I could add CasaOS or Nextcloud for a more streamlined cloud experience, but for now a separate folder in the VPS's operating system will suffice.

DNS services

Connect to your DNS server from anywhere

We all know that self-hosting a DNS server brings many benefits, including security and the ability to block advertising at the DNS level. But when you host one on your home network, you have one new question to answer. How do I connect to my new DNS server when I'm not at home? The easy answer is to host the DNS server on your VPS, and then use the VPS IP address on the devices you use. That keeps your mobile devices protected even if your home network has interrupted connectivity, and you can also put that IP address into your parent's router and devices, to keep them safer without needing any technical knowledge.

These are just my favorite things to host on a cheap VPS

My first cheap VPS had some level of megabytes for RAM and about 2GB of storage space, but it was mine, it was cheap, and it kept me connected to IRC. The one I use now is significantly more powerful, but no more expensive, and that means being able to run more on it at the same time. It's a perfect place for remote access tools, reverse proxies, and as storage for things you want an extra off-site copy of, and the cost of any cheap VPS from a reputable hosting provider will be in the $30-50 range for a full year of service.