Hi all, I’ve been noticing a pattern in self-hosting communities, and I’m curious if others see it too.

Whenever someone asks for a more beginner-friendly solution, something with a UI, automated setup, or fewer manual configs, there’s often a response like:

“If you can’t configure Docker, reverse proxies, and Yaml files, you shouldn’t be self-hosting.”

Sometimes it feels like a portion of the community views complexity as a badge of honour. Don’t get me wrong, I love the technical side of self-hosting. I enjoy tinkering, breaking things, fixing them, learning along the way. That’s how most of us got into it.

But here’s the question: Is gatekeeping slowing down the adoption of self-hosting?

If we want more people to own their data, escape Big Tech, and embrace open-source alternatives, shouldn’t we welcome solutions that lower the entry barrier?

There’s room for everyone:

• people who want full control and custom setups,

• people who want semi-manual but guided,

• and people who want it to work with minimal friction.

Just like not every Linux user compiles from source, but they’re still Linux users.

Where do you stand? Should self-hosting stay DIY-only or is there value in easier, more accessible ways to self-host?

My project focuses on building a tool that makes self-hosting more accessible without sacrificing data ownership, so I genuinely want your honest take before releasing it more widely.