Self-taught developer based in San Diego. I run a homelab on Unraid and a fleet of local AI models that I wire into tools replacing things I used to pay for.
The goal: Reduce my subscription costs, own my own data. The constraint: my wife and dog think there are better ways to spend my time.
| Service | Replaced By | Before | Now |
|---|---|---|---|
| Google Gemini / ChatGPT | Open WebUI + OpenRouter | $19.99/mo | ~$5/mo API |
| Google Drive | Nextcloud + Backblaze B2 | ~$25/mo | ~$2/mo |
| Cloud Photo Backup | Immich (self-hosted) | ~$10/mo | $0 (on Unraid) |
Over a year that's a GPU upgrade. And the data stays mine.
My photos, documents, and chat logs live on my hardware — not getting analyzed by someone else's models. If a service goes under or changes its pricing, I don't lose access.
Running local LLMs means I don't pay per-token or hand my queries to a third party.
If you ignore the hardware cost, my time, and the loss of aura, it's pretty much breakeven. My wife and dog are less convinced.
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120 GB off Google Drive, self-hosted on Unraid, now paying pennies for B2 cold storage. Read more →
Open WebUI + OpenRouter vs. the $20/mo subscription. Performance, latency, and trade-offs. Read more →