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9 picks · data-backed ranking

Best privacy-focused self-hosted apps

The best self-hosted apps for privacy are Vaultwarden for password managers, frp for proxy & VPN and Keycloak for identity & SSO. Vaultwarden leads with 69,807 GitHub stars.

One pick per category: password managers, proxy & VPN, identity & SSO, file sync & storage, photo galleries, note-taking & editors, analytics, network utilities & DNS and email servers.

Privacy here means control: each pick replaces a cloud service with one that keeps your data on hardware you run. The top app per privacy-relevant category is listed.

Updated · data from GitHub, refreshed daily

Top picks

  1. Rank 1:

    Vaultwarden

    dani-garcia/vaultwarden

    Lightweight Bitwarden server API implementation written in Rust.

    Active · last commit Oct 25, 2026

    FeaturedPassword ManagersRustDocker

    Stands out for an appsgit step-by-step deploy guide. Top pick for password managers: Vaultwarden has 69,807 GitHub stars, uses the AGPL-3.0 license, ships a Docker image and had 217 commits in the last year; it replaces Bitwarden and 1Password.

  2. Rank 2:

    frp

    fatedier/frp

    Fast reverse proxy that exposes local servers behind NAT to the internet.

    Active · last commit Oct 23, 2026

    Proxy & VPNGoDocker

    Stands out for a permissive Apache-2.0 license. Top pick for proxy & VPN: frp has 110,229 GitHub stars, uses the Apache-2.0 license, ships a Docker image and had 192 commits in the last year; it replaces ngrok.

  3. Rank 3:

    Keycloak

    keycloak/keycloak

    Open-source identity and access management with SSO, OIDC, SAML and user federation.

    Active · last commit Oct 28, 2026

    Identity & SSOJavaDocker

    Stands out for the most commits in the last 12 months (3,232). Top pick for identity & SSO: Keycloak has 37,563 GitHub stars, uses the Apache-2.0 license, ships a Docker image and had 3,232 commits in the last year; it replaces Auth0 and Okta.

At a glance

Privacy-focused self-hosted apps compared

One pick per category: the top-ranked app in each on GitHub stars, commits in the last year, Docker images, open-source licenses and recent commits. Projects with fewer than 12 commits in the last 12 months rank below every more active project.

Top 9 picks compared, data as of Oct 28, 2026
AppStands out forLicenseGitHub starsCommits (12 mo)Last commitDocker image
Vaultwardenan appsgit step-by-step deploy guideAGPL-3.069,807217Oct 25, 2026Yes
frpa permissive Apache-2.0 licenseApache-2.0110,229192Oct 23, 2026Yes
Keycloakthe most commits in the last 12 months (3,232)Apache-2.037,5633,232Oct 28, 2026Yes
Syncthing–MPL-2.089,827244Oct 28, 2026Yes
Immichthe most GitHub starsAGPL-3.0117,4542,902Oct 28, 2026Yes
Excalidraw–MIT134,690285Oct 28, 2026Yes
Metabase–AGPL-3.049,8817,206Oct 28, 2026Yes
Pi-hole–EUPL-1.261,521333Oct 27, 2026Yes
Stalwart Mail Server–AGPL-3.015,442714Oct 27, 2026Yes

Full ranking

All 9 picks, ranked

One pick per category: the top-ranked app in each on GitHub stars, commits in the last year, Docker images, open-source licenses and recent commits. Projects with fewer than 12 commits in the last 12 months rank below every more active project.

  1. 1

    Vaultwarden

    Lightweight Bitwarden server API implementation written in Rust.

    Stands out for an appsgit step-by-step deploy guide. Top pick for password managers: Vaultwarden has 69,807 GitHub stars, uses the AGPL-3.0 license, ships a Docker image and had 217 commits in the last year; it replaces Bitwarden and 1Password.

  2. 2

    frp

    Fast reverse proxy that exposes local servers behind NAT to the internet.

    Stands out for a permissive Apache-2.0 license. Top pick for proxy & VPN: frp has 110,229 GitHub stars, uses the Apache-2.0 license, ships a Docker image and had 192 commits in the last year; it replaces ngrok.

  3. 3

    Keycloak

    Open-source identity and access management with SSO, OIDC, SAML and user federation.

    Stands out for the most commits in the last 12 months (3,232). Top pick for identity & SSO: Keycloak has 37,563 GitHub stars, uses the Apache-2.0 license, ships a Docker image and had 3,232 commits in the last year; it replaces Auth0 and Okta.

  4. 4

    Syncthing

    Syncthing is an open source peer-to-peer file synchronisation tool.

    Top pick for file sync & storage: Syncthing has 89,827 GitHub stars, uses the MPL-2.0 license, ships a Docker image and had 244 commits in the last year; it replaces Google Drive and Dropbox.

  5. 5

    Immich

    Photo and video backup solution directly from your mobile phone (alternative to Google Photos).

    Stands out for the most GitHub stars. Top pick for photo galleries: Immich has 117,454 GitHub stars, uses the AGPL-3.0 license, ships a Docker image and had 2,902 commits in the last year; it replaces Google Photos and Adobe Photoshop.

  6. 6

    Excalidraw

    Virtual hand-drawn style whiteboard for diagrams and sketches.

    Top pick for note-taking & editors: Excalidraw has 134,690 GitHub stars, uses the MIT license, ships a Docker image and had 285 commits in the last year; it replaces Figma and Lucidchart.

  7. 7

    Metabase

    Easy way for everyone in your company to ask questions and learn from data.

    Top pick for analytics: Metabase has 49,881 GitHub stars, uses the AGPL-3.0 license, ships a Docker image and had 7,206 commits in the last year; it replaces Metabase Cloud and Tableau.

  8. 8

    Pi-hole

    Blackhole for Internet advertisements with a GUI for management and monitoring.

    Top pick for network utilities & DNS: Pi-hole has 61,521 GitHub stars, uses the EUPL-1.2 license, ships a Docker image and had 333 commits in the last year.

  9. 9

    Stalwart Mail Server

    All-in-one mail server with JMAP, IMAP4, and SMTP support and a wide range of modern features.

    Top pick for email servers: Stalwart Mail Server has 15,442 GitHub stars, uses the AGPL-3.0 license, ships a Docker image and had 714 commits in the last year; it replaces Twilio SendGrid and Mailgun.

FAQ

Questions and answers

Still curious? Email info@appsgit.com.

Is Vaultwarden free?

Yes. Vaultwarden is open-source software released under the AGPL-3.0 license, so you can self-host it at no cost. You only pay for the server it runs on, and some projects also offer an optional paid cloud plan.

Can I self-host these apps with Docker?

Yes, all of them. Vaultwarden, frp and Keycloak publish Docker images, so you can run them on a VPS or home server with Docker Compose.

Are all of these apps open source?

All 9 apps on this list are open source. You can self-host and modify each one under its license.

Which of these apps is the most actively developed?

Metabase, with 7,206 commits in the last 12 months and a latest release, v0.64.3, from October 2026. Activity is a good sign that bugs and security issues get fixed.

How is this list ranked?

One pick per category: the top-ranked app in each on GitHub stars, commits in the last year, Docker images, open-source licenses and recent commits. Projects with fewer than 12 commits in the last 12 months rank below every more active project.

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