# 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 68,572 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.

## Key facts

| Fact | Value |
|---|---|
| Question | What are the best self-hosted apps for privacy? |
| Picks | 9 |
| Top pick | Vaultwarden (68,572 stars) |
| Data as of | Oct 7, 2026 |
| Canonical URL | https://appsgit.com/best/privacy-focused-self-hosted-apps |

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.

## Ranked picks

- [Vaultwarden](https://appsgit.com/apps/vaultwarden) (68,572 stars, AGPL-3.0, Rust, Docker): Top pick for password managers: Vaultwarden has 68,572 GitHub stars, uses the AGPL-3.0 license, ships a Docker image and had 181 commits in the last year; it replaces Bitwarden and 1Password.
- [frp](https://appsgit.com/apps/frp) (109,755 stars, Apache-2.0, Go, Docker): Top pick for proxy & VPN: frp has 109,755 GitHub stars, uses the Apache-2.0 license, ships a Docker image and had 165 commits in the last year; it replaces ngrok.
- [Keycloak](https://appsgit.com/apps/keycloak) (37,156 stars, Apache-2.0, Java, Docker): Top pick for identity & SSO: Keycloak has 37,156 GitHub stars, uses the Apache-2.0 license, ships a Docker image and had 3,157 commits in the last year; it replaces Auth0 and Okta.
- [Syncthing](https://appsgit.com/apps/syncthing) (89,175 stars, MPL-2.0, Go, Docker): Top pick for file sync & storage: Syncthing has 89,175 GitHub stars, uses the MPL-2.0 license, ships a Docker image and had 223 commits in the last year; it replaces Google Drive and Dropbox.
- [Immich](https://appsgit.com/apps/immich) (115,648 stars, AGPL-3.0, TypeScript, Docker): Top pick for photo galleries: Immich has 115,648 GitHub stars, uses the AGPL-3.0 license, ships a Docker image and had 2,638 commits in the last year; it replaces Google Photos and Adobe Photoshop.
- [Excalidraw](https://appsgit.com/apps/excalidraw) (133,574 stars, MIT, TypeScript, Docker): Top pick for note-taking & editors: Excalidraw has 133,574 GitHub stars, uses the MIT license, ships a Docker image and had 272 commits in the last year; it replaces Figma and Lucidchart.
- [Metabase](https://appsgit.com/apps/metabase) (49,547 stars, AGPL-3.0, Clojure, Docker): Top pick for analytics: Metabase has 49,547 GitHub stars, uses the AGPL-3.0 license, ships a Docker image and had 6,378 commits in the last year; it replaces Metabase Cloud and Tableau.
- [Pi-hole](https://appsgit.com/apps/pi-hole) (61,167 stars, EUPL-1.2, Shell, Docker): Top pick for network utilities & DNS: Pi-hole has 61,167 GitHub stars, uses the EUPL-1.2 license, ships a Docker image and had 215 commits in the last year.
- [Stalwart Mail Server](https://appsgit.com/apps/stalwart-mail-server) (14,971 stars, AGPL-3.0, Rust, Docker): Top pick for email servers: Stalwart Mail Server has 14,971 GitHub stars, uses the AGPL-3.0 license, ships a Docker image and had 679 commits in the last year; it replaces Twilio SendGrid and Mailgun.

## How this list was made

- 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.
- Within each category, apps are ranked on GitHub stars, commits in the last year, Docker images, open-source licenses and recent commits.
- Archived projects and projects with no commit in the last two years are left out.

## FAQ

### 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 6,378 commits in the last 12 months and a latest release, v0.63.19, from October 2026. Activity is a good sign that bugs and security issues get fixed.

## Related questions

- [What are the best self-hosted alternatives to Google services?](https://appsgit.com/best/self-hosted-google-alternatives)
- [What are the best self-hosted alternatives to Microsoft products?](https://appsgit.com/best/self-hosted-microsoft-alternatives)
- [What are the best self-hosted apps written in Go?](https://appsgit.com/best/open-source-apps-in-go)
- [What are the best self-hosted apps written in Rust?](https://appsgit.com/best/open-source-apps-in-rust)
- [What are the best self-hosted apps written in Python?](https://appsgit.com/best/open-source-apps-in-python)
- [What are the best self-hosted apps written in TypeScript?](https://appsgit.com/best/open-source-apps-in-typescript)
- [What are the best self-hosted apps written in PHP?](https://appsgit.com/best/open-source-apps-in-php)
- [What are the best self-hosted apps written in Java?](https://appsgit.com/best/open-source-apps-in-java)

## See also

- [Open-source alternatives to Bitwarden](https://appsgit.com/alternatives/bitwarden)
- [Open-source alternatives to 1Password](https://appsgit.com/alternatives/1password)
- [Open-source alternatives to LastPass](https://appsgit.com/alternatives/lastpass)
- [Open-source alternatives to ngrok](https://appsgit.com/alternatives/ngrok)
- [Open-source alternatives to Auth0](https://appsgit.com/alternatives/auth0)
- [Open-source alternatives to Okta](https://appsgit.com/alternatives/okta)
- [Vaultwarden vs Bitwarden](https://appsgit.com/compare/vaultwarden-vs-bitwarden)
- [Keycloak vs authentik](https://appsgit.com/compare/keycloak-vs-authentik)
- [Nextcloud vs Syncthing](https://appsgit.com/compare/nextcloud-vs-syncthing)
- [Immich vs PhotoPrism](https://appsgit.com/compare/immich-vs-photoprism)
- [Immich vs Ente](https://appsgit.com/compare/immich-vs-ente)
- [Grafana vs Metabase](https://appsgit.com/compare/grafana-vs-metabase)
- [How to self-host Vaultwarden with Docker Compose](https://appsgit.com/guides/vaultwarden)
- [How to self-host Syncthing with Docker Compose](https://appsgit.com/guides/syncthing)
- [How to self-host Immich with Docker Compose](https://appsgit.com/guides/immich)
- [How to self-host Pi-hole with Docker Compose](https://appsgit.com/guides/pi-hole)

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Canonical page: https://appsgit.com/best/privacy-focused-self-hosted-apps
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