Learn how to replace subscriptions, self-host your data and securely connect your devices using a VPS from as little as £3 a month.
A VPS (Virtual Private Server) is a small private computer that runs permanently in a secure data centre. Instead of paying separate subscriptions to different cloud services, you can run your own private cloud for smart homes, CCTV, AI cameras and other connected devices. Most projects on this site run happily on a VPS costing less than a takeaway coffee each month.
Six real things people use a low-cost VPS for - pick whichever sounds like your problem.
Store your own doorbell and camera footage - no subscription, no expiry date.
Read the guide →Your own smart home cloud, accessible from anywhere - even behind CGNAT.
Build the hub →View your cameras remotely without opening ports on your router.
View CCTV guides →Detect people, vehicles and packages, running on your own VPS.
Explore AI cameras →Secure VPN access to remote routers, PLCs and SCADA systems.
See industrial guides →Track generation, usage and charging from anywhere - on your own dashboard.
See verticals →Every Ring, Nest or Blink doorbell connects to Wi-Fi, streams to the cloud, runs AI detection, and charges a monthly fee to store footage you already own. That's the traditional way: pay forever, on someone else's terms.
The VPS way: run your own private version for about £3/month, with full control over storage, notifications and AI. It's also the easiest way into everything else on this site.
In that order. Most guides skip straight to the fun part - this is the order that doesn't bite you later.
Pick a low-cost VPS and get a clean Ubuntu box running. That's the only commitment you're making at this point.
Lock down SSH, set up a firewall, disable password login. Five minutes now saves a headache later.
You don't need to already know Linux. Describe what you're trying to build and ask for the exact commands - genuinely one of the best ways to learn as you go.
IoT covers anything that connects, senses or reports back - a video doorbell is as much an IoT device as a factory sensor network. What changes between a hobbyist project and a professional deployment usually isn't the technology, it's the scale. IoTVPS is a library of plain-English guides for running that infrastructure - MQTT, Node-RED, ThingsBoard, dashboards, remote access - on your own low-cost VPS, whatever you're building.
Want a ready-made platform instead of piecing one together yourself? ThingsBoard handles device management, rules and dashboards out of the box - we cover self-hosting it on a VPS, or you can use their cloud directly.
That's the point of this site: make VPS hosting, IoT, AI and remote access understandable through projects you already recognise, not server specifications nobody asked for.
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