HostAnywhere Blog

Engineering, pricing, and field reports from building HostAnywhere.

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Welcome to the HostAnywhere blog. We'll be writing regularly from here on: engineering, pricing, and field reports from running self-hosted infrastructure on real hardware.
AI Server

Build your own AI server at home: complete hardware & setup guide (2026)

Which hardware to use (gaming PC, Mac, mini PC, Raspberry Pi), how much RAM you need for local LLMs, storage and power costs, and a step-by-step setup — with real machines and screenshots.

2026-08-02 15 min read

Run your own private AI server: a complete guide (and how it compares to cloud LLMs)

Turn a computer you own into a private AI server — install open models in one click, add a browser chat UI, reach it from anywhere — plus an honest look at where a local AI server beats cloud LLM providers, and where it doesn't.

2026-07-22 15 min read
AI Gateway

The AI Gateway, explained: LLMs, MCP tools, and A2A agents in one control plane

A complete guide to the HostAnywhere AI Gateway — the LLM, MCP, and A2A gateways, plus providers, routes, caching, API keys, MCP servers, A2A agents, guardrails, spend limits, and observability.

2026-07-21 18 min read
Story

I Gave a Contractor SSH Access to My Home NAS Without Opening Router Ports — Here's How

A contractor needed SSH access to a NAS in my basement for a two-week project. I gave them narrow, time-bound access without opening router ports, configuring a VPN, or provisioning cloud infrastructure.

2026-06-19 5 min read

I Consolidated iCloud, Tailscale, and Cloudflare Tunnel into HostAnywhere — 6 Months In

An honest retrospective on consolidating iCloud, Tailscale, and Cloudflare Tunnel into HostAnywhere. What stayed, what went, what's still missing six months later.

2026-06-19 6 min read

Backing Up My iPhone to My Own Server, End-to-End Encrypted — What Works and What Doesn't

An honest field report on backing up my iPhone (Photos, Videos, Contacts, Calendars, Health) to a Mac mini in my basement, end-to-end encrypted. What works after six months and what doesn't.

2026-06-19 9 min read
Use Cases

Running a personal exit node for safer coffee-shop Wi-Fi

Stop trusting hotel and coffee-shop Wi-Fi. Route your laptop's entire internet through a device you own at home — with automatic failover when home goes down.

2026-06-20 6 min read
Zero Trust

Practical Zero Trust Access for a 5-Person Engineering Team on a $9/mo Budget

A practical walkthrough of identity-bound networking, least-privilege access rules, and optional posture checks for a 5-person engineering team — starting at $9/mo flat.

2026-06-19 6 min read

CrowdStrike Falcon + Zero Trust access — the integration we wish existed sooner

How HostAnywhere uses CrowdStrike Falcon ZTA scores to gate access — without paying for a full ZTNA suite. Setup, examples, and limits.

2026-06-19 7 min read

Microsoft Intune compliance as an access condition — beyond Conditional Access

Conditional Access gates Microsoft 365 on Intune compliance. What about your self-hosted apps, internal services, and homelab? Here's how to wire that up.

2026-06-19 7 min read
Pricing & Philosophy

Why we built HostAnywhere as a flat-fee product instead of per-seat

Per-seat SaaS pricing punishes growth and rewards keeping team size artificially small. Here's why HostAnywhere charges flat-fee per network, and what we gave up to do it.

2026-06-19 6 min read
Engineering

Why we picked WireGuard over a custom protocol (and what we gave up)

We picked WireGuard for the HostAnywhere mesh instead of building our own protocol. Here's what we gained and what we honestly gave up.

2026-06-19 7 min read