Your own cloud storage at home
Cloud storage means your files do not live only on your phone: they also sit on a server you can reach from anywhere. The only question is whose server. This page explains how you can have cloud storage of your own at home, what to do when your Google or iCloud storage is full, and what it all costs over five years.
What is cloud storage?
A server that holds your files and hands them to any of your devices over the internet. The cloud is simply another machine that is always switched on – you just never see it, and you do not decide where it stands.
There are three ways to have one:
1. Rent space from a large provider
Google One, iCloud+, OneDrive. You run nothing yourself, you pay every month, and your files sit on their servers. It works for as long as you pay.
2. A rented Nextcloud package
Some companies rent out a ready-installed Nextcloud. This is the middle road: open-source software, but the machine is still not yours, and the monthly fee stays.
3. A machine of your own at home
A small, quiet computer on the shelf that belongs to you. Your files stay at home and there is no storage subscription. In exchange, somebody has to run it: that is what Felhom does.
Is your Google or iCloud storage full? What can you do?
First the things that are free and genuinely help.
Clear it out before you pay
Most full storage is not filled by the files that matter, but by old backups, downloaded videos and the bin. Both providers have their own tool for showing you what is taking up the space:
- Google: the storage manager, and Google's own help page on freeing up space.
- Apple: Manage your iCloud storage – it walks you through old backups and message attachments.
In many cases that is enough, and you do not need a larger plan at all.
If space is still short afterwards
Then two roads remain. Either you pay for a larger plan, and that fee stays for as long as you use it. Or you move what is taking up the space onto a machine of your own: nearly always the photos and videos. You then drop back to the free tier at your provider.
What does your own cloud storage cost over five years?
List prices of the 2 TB plans, from each provider's own Hungarian page.
Google One’s 2 TB plan, 35,990 Ft a year
4,490 Ft a month
2 TB shared, 46,499 Ft a year
the machine once, then the electricity
Over five years the three large providers’ 2 TB plans come to between 179,950 and 269,400 Ft. With a machine of your own you pay for the machine once, then the electricity: 7-9 W measured at rest, about 75 kWh a year, a few thousand forints. That measurement was taken at rest, so a year with daytime use comes to more.
Prices: 14 October 2026. I read all three on the provider's own Hungarian page on that day. Prices change, so it is worth checking them.
What you also need to count with a machine of your own: installation is a one-off cost, off-site backup storage has a monthly fee that follows how much is backed up, and if you ask for it, running the box has a monthly fee too. That last one is not compulsory. I write the details out in advance in the offer.
During the closed test there is no fee: I do the setup, and I pay for the domain.
Where is your data, and who can see it?
Your files are on the machine standing at your home. Every night the server makes backups by itself, on three levels: on the box, on a second drive if there is one, and encrypted on remote storage.
The remote copy leaves encrypted, and the key is yours: without the recovery code that copy cannot be read. The machine belongs to you, and there is no storage subscription that climbs year after year.
The details are written out on the Backups page.
Who should not choose their own cloud storage?
Three cases where a cloud service is simpler.
- If you fit under 200 GB. A smaller plan costs a few thousand forints a year and you run nothing yourself. At that size a machine of your own does not earn its price back.
- If you do not want a machine switched on at home. It takes up space, it draws power, and although it is quiet, it exists. That is a matter of taste, and entirely understandable.
- If you have no wired internet. On mobile data or a weak upload, remote access and backups will be slow, and you will be more annoyed than you gain.
If one of these is true for you, say so – I will not talk you into a machine of your own.
Closed test
I am starting to run the system in earnest with a few Hungarian households: during the test there is no fee, and in exchange I ask you to tell me what is not good.