It’s easier than ever to access our media on various devices from anywhere, but subscription costs quickly mount up and run indefinitely. There came a point where I started wondering about alternatives to storing my digital life on someone else’s servers, and whether I could recreate the experience using free software and my own media.

It turned out there are plenty of solutions that offer alternatives to my most-used apps, with varying degrees of efficacy. I selected five of the best to replace Netflix, Spotify, Audible, Kindle, and Google Photos, all running from the same computer.

Kodi with the Bingie skin is my homemade Netflix

My local movie collection feels like the most popular streaming service

I have tried various media managers to access my locally stored movies and TV shows, and Kodi remains the most customizable, offering a variety of “skins,” each with its own aesthetic. My favorite is the Bingie skin, which is designed to emulate Netflix in function and form.

The Bingie interface is immediately familiar, with artwork, movie information, categories, and a Netflix-style layout that works equally well on devices and TVs. I loaded it onto a Fire TV Stick for remote functionality, so I can sit on the sofa and browse my own collection much as I would a commercial streaming service.

The obvious difference here is that Kodi doesn’t supply the content, so I have to provide my own movies and TV shows and organize the library properly. If, like me, you used to own an extensive collection of DVDs and box sets, Kodi and Bingie provide the perfect viewing solution that’s absolutely free.

Navidrome gives my music collection the Spotify treatment

My music stays on my Mac, but I can stream it around my network

I am a big fan of Spotify’s services and intuitive interface, and if I had to choose just one subscription service, this would likely be it. However, I also have a sizeable collection of my own music, much of which isn’t available on Spotify, so it became essential for me to find a capable player.

Navidrome takes a folder containing my music and turns it into a personal streaming service. I simply had to point the server at my collection, and it scanned the files and organized them into artists, albums, genres, and playlists, complete with album artwork and metadata. I can open Navidrome in a browser on any device on the network, search my collection, queue tracks, create playlists, and navigate my library from its well-thought-out interface.

Spotify obviously wins for music discovery and listening on the go, and Navidrome had issues sourcing artwork, especially among my more obscure albums. However, Navidrome occupies an important place at home as my go-to player for all my local music files, with no subscription necessary.

OS

Windows, Linux, macOS

Developer

Deluan Alves

Price model

Free, Open-source

Navidrome is a lightweight, self-hosted music streaming server that lets you stream your personal music library from any device.

It turned a folder of audiobooks into my own streaming library

Audiobookshelf was one of the easiest apps I set up. I ran it using Docker, pointed it at the audiobook collection already stored on my Mac, and let it scan the folder. Almost immediately, what had previously been a collection of audio files began to look like a proper audiobook service.

The Audiobookshelf interface is comprehensive, with artwork, metadata, and author info. As soon as I installed it, I started listening directly from my browser, and the app started tracking playback progress and remembering where I left off.

All the features I expected to find were there, including chapters, playback speed controls, and support for listening on other devices. It was easy to start an audiobook on my Mac and pick up where I left off on my phone over the network. Unlike Audible, Audiobookshelf doesn’t sell or provide books, but it is an excellent way to organize, stream, and enjoy a locally stored collection.

Kavita turns my EPUB collection into a private Kindle library

I can read books in a browser and keep my progress synchronized

Kavita is to Kindle what Audiobookshelf is to Audible. It is just as easy to install; I simply created a Docker container, gave it access to a folder containing EPUB files, created a library, and let it scan them. The result is a central library from which I can access all my EPUB files directly in my browser.

Kavita lets me change the reading presentation and switch between chapters, and it remembers my progress and bookmarks. However, where Kavita really shines is that it allows me to access the library on other devices. Opening my library on my iPad from my sofa offers a real e-reader experience that works much better on mobile.

While installation is straightforward, it requires a little organization. Kavita expects its library folders to follow a sensible structure rather than having every ebook dumped into the root directory. Once I had this sorted out, though, everything was plain sailing.

Immich is just like a private Google Photos

My phone automatically sends photos to a server running on my Mac

The final app on my list was the most difficult to install, but Immich is probably the most impressive. I expected a practical, organized photo library, but I also got all the features that make Google Photos so appealing.

I installed Immich using Docker Compose on my Mac, created an account, and installed the mobile app on my phone. After connecting the app to my Mac’s local IP address, I could send photographs directly from my phone to my own Immich library.

Once installed, Immich feels just like a cloud photo service, with a chronological photo timeline alongside albums, search, maps, sharing, and even advanced features such as facial recognition. However, my favorite feature is automatic mobile backup. Rather than relying on Google to store another copy of my photo library, I have full control over backing up my photos from my phone to my own hardware.

Self-hosting is much more approachable than it used to be

I wasn’t so much surprised by the existence of free alternatives to popular apps as I was by how easy they were to install. Docker made a huge difference, with Immich, Kavita, Audiobookshelf, and Navidrome all running as services on the same Mac, and Kodi handling my movie and TV library separately.

The main compromise is that these apps don’t provide the enormous licensed content catalogs of Netflix, Spotify, Audible, or Kindle, and self-hosting means I’m responsible for storage, backups, updates, and occasionally troubleshooting when something breaks. However, once I saw my audiobooks, ebooks, photos, movies, and TV shows presented this way, old folders full of files looked incredibly dull and old-fashioned.