I just like it and I value my privacy. I don't try to convince anyone. I explain it is both a hobby and a kind of political statement.
Eirikr70
It is out of the question!
I'm in my SSO moment. Been trying Authelia - too hard configuring - then TinyAuth - very nice but limited -, Pocket-ID - a jewel but allows only passkeys -. Now back to Authelia.
I have been self-hosting my mail server for the past 5 or 6 years with success. Recently my ISP decided to close port 25 so I have to use a third party to deliver my outgoing mail.
I genuinely don't understand what you are paying for. I must have missed something.
What cost?
It is hard to set up and you might need an SMTP relay since most ISPs close port 25. But it is feasible.
I have everything at home, including the mail server. The only third party to my setup is a SMTP relay. All on an Odroid H4+. With a backup server on a Raspberry Pi 4 at my daughter's.
What I do is a local backup on a different disk with BorgBackup, then a copy of that local backup to a Pi at a friend's place, with rsync.
Don't you want to turn off the whole NAS? Of you don't have the disks spinning, the NAS is probably useless.
There are many solutions. I have chosen xmpp/ejabberd/conversations/monal.