Replacing Google One With a Home Server: Is It Actually Worth It?
Google One keeps getting more expensive. Here's a realistic look at what it takes to replace it with a self-hosted alternative, and whether the trade-offs make sense.
Google One’s 2TB plan hit $10/month in the US. That’s $120/year for storage on hardware Google controls, subject to whatever terms they decide to change next. Google Photos, which used to offer unlimited free storage, now counts toward that limit.
I moved off it. Here’s how it went and whether I’d recommend it.
What Google One actually covers
Before talking about replacements, it’s worth being clear about what the subscription provides:
- Google Drive storage — 2TB shared across Drive, Gmail, and Photos
- Google Photos — photo and video backup with AI search, albums, face grouping
- Gmail storage — older emails stop coming in when you hit the limit
- Google One VPN — often bundled, pretty mediocre VPN
The photo backup piece is the hardest to replace. The file storage part is straightforward.
Replacing file storage: Syncthing
For file sync — documents, notes, work files — Syncthing is a complete and direct replacement for what most people actually use Google Drive for (keeping the same files on multiple devices).
What Syncthing does: syncs folders between devices continuously. Change a file on your laptop and it’s on your server and phone within seconds.
What Syncthing doesn’t do: shared links, collaborative editing, “here’s a folder shared with 5 people,” or browsing files from a random computer’s browser. If you need those things, Nextcloud is the fuller replacement — more complex to run, but it provides a web interface, app clients, and sharing.
For my use case (personal files synced between my Mac and homelab VM), Syncthing is plenty.
Setup time: 1-2 hours. Syncthing Docker setup guide →
Replacing photo backup: Immich
Immich is a self-hosted photo manager with a mobile app that auto-uploads photos in the background, just like Google Photos. It has:
- Mobile apps (iOS and Android) with background upload
- Web interface for browsing
- Face recognition and grouping (ML-powered, runs locally)
- Map view of photos by location
- Album sharing (including with non-users via share links)
- Video support
The gaps compared to Google Photos: Google’s search is better (type “red car from 2019” and it works uncannily well), the “memories” and automatic album features are more polished, and Google’s backup is more foolproof for less technical users.
Immich requires a bit more hardware than Syncthing. The ML features (face recognition) need a machine with some CPU headroom, and photos take real storage. If you have 200GB of photos, you need 200GB of disk.
Setup time: 2-3 hours including the Docker setup and app configuration.
Replacing Gmail storage
This one is mostly a non-issue if you’re running your own server. Gmail’s storage problem stems from keeping years of mail indefinitely. The practical solutions:
- Delete or archive old emails periodically
- Stop treating Gmail as permanent archival (it’s not designed for that)
- If you need long-term email archiving, there are self-hosted tools, but that’s a different project
For most people, managing Gmail storage is free — just clean it up.
The actual cost comparison
Google One 2TB: $10/month = $120/year
Self-hosted equivalent:
| Component | Cost |
|---|---|
| Hardware (N100 mini PC, amortized over 3 years) | $4.31/month |
| Electricity (15W continuous) | $1.40/month |
| Extra storage SSD ($60, one-time, amortized 3 years) | $1.67/month |
| Domain ($0.71/month) | $0.71/month |
| Total | $8.09/month |
That’s roughly break-even versus Google One 2TB — before you account for everything else running on the same hardware. Once you add password management, document management, and other services, the homelab pays for itself clearly.
What I actually run
On my Proxmox node (192.168.1.10), I have:
- Syncthing — replaces Google Drive sync for documents and notes
- Paperless-ngx — handles document scanning and archiving (better than anything Google offers here)
I haven’t migrated photos to Immich yet. My photo workflow currently involves iCloud, and replacing that is a bigger project. The honest answer is that replacing Google Photos specifically is the most disruptive part of leaving Google’s ecosystem, and it’s not something I’d recommend rushing.
Should you do it?
Yes, if: You’re primarily using Google One for file sync and drive storage, you have 4-8 hours to spend setting things up, and you have or are willing to buy a cheap home server.
Not yet, if: Photos are your main use case and you rely on Google’s AI search and organization. Immich is good, but it’s not a seamless drop-in replacement. Give it another 12-18 months to mature, or be prepared for a slightly rougher experience.
No, if: You share storage with family and they’re not technically inclined enough to deal with self-hosted services. The friction of onboarding non-technical family members is real.
The cost breakdown article has more detail on running costs. The starter stack article covers what to run first.