PikaPods – Instant Open Source App Hosting(pikapods.com)
pikapods.com
PikaPods – Instant Open Source App Hosting
https://www.pikapods.com/
67 comments
I won't share the precise % for each project, but the FAQ at the bottom of the page gives a hint. More than 1ct. Every project is encouraged to link to PikaPods if they think it's fair enough. Or if they want it as hosting option for their users.
Hoping to expand FOSS financing over time. The revenue share won't be enough, I think. So I want an optional sponsorship option to directly support the project. And maybe get a direct line to developers with this. Still early days for this.
I do know that people are willing to pay for the FOSS they use when it's convenient and when they already pay for something. Our other service, https://www.borgbase.com/ has shown this and we collect significant amounts there to support upstream development.
Also keep in mind that many projects aren't ready to receive payments. Either the authorship is unclear (forked many times), they can't/won't issue invoices, just don't want payment categorically.
Hoping to expand FOSS financing over time. The revenue share won't be enough, I think. So I want an optional sponsorship option to directly support the project. And maybe get a direct line to developers with this. Still early days for this.
I do know that people are willing to pay for the FOSS they use when it's convenient and when they already pay for something. Our other service, https://www.borgbase.com/ has shown this and we collect significant amounts there to support upstream development.
Also keep in mind that many projects aren't ready to receive payments. Either the authorship is unclear (forked many times), they can't/won't issue invoices, just don't want payment categorically.
If you look for foundations that service projects, like https://sfconservancy.org/projects/current/ it could be easier to connect.
Absolutely brilliant idea (ok it is an idea I have had myself, I am glad someone has done it)
One thing that is not clear is the estimated costs - is that per app, or do you charge for the server and I can run multiple apps? I think $10 a month for something to power 50 or so apps (maybe I don’t use them all the time, if I do I expect things to get slow or you allow say 2 concurrent apps) would be great.
I think this sort of thing will encourage people to use foss instead of the big walled gardens. Maybe this is the real web3?
My idea is a bit different: most web apps probably just need something like a firestore DB (Parse I guess would do?) so you charge for that and then apps are just a JS bundle format. Like android you have a store but also allow direct uploads at the users own risk.
One thing that is not clear is the estimated costs - is that per app, or do you charge for the server and I can run multiple apps? I think $10 a month for something to power 50 or so apps (maybe I don’t use them all the time, if I do I expect things to get slow or you allow say 2 concurrent apps) would be great.
I think this sort of thing will encourage people to use foss instead of the big walled gardens. Maybe this is the real web3?
My idea is a bit different: most web apps probably just need something like a firestore DB (Parse I guess would do?) so you charge for that and then apps are just a JS bundle format. Like android you have a store but also allow direct uploads at the users own risk.
It’s per pod/app you run and depends on the resources you allocate. Price for minimum required resources is given for each app and starts at $1/month.
Yeah, the goal is to make running FOSS as easy as Google Photos, but with more privacy and community-maintained code.
Also hoping to channel some funds back to authors, but that’s more complex than expected. Just getting started with it.
Yeah, the goal is to make running FOSS as easy as Google Photos, but with more privacy and community-maintained code.
Also hoping to channel some funds back to authors, but that’s more complex than expected. Just getting started with it.
I think you should consider OP’s suggestion. Unlimited apps for some X flat rate. I believe this would bring in more users and potentially attract an audience who for instance was considering Cloudron but didn’t want the hassle of even managing/buying the VPS to install it on..
I was considering this, but in a survey most respondents preferred a prepaid model to avoid surprise charges. The flatrate model does that too, though. Maybe worth trying in the future. Like Spotify for open source apps.
Something that could potentially be a big improvement (in actual efficiency, not just pricing) for low-traffic apps, would be to allow users to provision a set of resources that are shared between multiple apps.
I think combination of two would be the best. In this case I can have a beefy nextcloud pod, and then some shared pod that hosts multiple less demanding apps.
Founder here. Nice surprise to see this posted. Any questions, drop them here.
No questions, just want to say Thank you. I see a great need for such service, planning to use some soon. Never heard about Pikapods before.
Maybe there will be good demand for simple db like SQLite. Just a suggesion.
Goodluck
Maybe there will be good demand for simple db like SQLite. Just a suggesion.
Goodluck
Some apps already use SQLite as storage. In addition we run shared Postgres and Mariadb.
Why Malta?
Any benefits to being incorporated/hosted there?
Pros/Cons?
Are you planning on including resource intensive media/other apps like Plex, Emby, Jellyfin, Sonarr, Radarr etc as well?
Also, I HIGHLY doubt you're "surprised" to see this posted here and elsewhere (like on Reddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/selfhosted/comments/ulm395/pikapods...) as this all appears engineered / deliberate with your involvement - I mean, your response is literally identical - which is fine and all, but transparency is likely a better approach.
Good hustle though.
Any benefits to being incorporated/hosted there?
Pros/Cons?
Are you planning on including resource intensive media/other apps like Plex, Emby, Jellyfin, Sonarr, Radarr etc as well?
Also, I HIGHLY doubt you're "surprised" to see this posted here and elsewhere (like on Reddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/selfhosted/comments/ulm395/pikapods...) as this all appears engineered / deliberate with your involvement - I mean, your response is literally identical - which is fine and all, but transparency is likely a better approach.
Good hustle though.
Yeah, English speaking and inside the EU are some pros. (European myself)
I’m trying to stay away from apps with large piracy/abuse potential for now. Later they may go on a dedicated server in a friendly country like Netherlands.
I’m trying to stay away from apps with large piracy/abuse potential for now. Later they may go on a dedicated server in a friendly country like Netherlands.
Plans to allow 3-4 apps on one pod? Something that literally is by just one person? Maybe something that hosts notes server, contacts, calendar etc?
One pod maps to one public URL and one Docker image. So would be hard to change the setup like this.
I have some questions:
If I understood correctly, this service only allows managed hosting from a curated list of services/apps? I assume that I cannot run my own docker containers. There are a lot of Run Your Own links/text, which made me think first that I could run my own, but instead it seems that I can choose what can be run for me.
Assuming this is OCI based, how are the containers isolated? Is it with cgroups and namespaces (because of rootless), but still sharing the kernel or are users placed inside separate VMs?
What about storage/disk/volume encryption? If I get allocated 10GB of data from the disk, does it have readable, but deleted data from a previous user? How is my data secured on the disk?
I currently have a usage pattern with Jitsi, which I host when I need to have a meeting. I use it a few hours a week and a minute/hour based cloud pricing from many providers are ideal for this. It is relatively cheap to launch even a beefy instance for only a couple of hours at a time.
I didn't see Jitsi on the list, but also the pricing is only listed as monthly. Is there more granular pricing?
What about more closed source software containers, like game servers? I didn't see those on the list. I'm pretty sure Minecraft, Valheim, Satisfactory etc. servers would bring more customers and make the service more popular.
What about managed databases?
I also saw Gitea, but not Gitlab.
Your offering seems to target somewhat similar audience to Linode's Marketplace. Linode calls them "one click apps": https://www.linode.com/marketplace/
Your pricing seems cheaper than Linode's, but is there any other advantage to use your service over theirs? Linode can even manage and configure DNS settings for custom domains automatically for you for their one click apps.
I like your website and it works well on mobile. This service also seems at glance like a great idea. I wish there was a bit more information to help me understand what this service does exactly and how it differs from the competition.
If I understood correctly, this service only allows managed hosting from a curated list of services/apps? I assume that I cannot run my own docker containers. There are a lot of Run Your Own links/text, which made me think first that I could run my own, but instead it seems that I can choose what can be run for me.
Assuming this is OCI based, how are the containers isolated? Is it with cgroups and namespaces (because of rootless), but still sharing the kernel or are users placed inside separate VMs?
What about storage/disk/volume encryption? If I get allocated 10GB of data from the disk, does it have readable, but deleted data from a previous user? How is my data secured on the disk?
I currently have a usage pattern with Jitsi, which I host when I need to have a meeting. I use it a few hours a week and a minute/hour based cloud pricing from many providers are ideal for this. It is relatively cheap to launch even a beefy instance for only a couple of hours at a time.
I didn't see Jitsi on the list, but also the pricing is only listed as monthly. Is there more granular pricing?
What about more closed source software containers, like game servers? I didn't see those on the list. I'm pretty sure Minecraft, Valheim, Satisfactory etc. servers would bring more customers and make the service more popular.
What about managed databases?
I also saw Gitea, but not Gitlab.
Your offering seems to target somewhat similar audience to Linode's Marketplace. Linode calls them "one click apps": https://www.linode.com/marketplace/
Your pricing seems cheaper than Linode's, but is there any other advantage to use your service over theirs? Linode can even manage and configure DNS settings for custom domains automatically for you for their one click apps.
I like your website and it works well on mobile. This service also seems at glance like a great idea. I wish there was a bit more information to help me understand what this service does exactly and how it differs from the competition.
> sharing the kernel or are users placed inside separate VMs?
The isolation is with users and SELinux. There are no VMs as those are pretty heavy.
> the pricing is only listed as monthly. Is there more granular pricing?
Pricing is with hourly granularity, but shown as monthly for simplicity.
> What about storage/disk/volume encryption?
We run only bare-metal servers, so this is less of a concern unless you expect the whole server to be stolen. Data still needs to be accessible all the time.
> What about managed databases?
It's more focused on end users, rather than devs. So trying not to go overboard with very technical apps.
> I also saw Gitea, but not Gitlab. > What about more closed source software containers, like game servers?
Still many apps to be added. I also try not to compete with hosting offered by FOSS authors, unless they push other options themselves. Added a note on Gitlab on our feedback tracker: https://feedback.pikapods.com/
> Your pricing seems cheaper than Linode's, but is there any other advantage to use your service over theirs?
Linode seems to use VMs and asks you to make an install script. So it will be heavier than simple containers I use.
Hope I covered a few questions. There was a lot in this comment...
The isolation is with users and SELinux. There are no VMs as those are pretty heavy.
> the pricing is only listed as monthly. Is there more granular pricing?
Pricing is with hourly granularity, but shown as monthly for simplicity.
> What about storage/disk/volume encryption?
We run only bare-metal servers, so this is less of a concern unless you expect the whole server to be stolen. Data still needs to be accessible all the time.
> What about managed databases?
It's more focused on end users, rather than devs. So trying not to go overboard with very technical apps.
> I also saw Gitea, but not Gitlab. > What about more closed source software containers, like game servers?
Still many apps to be added. I also try not to compete with hosting offered by FOSS authors, unless they push other options themselves. Added a note on Gitlab on our feedback tracker: https://feedback.pikapods.com/
> Your pricing seems cheaper than Linode's, but is there any other advantage to use your service over theirs?
Linode seems to use VMs and asks you to make an install script. So it will be heavier than simple containers I use.
Hope I covered a few questions. There was a lot in this comment...
>> What about storage/disk/volume encryption?
> We run only bare-metal servers, so this is less of a concern unless you expect the whole server to be stolen. Data still needs to be accessible all the time.
So, when I delete a file and it is marked as deleted in the file system and it becomes empty space, then when this same space gets allocated for someone else, they can just read my file from the allocated empty space. This doesn't require the server to be stolen or physical access, just someone else reusing the same physical/bare-metal hardware after me. Encrypting files/volumes/storage per user solves this problem. Leaving it unencrypted exposes my data to all other users of the system.
Here is some ideas on how Google handles this: https://cloud.google.com/docs/security/encryption/default-en...
I hope you re-consider encrypting user data.
> We run only bare-metal servers, so this is less of a concern unless you expect the whole server to be stolen. Data still needs to be accessible all the time.
So, when I delete a file and it is marked as deleted in the file system and it becomes empty space, then when this same space gets allocated for someone else, they can just read my file from the allocated empty space. This doesn't require the server to be stolen or physical access, just someone else reusing the same physical/bare-metal hardware after me. Encrypting files/volumes/storage per user solves this problem. Leaving it unencrypted exposes my data to all other users of the system.
Here is some ideas on how Google handles this: https://cloud.google.com/docs/security/encryption/default-en...
I hope you re-consider encrypting user data.
> Leaving it unencrypted exposes my data to all other users of the system.
This would be an issue if we would offer access to block devices. That’s not the case. The pod can only see the files and not read at the block level. Else every shared hosting setup would have this issue.
I’ll still look into it and see if there is any action needed. And the potential overhead for encrypting only the mounted user files. My feeling is that it’s pretty doable.
This would be an issue if we would offer access to block devices. That’s not the case. The pod can only see the files and not read at the block level. Else every shared hosting setup would have this issue.
I’ll still look into it and see if there is any action needed. And the potential overhead for encrypting only the mounted user files. My feeling is that it’s pretty doable.
This is very interesting. However, I recommend that you keep the pricing constant and cap the resource usage at your end. A lot of semi-technical folks would understand the value of owning data and using open source application but the "fuzziness" around pricing would put them off.
This looks great, I'll try it as soon as I get home. One question before I try, say I want to use FileRun or Photoprism but mount an S3 bucket for the storage, do we have enough configurability to accomplish that?
Probably yes, so just try it! If any user-configurable env var is missing, I'll add it right away. PhotoPrism already has a LOT of configurable env vars and I don't recall seeing something about S3 there. So it may be inside the app.
Sorry, rather than env vars, it was more about being able to mount it as a filesystem, since I know Filerun at least tell you to do that -
https://feedback.filerun.com/en/communities/1/topics/1166-aw...
If it’s not from within the app, then I’m afraid it’s not possible with the current setup. Also not sure if this would be stable enough. I believe PhotoPrism allows mounting webdav from within the app and import pictures from there.
Any detailed privacy information? e.g storage encryption and access, system credentials etc.
Why do some apps require billing information for trial?
There is a boiler plate privacy page, but not with those technical details yet.
First, storage isn’t encrypted and I can’t think of threat scenarios that require it, since we only use bare metal servers and control the drives. Wouldn’t add much benefit at the cost of higher CPU usage.
For your account, you can enable TOTP 2FA from Account > Password/2FA.
For our production servers, any admin access needs a hardware Yubikey.
First, storage isn’t encrypted and I can’t think of threat scenarios that require it, since we only use bare metal servers and control the drives. Wouldn’t add much benefit at the cost of higher CPU usage.
For your account, you can enable TOTP 2FA from Account > Password/2FA.
For our production servers, any admin access needs a hardware Yubikey.
If you control the drives, what will you do when old drives are cycled out? Will you just dump them in a bin for a letter agency to come and harvest my cat photos?
IMO, FDE is easy enough to do, even if the users never get to do it themselves. It sort of protects the users from leaking their data in the event that a company goes out of business or someone breaks in to steal hardware.
IMO, FDE is easy enough to do, even if the users never get to do it themselves. It sort of protects the users from leaking their data in the event that a company goes out of business or someone breaks in to steal hardware.
Usually overwrite the data a few times before decommissioning the server.
I’ll do some testing for the next server to see how much overhead FDE would add.
I’ll do some testing for the next server to see how much overhead FDE would add.
Cool idea. Can you comment on who the owner of the actual server hardware is and on the locations of those?
We rent from our regular colo partners and sometimes buy our own drives, if it helps lower the price. It will eventually show the DC location as tooltip on the region. For the EU it's Hetzner, for US it's INAP and Cogent DCs near Boston, for Asia it will be Leaseweb.
Wholesome. Brilliant for lazy people like us. Start and tinker things around with this and either host it ourselves when we like or just continue using this.
Thanks. Got my first pod running.
Thanks. Got my first pod running.
Would a Plex pikapod make sense? I'd worry about bandwidth costs. I ask because a buddy was saying he wanted his own Plex instance, but doesn't have the inclination or time to figure out the hardware.
Another suggestion might be Minecraft. My nephews have casually said they'd like their own server.
Another suggestion might be Minecraft. My nephews have casually said they'd like their own server.
This app seems to target open source projects but Plex and Minecraft aren't open source
It supports FileRun which isn't open source, so Plex may be an option.
Looks great. I would love to see some development tooling (if it's license allows), that I'm currently considering self hosting: Posthog, Sentry and Jitsu (aka EventNative). If Sentry setup is too insane maybe GlitchTip.
I don't know if you run Clickhouse (needed for PostHog) yet, but I bet it will be used by a bunch of self hosted apps in the future and would be worth it.
A very attractive option would be some kind of "Try on PikaPods" button, if you can somehow muster a very limited free tier, that these projects can put on their READMEs. A few have that with heroku and it makes them way more approachable.
The pricing is very attractive compared to running these things e.g. on RDS+Fargate (~25x). Most people would probably run on Digital Ocean or Hetzner Cloud which is closer.
A very attractive option would be some kind of "Try on PikaPods" button, if you can somehow muster a very limited free tier, that these projects can put on their READMEs. A few have that with heroku and it makes them way more approachable.
The pricing is very attractive compared to running these things e.g. on RDS+Fargate (~25x). Most people would probably run on Digital Ocean or Hetzner Cloud which is closer.
Still adding apps every week. Just suggest them here: https://feedback.pikapods.com/
Currently the limitations are: a) they should run on a single https port; b) come with some authentication and c) publish a Docker image of sort.
There is already a "Run on PikaPods" button for our FOSS partners. Hoping to add it to more projects, so people can quickly start using an app.
Currently the limitations are: a) they should run on a single https port; b) come with some authentication and c) publish a Docker image of sort.
There is already a "Run on PikaPods" button for our FOSS partners. Hoping to add it to more projects, so people can quickly start using an app.
It's really nice just to have a browse through the apps, actually. I've learned about some cool projects which I never knew existed!
That's what I think every time when I find a new project! There are a few directories, but none perfect. I'd like to see one that's user-updatable (via Github), sort- and filterable and shows the current health of a project (last update, contributors, ..). Closest I found is this:
https://github.com/awesome-selfhosted/awesome-selfhosted
https://github.com/awesome-selfhosted/awesome-selfhosted
I heard of this service recently from somewhere else too. Sounds really great; pricing is quite fair. This is the kind of service we need nowadays - where some software i can self-host, and others i can pay someone (like pikapods) to manage for me (at least at some lower/base level anyway). Good luck!
How does backups work? And what about updates? Or is this more like a 'try' / testing app hosting?
Backups are for the whole server at the moment and include mounted volumes and databases. Hoping to add per-pod snapshots a bit later. Helps that we already run a backup service. More on this planned feature here: https://feedback.pikapods.com/posts/14/offer-backup-option
Updates arrive a few days after they are released and if you keep the ‘automatic updated’ setting enabled. We do some rudimentary QA before deploying updates.
It’s definitely for long-term hosting. Many pods have been running for months (we had a public beta since around January)
Updates arrive a few days after they are released and if you keep the ‘automatic updated’ setting enabled. We do some rudimentary QA before deploying updates.
It’s definitely for long-term hosting. Many pods have been running for months (we had a public beta since around January)
Very interesting concept and clear messaging on the website. Eager to test this for personal use.
Big fan of BorgBase (the other product by the same company), I have been using them for quite some time for different projects.
Big fan of BorgBase (the other product by the same company), I have been using them for quite some time for different projects.
Looks great! 2 bits of feedback:
- I'd like to know what kind of payment methods are available before signing up.
- I'd LOVE it if this supported a prepaid payment option, where the service just stops if you run out of credit. (With an email alert, of course.)
- I'd like to know what kind of payment methods are available before signing up.
- I'd LOVE it if this supported a prepaid payment option, where the service just stops if you run out of credit. (With an email alert, of course.)
Major credit cards via Stripe. Later PayPal probably.
Yes, it's prepaid and your pod will stop after a few notifications. You can optionally enable automatic top-ups to avoid this. Both possible.
Yes, it's prepaid and your pod will stop after a few notifications. You can optionally enable automatic top-ups to avoid this. Both possible.
Awesome, thanks. If you're going to tell me it's also possible to remove a credit card after topping up the credit, I'll consider using this!
It won't let you remove the last card because adding a card also unlocks some more "dangerous" apps that allow running custom code. And gives higher limits.
Alternatively add a disposable one-time card. Many fintech apps provide those.
Still, as vendor, I'd avoid putting a random charge on your card and then pay the chargeback fee. Ouch.
Alternatively add a disposable one-time card. Many fintech apps provide those.
Still, as vendor, I'd avoid putting a random charge on your card and then pay the chargeback fee. Ouch.
Sounds a lot like sandcats (/sandstorm), albeit slightly less ambitious?
Sandstorm is an open source platform, and this sounds like it is not. But Sandstorm used to offer managed hosting and no longer does, so they fill different niches. I can't run PikaPods in my house and you can't subscribe to Sandstorm right now for someone else to run. (Theoretically you can, but nobody is selling.)
It'd be cool to see a service like PikaPods built around Sandstorm as the platform layer, but there's a LOT of work to do to make Sandstorm a good idea to run commercially, and since we aren't running it as such, nobody's really working on those things.
It'd be cool to see a service like PikaPods built around Sandstorm as the platform layer, but there's a LOT of work to do to make Sandstorm a good idea to run commercially, and since we aren't running it as such, nobody's really working on those things.
Sandstorm uses VM templates (Vagrant)[1], so pretty heavy and harder to update.
I use Docker images, as provided by the upstream project. So you get the same experience as running it yourself, as well as quick updates.
1: https://docs.sandstorm.io/en/latest/vagrant-spk/packaging-tu...
I use Docker images, as provided by the upstream project. So you get the same experience as running it yourself, as well as quick updates.
1: https://docs.sandstorm.io/en/latest/vagrant-spk/packaging-tu...
Sandstorm uses Vagrant as part of the app packaging (for developers) process. It is _not_ used in everyday use of Sandstorm. Instead, "Sandstorm implements fine-grained containers"[1], not VMs.
1: https://docs.sandstorm.io/en/latest/using/security-practices...
1: https://docs.sandstorm.io/en/latest/using/security-practices...
I see. So it’s like Docker, but their own implementation? Can’t wrap my head around it right now.
Sandstorm has a pretty unique sandboxing model, which makes it drastically more secure than Docker in practice, but the tradeoffs in terms of packaging differences can be significant.
One of the biggest things is that Sandstorm prefers to sandbox individual documents versus applications, which mitigates a huge variety of security flaws in apps. In most cases vulnerabilities in apps on Sandstorm are not exploitable when run on Sandstorm.
It also manages most authentication and authorization roles for apps in an integrated way, which requires more integration work than just spinning up a Docker container.
Feel free to hit me up if you want to know more, though it would be a lot of work to make Sandstorm work for your business model at this point. It's cool seeing others in the "make open source web apps user-friendly to run" space though.
One of the biggest things is that Sandstorm prefers to sandbox individual documents versus applications, which mitigates a huge variety of security flaws in apps. In most cases vulnerabilities in apps on Sandstorm are not exploitable when run on Sandstorm.
It also manages most authentication and authorization roles for apps in an integrated way, which requires more integration work than just spinning up a Docker container.
Feel free to hit me up if you want to know more, though it would be a lot of work to make Sandstorm work for your business model at this point. It's cool seeing others in the "make open source web apps user-friendly to run" space though.
See also this blog post: https://sandstorm.io/news/2014-08-19-why-not-run-docker-apps
Thanks! Will read this later in detail and see if anything can be learnt.
I do want to point out that this is from 2014 and we don't use Docker at PikaPods. We use Red Hat's stack, which integrates better with other Linux tools, like SELinux and Systemd.
I do want to point out that this is from 2014 and we don't use Docker at PikaPods. We use Red Hat's stack, which integrates better with other Linux tools, like SELinux and Systemd.
More like elestio (managed) and cloudron (selfhosted)
I would say Elestio is more focused on enterprise /startups needs and PikaPods more focused on individuals users
This is awesome I’m for sure going to end up in this pipeline:
Try apps on PikaPods as an easy way to test what I want to self-host -> damn this is easy, not gonna bother moving, I’ll just stay in PikaPods
Try apps on PikaPods as an easy way to test what I want to self-host -> damn this is easy, not gonna bother moving, I’ll just stay in PikaPods
How can you offer these prices? a 2GB ram 1 cpu app costs $2.87 approxmately a month. Thats a way lower than any vps provider yet you offer a managed solution which should add to the cost.
I assume they're overprovisioning and banking on the assumption that everyone won't need to access their data at the same time.
I am not sure after reading the landing page if the platform itself is open source or if I am only allowed to host open source apps on it?
It’s a hosted service, not open source. The “pods” that run are open source
This looks interesting, but I don't see where I can find info on bandwidth limits or pricing.
It's at the bottom of the page. A pod with 1GB of RAM, 1 CPU core and 10GB of storage costs $2.65 per month. Bandwidth is not mentioned but I don't think it should be a problem with most of apps except for like blogs.
No bandwidth limit or other charges. Just pay for allocated CPUs, memory and storage. Or stop the pod if it's not in use and pay for storage only ($1 minimum/month)
Well, I am little confused. Is this thing open source too?
Congrats Manu! Great launch <3
Even though this clearly target FLOSS-friendly users, which are already aware of stuff, they don't necessarily know all the floss services. So my recommendation would be to make an additional, more opinionated pod page (but I've never made a product in my life, so my advice is probably not worth much): - Show ""competing"" proprietary services in front of the pods, for people to maybe better understand what it is about - Make a subset list of ""recommended"" services, photoprism/photoview are redundant, developer/sysadmin stuff should probably not be listed, pick just one RSS aggregator (I personally use TinyTinyRSS which has a great Android appif I can add my own grain of salt)
Thanks for the product and I wish you good luck