The same application, running on a machine you own. Your records never reach our servers — because there is no connection to them.
ArmoryHub has always encrypted your data on your device before storing it, so the hosted version cannot read your collection either. That is technically true and provably implemented — but it asks you to take our word for it.
Self-hosting asks you to take nobody's word for anything. The data is on your disk, on your network. There is no account to subpoena, no company to be acquired, and no policy that can change under you.
It is the same application and the same encryption as the hosted version, and it is in real use — but the self-hosted edition is younger, it runs on hardware we have never seen, and you should expect rough edges. Read the installation guide before you commit your records to it, and keep a backup you have actually tested.
There is no licence key, no activation, and nothing in the instance that phones home to check one. Install it and use it.
Self-hosting will eventually be licensed. If your instance is running any version below 1.0, you are grandfathered — it stays free, permanently, and it keeps updating. You will not wake up to a locked instance or a demand for a key. That is the point of installing during a beta.
Some people would rather not use a thing like this for nothing. If that is you, you pick the amount — there is no suggested figure and no wrong answer.
Nothing about your install depends on it. No tier, no licence, no receipt to enter, no feature behind it, and no follow-up email. It is a contribution towards the time this takes to build, and skipping it is genuinely the expected answer — the beta is free either way.
Pay what you wantEncryption is not turned off just because the server is yours. Records are encrypted with your PIN before they touch the database, so even a stolen disk is unreadable.
No analytics, no telemetry, no error reporting, no outbound requests of any kind. The instance does not contact us, and cannot.
Install it to your home screen like any app, reachable from anywhere over your own private network. No port forwarding, no exposing anything to the internet.
The database and your photos sit in a folder you can see, copy and back up with ordinary tools. Nightly backups run automatically.
Bring your existing hosted account across with a single export and import. The same tool moves you back again if you change your mind.
You decide when to upgrade. Database changes apply automatically on start, and a backup is taken first.
The hosted version is the better choice for most people, and it is the same application with the same encryption. Self-hosting trades convenience for control. If that trade does not appeal, you are not the target — and that is a perfectly good answer.
Your records are encrypted with a PIN that never leaves your device in a usable form. That is what makes the encryption meaningful — and it means nobody can reset or recover it. Not us. Not anyone.
A passphrase is optional, and it is not a second chance at this. What it does is strengthen the copy of your key that sits on the server: without one, that copy is protected by six digits. If you set one, it is then needed together with your PIN to set ArmoryHub up on another device.
So write the PIN down, write the passphrase down if you set one, keep both offline, and test restoring a backup before you rely on one.
One command on your server, then one link to click. No account, no credentials, no build step.
$ curl -fsSL https://armoryhub.app/install.sh | shIt checks your Docker setup, generates every secret for you, starts the application and sets up HTTPS on your own private network. It also installs an armoryhub command for everything afterwards — status, backups, updates, and an armoryhub doctor that diagnoses most problems for you.
Already run your own reverse proxy and certificates? Pass --reverse-proxy and Tailscale is skipped entirely. Full instructions on the installation page.
Requirements, the install itself, backups, updates and troubleshooting are all written up. Read it before you start — it will tell you honestly whether this is the right choice for you.