Step 1 of 5

Where will it run?

Everything after this depends on the answer: a machine you own is sized in watts and drive bays, a rented one in vCPUs and monthly rent.

On a machine at homeYou buy it once and it sits on a shelf. Costs electricity, gives you full control of where the data lives.On a rented serverRented from a provider, billed monthly. Nothing to buy or plug in, but storage gets expensive and it is still someone else's computer.On a machine I already haveAn old laptop, a spare tower, a NAS you already own. We tell you what it can carry, what it is missing, and whether completing it beats buying.

See my build