Most of us have quietly handed our entire digital lives to a handful of companies. Your photos live on one cloud, your documents on another, your files scattered across a third — and none of it is really yours. You rent access to your own memories, and the terms can change whenever the landlord likes.
PolarHQ is the opposite of that. It's an open-source suite you run on your own server: Photos, Drive, and Docs, with the same polish you'd expect from Google or Apple, but with a single non-negotiable rule — the server never sees your data in the clear.
What you get on day one
- Photos — an Apple-Photos-grade library with a continuous-flow grid, HEIC and Live Photo support, EXIF metadata, and an on-map view of where every shot was taken.
- Drive — folders, versioning, trash, and fast uploads, with every filename and byte encrypted before it leaves your browser.
- Docs, Sheets & Slides — full-screen, Google-parity editors that open in their own tab.
- An admin console — users, groups, per-user limits, branding, and an audit log.
All of it ships in a single deployment you control.
Owned, not rented
The whole project is built around one idea: ownership instead of lock-in. That shows up everywhere.
If you can't hold the keys, you don't own the data. PolarHQ is designed so the keys never leave your device.
There's no proprietary format you can't escape. Your photos are photos. Your files are files. Export everything, move servers, or fork the project — it's AGPL-licensed and always will be.
Why self-hosted
Self-hosting used to mean a weekend of YAML and a permanent second job keeping it alive. We're working hard to make PolarHQ a single command to stand up and genuinely boring to run. You bring a box — a spare mini PC, a VPS, a NAS — and PolarHQ brings the suite.
This is Alpha v0.1. It's early, it's moving fast, and it's already the daily driver for the people building it. Over the next few releases we'll bring the mobile apps, real-time collaboration, and a one-click deploy story.
If "your digital life, under your control" sounds like something you've been waiting for — welcome. Star the repo, read the encryption deep-dive, and come build the alternative with us.