During March, we improved our cloud provider coverage by massively improving support for Premiumize and EasyNews (with Debridav), diversified our downloaders by adding a 3rd download-symlink tool, and added a few more apps to the catalogue.
To get us started, here are some geeky stats for Mar 2025, followed by a summary of some of the user-facing changes announced this month in the blog...
The stats below illustrate CPU cores used (not percentage). These stats only cover the DE cluster at present, we're working on cross-cluster metrics aggregation to make this data more useful.
Tenant CPU load on average is 20% higher than the preceding period (again), with the rest of the supporting infrastructure's CPU usage remaining relatively static.
This graph represents memory usage across the entire (DE) cluster. One mildly interesting observation is that Feb's snapshot was taken when we were running Traefik v2, and during Mar we upgrade to to Traefik v3, and optimized our configs, such that overall RAM usage by Traefik is significantly lower.
Other high consumers of RAM:
csi-rclone: used for mounting all rclone-compatible storage mounts, primarily RealDebrid libraries
kube-system: the Kubernetes control plane, including the cilium agents which manage the networking / policy enforcement (currently 11K flows/s across 30 nodes)
traefik: all inbound access to the cluster / services
Network usage remains at about 20% of capacity on average, but (due to thee changing nature of user behaviour) this month there are more periods during which the effect of our egress rate-limiting can be clearly observed.
Why Hansel & Gretel?
Bundles are datacenter-agnostic, but nodes are specific to each datacenter, and we needed a way to differentiate US nodes from DE nodes. The fairy tale of Hansel and Gretel originates in Germany
Last month (Feb 2025)'s for comparison:
Retrospective
March saw us build out EasyNews and Premiumize support with Debridav (below), add a UI-based symlink downloader (Decypharr), add two separate tools to add media requests via the Plex UI (Pulsarr and Plex-Requests), and dabble in some audiobook-adjacent apps (AudioBookRequest).
Debridav Design
Debridav is a clever tool which is both a WebDAV server, a qBittorrent API, and an SABnzbd API. It's used to allow the creation of "libraries" using Premiumze or EasyNews. Until recently, the implementation was fiddly, since the media would have to be located in the Debridav WebDAV mount, which made it cumbersome to use alongside existing debrid providers like RealDebrid.
Following some updates to both Debridav and our Aarr import script, it's now possible to seamlessly "bolt on" Premiumize or EasyNews (or both!) to your existing RealDebrid-integrated stack.
Premiumize
The clever feature that Debridav allows with Premiumize is "unlimited" library-building. Behind the scenes, the content you add isn't actually added to your Premiumize "cloud storage" (limited to 1TB) at all, but rather a virtual filesystem is built up from checking cached torrent links against Premiumize, and your "Fair Use Points" are only consumed when you actually stream the media referenced by the library.
Here's an example of a from-scratch Premiumize setup:
Free 14 day trial vouchers available
We've negotiated free 14-day trial vouchers for Elfies (only for new Premiumize accounts) to try out the Premiumize integration - if you're interested, create an #elf-help ticket and we'll hook you up!
EasyNews
EasyNews doesn't have an API to confirm whether a particular hash is cached, but it has a powerful search interface. Leveraging that search, and some internal development on a fake NewzNab indexer ("fakearr"), Prowlarr can search EasyNews for matching content, and then hand these over to Debridav to stream from EasyNews, building a virtual "library" much like the Premiumize design described above.
Here's an example of a from-scratch EasyNews setup:
The following apps made their debut on ElfHosted during Feb 2025:
Decypharr
Decypharr is yet-another debrid downloader-but-not-really-a-downloader-it-actually-creates-symlinks, but with multi-debrid support, and a UI!
We ran a 7-day trial of Decypharr, following which we rolled it out as an option to all Aarr users, and made it the default for fresh installs.
Plex Requests
Plex Requests in a collection of several clever "microservices" which "abuse" the Plex API to make it possible to add requests to Overseerr, directly from Plex apps.
The Plex ecosystem is a little rocky ATM, with the (rushed?) rollout of the "new" mobile apps, and it's likely that there will be further development effort required before Plex Requests will work with these new apps.
A simpler-but-as-effective solution is to use Plex watchlists to trigger additions to your ElfStack, using ... Pulsarr (below)
Pulsarr
Pulsarr is an integration tool that bridges Plex watchlists with Sonarr and Radarr, enabling real-time media monitoring and automated content acquisition all from within the Plex App itself.
Enjoy all the benefits of other content discovery systems without requiring users to use additional services. All the magic happens from the primary users Plex Token.
It provides user-based watchlist synchronization for yourself and for friends, smart content routing based on genre, and notification capabilities.
AudioBookRequest
A bleeding-edge new addition, AudioBookRequest leverages Prowlarr (and whatever downloader it's configured with) to download audiobooks based on a watchlist you maintain, with the help of a searchable index from Audible.
With the addition of Decypharr (which offers a generic qBittorent-like API to the Aars), AudioBookRequest can use Prowlarr to search for and download books from your "watchlist", storing a symlink in /storage/symlinks/downloads/prowlarr, which you can then (for now) manually move to a folder under /storage/symlinks to be managed using AudioBookshelf.
Coming up
Plex remote streaming restrictions
Plex announced significant changes to remote streaming from 29 April 2025. In effect, unless you're a Plex Pass subscriber, or you purchase a "Remote Watch Pass" subscription from Plex, you will no longer be able to stream your media "remotely" (outside of the location where your Plex server is running). While we're not sure yet exactly what the implications will be for our non-PlexPass users, the takeaway understood currently is this:
If you're a PlexPass user, nothing changes. Go back to bed
If you're not a PlexPass user but you are committed to the Plex ecosystem, you'd be advised to grab a lifetime PlexPass membership during April, after which the price is set to more-than-double from USD $120 to $250.
If you're fed up with Plex and this is the last straw, you could consider your options by adding a standalone Jellyfin or standalone Emby to your stack, evaluating them for the 7-day trial period, and then "switching" your stack to the Jellyfin/Emby equivalent once you've tested in parallel to your existing Plex setup. At least that way you'll be well-informed when the hammer drops, and you discover that you've either got to pay Plex to continue streaming, or jump ship!
US East Coast DC
The extremely handsome and intelligent Crunchbits chief-cable-monkey Eric has confirmed that our US East Coast infrastructure is being deployed during the month of April. Quoting Eric:
ElfHosted and their devishly charming leader @funkypenguin, are without a doubt our number-one priority for the entire PA datacenter build, and I will personally be working night and day to ensure that the East Coast Elfies get to enjoy the enhanced streaming speeds which await them upon completion of the PA rack build - 1 April 2025
Symlink Cleaner
Our very own ElfVenger, @BSM, has been working on a new, Elf-sclusive app, cleverly named "Symlink Cleaner". Symlink Cleaner is currently available free as an early-access trial, after which time we intend to roll it out to all Elfies, free of charge.
AudioBookBayAutomated
AudioBookBay Automated is another bleeding-edge app which needs testing during March, but if you're an audiobook-phile, it may tweak your interest...
Even mooar apps
Apps currently requested can be found (and submitted!) here
Profilarr: A UI-based tool to manage quality profiles in the Aaars
ElfGuides (ongoing)
We've made videos about how to drive our most popular setups, but given the tools and apps change so fast, the videos very often become out-of-date. Re-recording a video simply to address a change a single tool in a larger workflow can be tedious and time-consuming, so we've been exploring another option.
The "ElfGuides" are a collection of ScribeHow documents, assembled modularly from a collection of "Scribes" (screenshot-driven guides), which can be mix/matched up to provide a detailed guide per-stack (there are more than 30 variations now!). When a tool in the stack changes, updating the guides is just a matter of updating the individual "module" covering that tool.
If you've been a long-time Elfie, you'll not have seen any guides, but they're emailed to new subscribers as they start their subscription!
The most popular app stacks are covered in the ElfGuides currently, but given the variety / rate of change we face, the effort to maintain these is... ongoing.
Your ideas?
Got ideas for improvements? Send us an EEP (ElfHosted Enhancement Proposal) here!
How to help
Another effective way to help is to drive traffic / organic discovery, by mentioning ElfHosted in appropriate forums such as Reddit's r/plex, r/realdebrid, and r/StremioAddons, which is where much of our target audience is to be found!
I am new here, but today I learned realized that Elfhosted is one of the best free and open source software communities I've seen, and FOSS communities have been at the center of my life since the 90s (Perl, PHP, Symfony, Drupal, Ethereum, etc.). Great open software built by great people who care = great community, and that is something special.
You've done an amazing job @Funky Penguelf with the platform you provide and this place has an awesome mix of active community caretakers and software creators that I've seen here so far like BSM, Spoked, LayeZee and other elf vengers. Keep up the energy, productivity and community and take time to enjoy it and appreciate each other!
I self host and share a fully automated ‘arr stack with Plex. Been doing so for around 4 years. Also recently got into real debrid and hosting a Comet and Annatar for Stremio. The amount of time and head banging I’ve put into it is in the hundreds to thousands of hours. From setting it up to keeping it running smoothly. Let’s not forget the cost of my server and how much it cost to keep it running.
Anyway I wanted to see what ElfHosted was about to compare. Yeah I had the whole thing setup in just a few hours. It also passes the headache of maintaining it to ElfHosted. Will I keep it no because nerdy things and maintaining my server are my hobby and quirky passion project. Will I recommend it to my friends who don’t have the money up front to buy a server, the knowledge to maintain it or desire.
Just my server alone was $2k. Power cost to keep it on yearly is $250ish, annual memberships to RD, Usenet and indexers are around $100. Then whatever a value my free time at. Which is currently at minimum my hourly pay at work or more. Yeah so take the monthly cost of all that and compare to ElfHosted Ultimate Stream package at $39 monthly, add RD to the cost and get nearly all your time back is incredibly cheap.
Lastly it seems like a lot of people forget how quickly an ultimate cable package used to cost. Or how quick paying for every stream service would add up to. Which when using ElfHosted with RD is essentially and more what you get. Quick hint it’s far above the asking price.
As a happy Elfhosted customer—who also self hosts MANY things across about 10 severs (dedicated, VPSes, and VMs running on Synology), I wouldn’t switch to self hosting the services I get from Elfhosted. They just work with very little effort configuring things, and the support the owner and his team provides is second to none. Plus I love being part of a fledgling—but quickly growing—enterprise.
I recently found ElfHosted and decided to start out with the Infinite Starter Kit. Within a week I realized that this was for me and upgraded to the Hobbit plan. Give it another week and I was up to the Ranger plan.
I just love the simplicity and the fact that things just work. For years I've ran a home server and between the constant maintenance and always upgrading harddrives, it became apparent I wanted to make it easier on my self. Enter ElfHosted.
Setup was super easy with the guided documentation and the discord community. It seems that somebody is available at all hours of the day to help with questions. I started with the Aars, which I knew from my prior hosting... but saw a newer product called Riven. I decided to jump in feet first. I enjoy being on the front end of an up and coming replacement for the Aars and will soon be upgrading to the annual plan!
I’ve been using this service for a while now, and honestly, it’s a game-changer compared to anything else I’ve tried for managing my media library. The support is fantastic—super quick, and if the staff aren’t around (which rarely happens), the community steps up right away. I can’t imagine going back to any other platform.
Before this, I had my own setup with a NUC, NAS, and tools like Sonarr and Radarr. It worked pretty well for a while, and my internet speed was high enough to stream without any buffering. But in the end, it wasn’t worth the time or headache of managing all the storage and keeping everything running smoothly.
Now, with this service, everything runs smoothly in 1080p+ with no buffering issues. The interface is really easy to use, which makes managing everything a breeze. Plus, having a whole community of smart people available for guidance is a huge bonus.
I was sold from the start, which is why I quickly upgraded from a 1-month to a 3-month subscription, and I’m planning to switch to a 1-year plan soon. This service totally pays for itself, and I’m sure you won’t be disappointed. It’s been really impressive.
Best possible options for anyone looking for the do-it-all option along with the best customer service ive experienced in this space so far. Id rate it a 6 if I could but its limited to 5/5...
(responding to a Reddit thread re the cost of ElfHosted vs mainstream streaming / self-hosting):
I didn't know that the goal of this project was to compete with large companies running/renting entire DCs. I was under the impression that the goal of this project was to manage the updating of almost selfhosted applications on a shared platform with other users. Basically, be my sysadmin for me.
That being said, paying for services is the 'easy button'. There is a real world cost incurred for the time saved. Time is money. Time is the most valuable currency that exists. Once time is spent, it's forever lost, one cannot retrieve it again (yet). In my mind, there are 3 options for use of time with respect to: mainstream, selfhosting, elfhosted.
mainstream - my time is valuable and I don't want curated content and I don't care what content that I have the ability to consume. I only like what's popular.
elfhosted - my time is valuable, I want my own curated content without being forced to browse past the same damn entry 500 times just to find out that I can't watch the movie I want because it's not available in my current location or was removed last week from mainstream providers.
selfhost - I care about costs and I have nothing but time to waste or I want to learn about the backend of the systems involved. I'll pay for my own VPS/homelab, electricity, manage the OS, manage app updates, figure out how to make the apps talk nice to each other, create my own beautiful frontend.
I know how much my time is worth, does that reddit poster know how much their time is worth? Without knowing what you are worth, you can't make effective capital expenditures with respect to the time it will take to recoup the capital.
I know I don't need elfhosted at all for my use case. I choose to stay with elfhosted because it's my 'easy button'. It's an efficient capital expense for the amount of time it saves me managing my own hardware, apps and saves me electricity costs. I'm also in a situation where I don't have upload bandwidth from my home to serve HD content to myself remotely. If I lived back in a city, I would still be here. My time is worth $$/hr.
"Just wanted to check in here and let @Darth-Penguini and anyone/everyone else know...WOW. I have been struggling with storage for years, maintenance of Docker containers, upkeep, all of it. Elfhosted is so freeing. It's an amazing service that I hope to be a member of for a long, long time!"
"I just have to say, I am an incredibly satisfied customer. I had been collecting my own content for nearly 20 years. Starting off with just a simple external HD before eventually graduating to a seedbox with 100TB of cloud storage attached and fully automated processes with Sonarr and Radarr . However, the time came when the glory days of unlimited Google Drive storage ended. I thought my days of having my full collection at my fingertips via :plex: were behind me, until I found Real-Debrid and ElfHosted.
Now I essentially have the exact same access to content as I had before, but even better. Superior support and community involvement. Content is available almost immediately after being identified. A plethora of tools at my fingertips that give me more control and automation than ever before. Wonderfully well done and impressive! I am looking forward to being a customer for a very long time! Massive kudos to @funkypenguin 🤟
"I would recommend ElfHosted to anyone. It has been great so far and made life a lot easier than running my own setups. If you’re in the fence give them a try and help support this great community."
"thanks for the help and must say this is the best host I every had for my server 🙂 10/10 🙂 All other places I have try have I got a lot buff etc. Your host can even give me full power on a 4K Remux on 200GB big movie file . That's damn awesome 😄"
@tjelite (Discord)
"What an amazing support system these guys have Chris and Layzee i think it was! Both are very patient with me even though I am a newbie at all this. Very thorough and explained everything step by step with me
I couldn’t ask for anything better than the service I have received by these guys! Happy happy client❤️"
"I had my own plex-arrs setup on hetzner for years. Yesterday I deleted everything as elfhosted has gone above and beyond it. And it has a fantastic, active community as well! Very friendly, helpful and like-minded folks always willing to help and improve the system. Top notch!"
"@BSM went above and beyond to make sure I had all the one on one support needed with my sub. Thank you for your patience! Elfhosted continues to be Elftastic !!"
"really enjoying the service from elfhosted. The setup is really easy from the guides on the website. And the help on the discord channel is really quick."