It can be as difficult or hard as you make it. If you want just nginx serving static files or k3s with multiple services on a tiny cluster is up to you. The benefit for me is that I can be confident that my data is mine. But mainly because it's fun and great for learning.

In my experience it's not much harder than navigating the AWS interface, where I often feel very lost. But of course YMMV.

> There is no real privacy gained

Why not? Other than I can't be sure that my device and browser doesn't spy on me I don't see your point?