no shame in getting a VPS. it might cost you more over the long term if you want to run any real workloads or store anything on it.

what i would do is get your hands on some sort of computer you can attach storage to.

what i do is i have a small VPS that i expose to the internet that routes traffic to my home server(s) over my Tailscale VPN. that way i get the benefit of having a stable public IP, some traffic protection from the provider, and a stable failsafe in case my home internet or power or whatever goes out, and it’s a lot cheaper to run workloads and store files on my local machines than to rent all that out. my workloads can be pretty heavy, so i would end up paying hundreds if not over $1k per year, which is easily enough for a machine that can do most anything you need.

obscurity != security

that said, you gotta be safe and make sure you’re not committing keys, passwords, etc.

there is never a 100% security guarantee.