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Landing page (frontend/landing.html): - Title now includes "Self-Hosted" for that keyword - Description appended "MIT licensed." - Keywords aligned to spec (digital signage raspberry pi, digital signage android tv, video wall software, kiosk software, etc.) - SoftwareApplication JSON-LD: added applicationSubCategory "DigitalSignage", license URL, refreshed description - Image alt text + og:image:alt + twitter:image:alt now include "open-source digital signage" - New Resources section above the CTA with 6 cards linking to all new guides and comparison pages - Footer rewritten as a 5-column grid (Brand / Guides / Compare / Project / Legal) with the new internal links New SEO pages, all dark-themed, mobile-responsive, ASCII-only: - frontend/css/seo-page.css (shared nav/footer/article/table styles) - frontend/compare/yodeck-alternative.html - frontend/compare/screencloud-alternative.html - frontend/compare/optisigns-alternative.html - frontend/guides/raspberry-pi-digital-signage.html - frontend/guides/digital-signage-android-tv.html - frontend/guides/self-hosted-digital-signage.html Each new page has unique title/description/canonical, OG and Twitter card tags, BreadcrumbList JSON-LD, single h1, proper h2/h3 nesting, visible breadcrumb, comparison table or step-by-step ordered list, "Related guides" cross-link block, and a CTA. Sitemap (frontend/sitemap.xml): added all 6 new URLs with appropriate priority (0.8 for compare pages, 0.9 for guides). Existing landing (1.0) and legal pages preserved. Robots (frontend/robots.txt): allow /compare/ and /guides/, disallow /player (was previously allowed by mistake). Server (server/server.js): added explicit GET /sitemap.xml and GET /robots.txt routes ahead of the static middleware so the Content-Type is guaranteed. Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.7 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
197 lines
11 KiB
HTML
197 lines
11 KiB
HTML
<!DOCTYPE html>
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<html lang="en">
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<head>
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<meta charset="UTF-8">
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<meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0">
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<title>Self-Hosted Digital Signage Software - Complete Guide (2026) | ScreenTinker</title>
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<meta name="description" content="Why and how to self-host your digital signage CMS. Data privacy, cost control, and no recurring fees. Complete deployment guide using ScreenTinker - open source, MIT licensed.">
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<meta name="keywords" content="self hosted digital signage, on premise digital signage, self hosted signage cms, open source signage server, deploy signage on premise, private digital signage">
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<meta name="robots" content="index, follow">
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<link rel="canonical" href="https://screentinker.com/guides/self-hosted-digital-signage.html">
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<meta property="og:type" content="article">
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<meta property="og:url" content="https://screentinker.com/guides/self-hosted-digital-signage.html">
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<meta property="og:title" content="Self-Hosted Digital Signage Software - Complete Guide (2026)">
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<meta property="og:description" content="Why and how to self-host your digital signage CMS. Data privacy, cost control, no recurring fees.">
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<meta property="og:image" content="https://screentinker.com/assets/dashboard-preview.png">
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<meta property="og:site_name" content="ScreenTinker">
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<meta name="twitter:title" content="Self-Hosted Digital Signage Software - Complete Guide (2026)">
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<meta name="twitter:description" content="Why and how to self-host your digital signage CMS. Data privacy, cost control, no recurring fees.">
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<meta name="twitter:image" content="https://screentinker.com/assets/dashboard-preview.png">
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<link rel="icon" href="/assets/icon-192.png">
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<link rel="apple-touch-icon" href="/assets/icon-192.png">
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<link rel="stylesheet" href="/css/seo-page.css">
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</head>
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<body>
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<nav>
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<div class="nav-inner">
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<div class="nav-logo">
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<a href="/" style="display:flex;align-items:center;gap:10px">
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<svg width="24" height="24" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" stroke="currentColor" stroke-width="2"><rect x="2" y="3" width="20" height="14" rx="2"/><line x1="8" y1="21" x2="16" y2="21"/><line x1="12" y1="17" x2="12" y2="21"/></svg>
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<span class="nav-logo-text">ScreenTinker</span>
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</a>
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</div>
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<div class="nav-links">
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<a href="/#features">Features</a>
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<a href="/#pricing">Pricing</a>
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<a href="/#compare">Compare</a>
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<a href="/app#/login" class="btn btn-outline" style="margin-left:16px">Sign In</a>
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<a href="/app#/login" class="btn btn-primary" style="margin-left:8px">Try Free</a>
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</div>
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</nav>
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<main class="article">
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<nav class="breadcrumb" aria-label="Breadcrumb">
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<a href="/">Home</a>
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<span>/</span>
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<a href="/#features">Guides</a>
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<span>/</span>
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<span>Self-Hosted Digital Signage</span>
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</nav>
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<h1>Self-Hosted Digital Signage Software: Complete Guide (2026)</h1>
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<p class="lead">Why you might want to self-host your digital signage CMS, what you need to do it well, and how to deploy ScreenTinker on your own server.</p>
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<h2>Why self-host digital signage?</h2>
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<p>Most digital signage products are cloud-only. That works for many businesses, but there are real reasons to keep the server in-house:</p>
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<ul>
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<li><strong>Data sovereignty.</strong> Healthcare, finance, government, and education often cannot put internal information into a third-party cloud. Self-hosting keeps content, schedules, and access logs on your network.</li>
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<li><strong>Cost control.</strong> Per-screen monthly fees stack up fast. Self-hosting trades that for a fixed server cost - typically $5 to $50 per month for a small VPS that can run hundreds of screens.</li>
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<li><strong>Network isolation.</strong> Some deployments live on private LANs with no internet access at all. Self-hosting is the only way to manage signage in those environments.</li>
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<li><strong>No vendor lock-in.</strong> If the cloud vendor disappears, raises prices 3x, or pivots away from your use case, your deployment goes with them. Self-hosters control their own roadmap.</li>
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<li><strong>Customization.</strong> Open source self-hosted means you can fork the code, add a custom widget, or wire it into your existing systems.</li>
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</ul>
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<h2>What you need</h2>
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<h3>Hardware / VPS</h3>
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<p>A modest Linux server is enough for most deployments:</p>
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<ul>
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<li><strong>Up to 25 displays:</strong> 1 vCPU, 1 GB RAM, 20 GB disk. ~$5/month on Hetzner, DigitalOcean, or Vultr.</li>
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<li><strong>25-100 displays:</strong> 2 vCPU, 2 GB RAM, 40 GB disk. ~$12-20/month.</li>
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<li><strong>100+ displays:</strong> 4+ vCPU, 4+ GB RAM, faster disk. Plan for content storage at ~50-200 MB per screen depending on media volume.</li>
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</ul>
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<p>An on-prem VM works just as well as a cloud VPS - in fact, on-prem is often the whole point.</p>
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<h3>Software prerequisites</h3>
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<ul>
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<li>Ubuntu 22.04 or 24.04 LTS (Debian 12 also works)</li>
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<li>Node.js 18 or newer</li>
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<li>A domain name pointed at your server (or just an internal hostname / IP for LAN deployments)</li>
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<li>SSL certificate (Let's Encrypt is free; or self-signed for LAN)</li>
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</ul>
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<h2>Deploying ScreenTinker</h2>
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<p>Detailed setup is in the <a href="https://github.com/screentinker/screentinker" target="_blank" rel="noopener">GitHub README</a>. Quick version:</p>
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<pre><code>git clone https://github.com/screentinker/screentinker.git
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cd screentinker/server
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npm install
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cp .env.example .env
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# edit .env with your domain, JWT_SECRET, and SELF_HOSTED=true
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node server.js</code></pre>
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<p>Set <code>SELF_HOSTED=true</code> in the env. This unlocks the enterprise plan for your account, disables subscription expiry checks, and skips Stripe entirely. It is meant for the operator-controlled deployment case.</p>
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<h2>Reverse proxy and TLS</h2>
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<p>ScreenTinker listens on HTTP/HTTPS directly, but in production you typically front it with nginx or Caddy for TLS termination, gzip, and rate limiting. A minimal Caddyfile:</p>
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<pre><code>signage.example.com {
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reverse_proxy localhost:3001
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}</code></pre>
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<p>Caddy handles Let's Encrypt automatically. nginx works too if your team prefers it.</p>
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<h2>Running as a service</h2>
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<p>Use systemd to keep the process alive across reboots. A unit file at <code>/etc/systemd/system/screentinker.service</code>:</p>
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<pre><code>[Unit]
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Description=ScreenTinker Digital Signage Server
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After=network.target
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[Service]
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WorkingDirectory=/opt/screentinker/server
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ExecStart=/usr/bin/node server.js
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EnvironmentFile=/opt/screentinker/.env
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Restart=always
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User=screentinker
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[Install]
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WantedBy=multi-user.target</code></pre>
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<p>Enable with <code>systemctl enable --now screentinker</code>.</p>
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<h2>Backups</h2>
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<p>The state lives in two places:</p>
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<ul>
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<li><code>server/db/remote_display.db</code> - SQLite database of users, devices, playlists, schedules</li>
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<li><code>server/uploads/</code> - uploaded media (images, videos, thumbnails)</li>
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</ul>
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<p>A nightly tarball of those two paths gives you a full restore point. Pair with offsite sync (rclone, restic) for disaster recovery.</p>
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<h2>Self-hosted vs cloud-hosted comparison</h2>
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<div class="compare-table-wrap">
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<table class="compare-table">
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<thead>
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<tr><th>Concern</th><th>ScreenTinker self-hosted</th><th>Cloud-only signage products</th></tr>
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</thead>
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<tbody>
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<tr><td>Data location</td><td>Your server</td><td>Vendor's cloud</td></tr>
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<tr><td>Recurring per-screen cost</td><td>None</td><td>$5-15/screen/month</td></tr>
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<tr><td>Server cost</td><td>$5-50/month flat</td><td>None (included)</td></tr>
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<tr><td>Internet required for management</td><td>No (LAN works)</td><td>Yes</td></tr>
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<tr><td>Source code access</td><td>Yes (MIT)</td><td>Closed</td></tr>
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<tr><td>Air-gapped deployment</td><td>Possible</td><td>Not possible</td></tr>
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<tr><td>Vendor lock-in risk</td><td>None (you own it)</td><td>High</td></tr>
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<tr><td>Update / patch responsibility</td><td>Yours</td><td>Vendor</td></tr>
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<tr><td>Initial setup time</td><td>~1 hour</td><td>~5 minutes</td></tr>
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</tbody>
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</table>
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</div>
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<h2>When the cloud is the right answer</h2>
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<p>Self-hosting is not free of cost - it requires someone who can run a Linux server, monitor it, and apply security updates. If your screen count is small (under ~10) and you do not have IT capacity, the managed cloud version is probably the right choice. ScreenTinker's hosted plans start at $39/mo for 5 devices.</p>
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<div class="related">
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<h2>Related guides</h2>
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<ul>
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<li><a href="/guides/raspberry-pi-digital-signage.html">How to set up digital signage on a Raspberry Pi</a></li>
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<li><a href="/guides/digital-signage-android-tv.html">Free digital signage for Android TV and Fire TV</a></li>
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<li><a href="/compare/yodeck-alternative.html">Compare: ScreenTinker vs Yodeck</a></li>
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<li><a href="/compare/screencloud-alternative.html">Compare: ScreenTinker vs ScreenCloud</a></li>
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<li><a href="/compare/optisigns-alternative.html">Compare: ScreenTinker vs OptiSigns</a></li>
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</ul>
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</div>
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<div class="cta">
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<h2>Try the cloud version first</h2>
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<p>Use the hosted version to get familiar, then deploy on your own server when you are ready.</p>
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<a href="/app#/login" class="btn btn-primary" style="padding:14px 28px;font-size:16px">Start Free</a>
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<a href="https://github.com/screentinker/screentinker" target="_blank" rel="noopener" class="btn btn-outline" style="padding:14px 28px;font-size:16px;margin-left:12px">View on GitHub</a>
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</div>
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</main>
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<footer>
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<div style="color:var(--dim);font-size:13px">© 2026 ScreenTinker. All rights reserved.</div>
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<div class="links">
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<a href="https://github.com/screentinker/screentinker" target="_blank" rel="noopener">GitHub</a>
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<a href="https://discord.gg/JHWQRPaG" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Discord</a>
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<a href="/legal/terms.html">Terms</a>
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<a href="/legal/privacy.html">Privacy</a>
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<a href="/legal/third-party.html">Licenses</a>
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<a href="/app#/login">Sign In</a>
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</div>
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</footer>
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<script type="application/ld+json">
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{
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"@context": "https://schema.org",
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"@type": "BreadcrumbList",
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"itemListElement": [
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{ "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://screentinker.com/" },
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{ "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Guides", "item": "https://screentinker.com/#features" },
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{ "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Self-Hosted Digital Signage", "item": "https://screentinker.com/guides/self-hosted-digital-signage.html" }
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]
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