Running your own instance is not difficult. I recommend installing Yunohost.org on a $5/month VPS or some hardware you have laying around such as a single board computer. Installing apps from the Yunohost catalog is like installing from an app store. You can try different apps like Akkoma, Mastodon, Calckey, and others until you find the one you like. Then Yunohost makes maintenance and upgrade easy thank to the community of people maintaining the scripts that do everything behind the scenes.
