This is what I would recommend too - QEMU + libvirt with Sanoid for automatic snapshot management. Incus is also a solid option too

I’ve been meaning to write a guide like this but haven’t had a chance to complete it yet. In short, I’d recommend setting up an Ubuntu Server instance on some old hardware and using incus with ZFS to setup a separate container or VM for each service you want to run: https://linuxcontainers.org/incus/introduction/

This way, if something doesn’t work out, you can just delete the container or VM. It also makes it easy to make snapshots or backups before you make a change (e.g. perform an upgrade) so you can easily roll back.

You can even try incus online (see the above link) to get an idea of how it works.

What about incus, the LXD fork, with the webui? Incus is so simple/logical for managing both VMs and containers (and you can run docker inside of them) and the webui lets you manage it from a browser if desired

I use Obsidian - it’s phenomenal! https://avidandrew.com/elevate-your-note-taking-with-obsidian.html

Rather than a cheap VPS, what about hosting a reverse proxy on fly.io, something like this? https://github.com/AnimMouse/frp-flyapp