What are the perks of hosting one out of pocket?
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Getting a local overview of the traffic around your location, getting an enterprise account (99,95 USD per month) for free and a great forum to help you with your issues if they arise 
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In addition to what Tom mentioned above, having 978 &1090 receivers helps me see inbound traffic to the small Colorado airport I live on (5V4).
When I spot something unusual heading this way, it gives me time to grab my GoPro and handheld av radio, and boogie up to the runway to capture the action for my YouTube channel…JSBIRD69.
I am a retired commercial/CFI, but 21st century aviation is far too expensive for me to participate, so I enjoy watching everything that goes on around me instead.
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There are perks as tomvdhorst mentioned. However, hosting an ADS-B receiver is basically a hobby, kind of like ham radio. There’s a lot of aspects to it (like ham radio) – antennas, software defined radio, computers, software (by the ton), not to mention flying itself. There’s a lot that can be learned from this hobby.
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Although I am feeding various sites since 2012, using my own equipment, some of which are DIY, I never used the enterprise account of any of these sites. The 99,95 USD worth free enterprise account is of no use to me as I do it as an Electronics & Computer hobby, not as an aviation hobby.
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Your node adds to the ADSB database. The more data, the better.
I was just tracking ICE623, Iceland Air from Keflavik to Newark, NJ that pinged me. My setup isn’t fancy and my outdoor antenna isn’t that high but I think more position data improves safety imho.
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But, isn’t it automatic? Like when you hit “Visit Flight Page” in SkyAware you get a page without ads. By the way, I think it’s considered to be a perk worth $99 per year, not month.
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When my daughter flies around the US, I’m glad have have that enterprise access to track her. No, I’m not a helicopter parent. I don’t even know how to fly one lol!
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That’s a different approach to the hobby indeed. Being a GA pilot myself I started off with one reciever to see what it could grab from the skies, now completely hooked with multiple setups. Being able to see my flighthistory is a bonus then
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True.
The hobbyists fall in two categories. One category whose prime interest is in Aviation, and the other category whose prime interest is in Electronics, Telecommunications, and Computers (software & hardware).
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There’s no safety benefit for feeding ADS-B; ATC doesn’t use this system for flight separation.
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While, as you say, there’s no immediate safety benefit to ATC (and frankly we wouldn’t want this data to be used for anything safety-critical, the network is not designed for that!), we do regularly pass on ADS-B data e.g. for accident investigation so it can help after the fact.
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Concur. At least not in real time, but as @obj also notes, more data is usually very helpful in investigations. And, if a/c position data reliability means better investigations, better flight planning and better customer experience, it is a useful tool, to say the least.
I couldn’t find a link quickly but there is information about who uses flightaware adsb tracking data. It’s pretty impressive, as I recall.
And, as @abcd567 also says, it’s a nifty hobby for aviation geeks like me.
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What about the nutter who, whilst en route from San Diego to Heathrow had internet and followed my own aircraft on FR24 
Geoff
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Welcome to the forum Twilight.
Benefits, banter and help from this forum. Plus, if you live on a flightpath it can be quite fascinating to see the aircraft approach from some distance off and then see it fly over location. Appreciate you don’t actually have to feed the data to do that but there is a uniqueness knowing it is your data that you are tracking rather than just from a web site.
The email notifications of flights is handy if you have friends or relatives traveling.
Geoff
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I once paid for in-flight WiFi so that I could VPN into my home network and grab a screenshot of my flight passing over my house and being tracked/reported by my feeder.
My wife was very understanding when I got home. She said “YOU SPENT FIFTEEN DOLLARS ON WHAT???” (or something to that effect - I wasn’t really listening. 
)
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Now that is quality, like your style. Money well spent.
Geoff
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What is the minimum cost of hosting them usually? And is there ways to keep the cost down?
It is depending on your used equipment.
An example:
Flightaware dongle 39,95 in either Euro or Dollars
Flightaware barrel filter 29,95 in Euro or Dollars.
Vinnant Antenna: 30 Euro
Raspberry Pi or equivalent 30-40 Euro,
Cabling 15 euro depending on length and placement of the antenna.
So average 140- 150 euro if you start from nothing. If you already have some parts it will be less.
Power cost will be around 5-10 euro per year if running 24/7 at the current high power cost.
Trade that to the benefits I lined out earlier and you will earn that investment back in few months
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@tomvdhorst
But, can you really buy a Raspberry Pi for 30 to 40 Euro?
Also need to add a power supply, case and micro SD card for the Raspberry Pi.
@TwilightDaFurry
Suggest an edit to part of the title to this thread as “ADS-B receiver”. It will help people doing a search in the future.
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