I have my instance running on a vps behind authelia just in case the url ever gets out. I don't track watch history so I can't speak to that. Other than the occasional google updates and subsequent workarounds, it has been smooth sailing. Also helps that clipious works well enough both on the phone and android tv.

If you don't want to go with the selfhosted option, there's always freetube which will keep all your data local.

I'm using a self hosted installation using docker thats not open to the internet. Its only open to my internal network. I would strongly suggest not making it public. Especially if you have datacaps on your ISP.

However being paranoid about being IP banned by Google I took it a step further. I'm using Gluetun https://github.com/qdm12/gluetun to host a docker container that runs proton vpn and allows other docker containers to connect to it and use the vpn connection. Also has the benefit of being a http proxy.

I can’t speak too much to public instances, but I’ve self hosted invidious for several months now just for use in my own house. My understanding is if you make your instance public, anyone who knows your IP or URL could use it and your bandwidth.

I recommend the docker install, it’s easy to map data paths and ports as needed.