where to run my new “MultiSite” WordPress set-up – self-hosted, but not at home

I could actually run WordPress (having in mind “all” my requirements)

• with some commercial service out there with a full-service package for quite a little money,
• or somehow self-hosted.

I may not be familiar enough with all the features, that commercial services offer, but … – right now I am going for “self-hosted”.

What are my options then? I could run my self-hosted WordPress …

1. with my Internet provider (not the one providing me with Internet connectivity, but the one providing me with IMAP+procmail,  with web space, and with Linux shell account access),
2. at home on a “general purpose” computer running 24×7,
3. at home on a “feature-rich” NAS, also running 24×7, but most of the time in stand-by mode.

Option 1: That Internet provider does not have 24×7 support, but still they are quite reliable. They were established as a service provider for the German science and communication community. I have been using their services for a lot of years now, and I quite like them.

Option 2:  it is rather unlikely I will ever manage to see them in stand-by mode.

Option 3 also seemed rather intriguing for a while, but …:

• they don’t let me use just whatever WordPress release, that I chose, and just fiddle with it, e.g. with the MultiSite feature;
• I also don’t want to get my NAS exploited from outside, because the blogs and their addresses get “a little well-known” and rather a target of interest for negative minds;
• last not least I rather like the idea, that most of the time my NASs run in stand-by mode with rather little power consumption and rather little wearout of the hard disks.