Self-hosted app launcher with live status checks, dozens of widgets, and a YAML config.
- Type
- Self-hosted
- Price
- Free and open source
- Code
- Open source, MIT
- Runs on
- Docker, Raspberry Pi, Linux, macOS and more
Category
Self-hosted and homelab dashboards
A self-hosted dashboard is a homepage you run yourself, usually in Docker, that lists links out to whatever else you run: Pi-hole, Plex, Nextcloud, a Proxmox box, and shows live status and small widgets for each. It is built for people who already have several services running somewhere and want one page to launch and watch them from, not a general personal dashboard for someone with no server at all.
Every entry in Self-hosted and homelab
A to Z. Each card links to the product and, where there is one, to our write-up.
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Self-hosted feed aggregator with RSS, Reddit, and server stat widgets in one page.
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Application launcher for homelab services with search and per-app live stats.
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Drag-and-drop homelab dashboard with built-in authentication and third-party integrations.
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Static server dashboard with service integrations and Docker label discovery.
Nothing here matches all of those stamps.
Who it suits
Homelab owners and self-hosters comfortable with Docker, or willing to learn enough of it to pull an image and mount a folder. If you do not run any services of your own yet, a self-hosted dashboard mostly gives you an empty page to configure; a hosted personal dashboard or new tab extension gets you further, faster.
How to choose
Configuration style is the first real fork in the road. Dashy, Homepage and Heimdall are all YAML-first: you write your sections and links into a config file, sometimes with a UI editor layered over it. Homarr trades that for a drag-and-drop layout builder with authentication built in, so there is no YAML to learn at all.
Scope is the second fork. Glance leans toward being a feed aggregator first, RSS and Reddit alongside server stats, rather than an app launcher. Dashdot is narrower still, a single real-time view of one server's CPU, memory, storage and network. Compass sits in between, auto-discovering services from Docker, Kubernetes, Tailscale or Headscale instead of asking you to list them by hand.
All of these are free and open source, so the real cost is the machine or VPS you run them on, plus the time spent keeping the container patched and backed up. A widget catalog is only useful if you already run what it connects to; a Pi-hole or Nextcloud widget is dead weight without the service behind it.
If your dashboard just needs to be a personal page rather than a homelab's front door, personal dashboards and start pages need no server at all.
Sponsored by DashSuey, made by the people who maintain this list. It needs no server, Docker or YAML file; you sign in and it runs on its own infrastructure instead of yours.
Questions people ask
What is the best homepage for a homelab?
There is no single best pick; it depends on whether you would rather edit a YAML file or drag tiles around. Dashy, Homepage and Heimdall are all YAML-first with large widget catalogs, while Homarr replaces that with a drag-and-drop editor and built-in login support.
How can I create my own dashboard for free?
If you are comfortable running Docker, any of the self-hosted options here work: pull the image, mount a folder for your settings, and point it at the services you already run. All of them are free and open source, so the only real cost is the machine you run them on.
What is the best free dashboard software?
Among self-hosted options, Dashy, Homepage, Homarr and Heimdall are all free and actively maintained, each with a different balance of YAML config against drag-and-drop editing. Which is best depends on how many services you are indexing and how much configuration you want to do by hand.