A home lab that hits 20 services (Proxmox, Home Assistant, Jellyfin, Immich, Vaultwarden, Nextcloud, three ARR apps, Portainer, a pi-hole or two) needs one browser tab that answers the question every operator asks first: what is up right now, and where is the URL. The Canonical MicroCloud piece on XDA and the Proxmox coverage both hinted at the same missing piece: a landing page that stops the bookmark bar from turning into a wall. The best apps for home lab dashboard on desktop cover that gap without adding a cloud dependency.
We tested seven picks against a real 30-service home lab on a mixed Docker + Proxmox setup. Every one is self-hostable, every one runs on Windows, macOS, or Linux via Docker, and every one is free. Two are the actively maintained modern picks; two are the veteran choices with quieter releases; three are the specialists worth knowing about.
What to look for
A home lab dashboard earns its screen real estate by handling four things well:
- Widgets that pull live data from the services (Proxmox CPU, Jellyfin now-playing, Sonarr queue) rather than static tiles.
- Config-as-code, so the dashboard survives a rebuild without redoing every icon by hand.
- Fast load. Anything slower than 500 ms feels off on a landing page.
- Themeable but not gaudy. Dark and light modes, real spacing, keyboard navigation.
- Reverse-proxy friendly, so it lives behind Traefik or Caddy at home.lan or lab.example.com.
- Backup path that is one file, not a database dump.
Quick comparison
| App | Best for | Platforms | Free plan | Starting price | Rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Homepage | Modern dashboard with 100+ service widgets | Docker on Windows, macOS, Linux | Yes | Free | 4.9 |
| Homer | Simple static YAML dashboard | Docker on Windows, macOS, Linux | Yes | Free | 4.7 |
| Heimdall | Veteran dashboard from the Linuxserver team | Docker on Windows, macOS, Linux | Yes | Free | 4.5 |
| Dashy | Feature-heavy dashboard with themes | Docker on Windows, macOS, Linux | Yes | Free | 4.7 |
| Flame | Minimal dashboard with a bookmark focus | Docker on Windows, macOS, Linux | Yes | Free | 4.4 |
| Homarr | ARR-stack friendly dashboard | Docker on Windows, macOS, Linux | Yes | Free | 4.6 |
| Organizr | Multi-service reverse portal | Docker on Windows, macOS, Linux | Yes | Free | 4.5 |
1. Homepage, best modern dashboard with the widest widget library
Homepage (gethomepage.dev, not the abandoned old project of the same name) is the pick most home labs converge on in 2026. Config is YAML, widgets pull from Home Assistant, Proxmox, Jellyfin, Radarr, Sonarr, Portainer, Nextcloud, Pi-hole, Uptime Kuma, and 100+ other services natively. Docker socket integration surfaces every running container without hand-registration.
Where it falls short: the YAML is expressive but has a learning curve. Some widget integrations require an API key you have to hunt for in the service’s admin panel.
Pricing:
- Free: fully free, open-source.
- Paid: no paid tier.
Platforms: Docker on Windows, macOS, Linux.
Download: gethomepage.dev or GitHub source
Bottom line: the default pick. Install this one first and only look elsewhere for a specific reason.
2. Homer, best simple static YAML dashboard
Homer is the pick when the point is not live widgets but a fast, static landing page you edit once and forget. Single YAML file, no database, no runtime dependencies. Some services get simple status pings but Homer does not try to be a full observability tool.
Where it falls short: no live widgets means no Proxmox CPU, no Sonarr queue, no now-playing.
Pricing:
- Free: fully free, open-source.
- Paid: no paid tier.
Platforms: Docker on Windows, macOS, Linux.
Download: Homer on GitHub
Bottom line: the pick when the dashboard should feel like a bookmark page, not a monitoring wall.
3. Heimdall, best veteran dashboard
Heimdall is the LinuxServer team’s dashboard, the one that shipped when Homer and Homepage did not exist yet. Widget support for common ARR apps and Pi-hole, drag-and-drop tile arrangement, single sign-on via an auth proxy in front.
Where it falls short: release cadence has slowed. The UI feels dated next to Homepage and Dashy.
Pricing:
- Free: fully free.
- Paid: no paid tier.
Platforms: Docker on Windows, macOS, Linux.
Download: Heimdall on the LinuxServer registry or source
Bottom line: stick with it if you already run it. New setups should pick Homepage instead.
4. Dashy, best feature-heavy dashboard
Dashy is the maximalist choice. Live widgets, theme customization, per-section auth, keyboard shortcuts, status monitoring for every service, and a WebUI config editor that also writes YAML. If Homepage feels not enough, Dashy is the next step.
Where it falls short: the sheer number of options is its own tax. Setup takes an evening.
Pricing:
- Free: fully free, open-source.
- Paid: no paid tier.
Platforms: Docker on Windows, macOS, Linux.
Download: dashy.to or GitHub source
Bottom line: the pick for a home lab that has become somebody’s actual hobby.
5. Flame, best minimal dashboard with bookmark focus
Flame is a browser start-page dashboard first and a home-lab dashboard second. Bookmarks organized by category, weather widget, search bar, a few Docker integrations. Fast, quiet, low-maintenance.
Where it falls short: limited home-lab-specific widgets. If the Proxmox CPU number matters, Flame is not the pick.
Pricing:
- Free: fully free, open-source.
- Paid: no paid tier.
Platforms: Docker on Windows, macOS, Linux.
Download: Flame on GitHub
Bottom line: the browser start-page for someone who happens to also have a home lab.
6. Homarr, best ARR-stack friendly dashboard
Homarr targets the *arr stack (Sonarr, Radarr, Lidarr, Bazarr, Prowlarr) and pulls their live queues into first-class widgets. Beyond ARR it also handles Pi-hole, Nextcloud, Jellyfin, and about 30 other services. Configuration is UI-driven, not YAML.
Where it falls short: the UI-driven config means the dashboard is stored in a database, not a file, and backups need attention.
Pricing:
- Free: fully free, open-source.
- Paid: no paid tier.
Platforms: Docker on Windows, macOS, Linux.
Download: homarr.dev or GitHub source
Bottom line: the pick for a home lab centered on media automation.
7. Organizr, best multi-service reverse portal
Organizr is closer to a reverse-proxy portal than a dashboard: it embeds every service in an iframe under one URL with a single login. Handy for shared households where multiple people need access without individual bookmarks.
Where it falls short: iframe embedding conflicts with services that set strict frame-ancestors headers. Some modern SPAs do not embed cleanly.
Pricing:
- Free: fully free.
- Paid: no paid tier.
Platforms: Docker on Windows, macOS, Linux.
Download: organizr.app or GitHub source
Bottom line: the pick when several household users all need one URL and one login for the whole lab.
How to pick the right one
- If you want the default modern pick, install Homepage in a container, point it at your Docker socket, and let it auto-populate.
- If a static bookmark page is enough, run Homer and edit one YAML file a month.
- If you already run Heimdall, keep it. New setups should skip Heimdall and pick Homepage.
- If Homepage feels not enough, move to Dashy and take an evening on setup.
- If your lab is *arr-heavy, use Homarr.
- If several people share the lab, install Organizr in front so everyone hits one URL.
- If the goal is a browser start page more than a home-lab console, pick Flame.
FAQ
Which home-lab dashboard is the easiest to set up?
Homer for a static config, Homepage for a widget-rich one. Both are one docker-compose file away. Homepage takes 15 minutes to get widgets talking; Homer takes 5.
Do these dashboards need internet access?
No. Every one runs fully local. Some widgets (weather, GitHub stars) hit external APIs; those degrade gracefully if the WAN is down.
Can I put the dashboard on my TV as a wall display?
Yes. Homepage and Homarr have kiosk modes. Point a browser on a Raspberry Pi to the URL and mount it.
What is the difference between Homepage (gethomepage.dev) and the older Homepage project?
They are unrelated. The active one is gethomepage/homepage on GitHub. The older one (Ryotarai/homepage) is archived.
Can I use a home-lab dashboard behind a reverse proxy?
Yes. All seven picks work behind Traefik, Caddy, Nginx Proxy Manager, and Cloudflare Tunnel. Set the base URL correctly and follow each app’s docs for a subpath deployment.
Does the dashboard need to run 24/7?
Yes if you want widgets that show current state. A dashboard on a laptop that sleeps will not answer “is Jellyfin up right now” when you look.
