Why people self-host Homepage
Homepage is a modern service dashboard that can show links, widgets, health checks, and useful homelab status in one place. It is best when the start page should be operational, not just decorative.
The tradeoff is YAML configuration and widget credential handling. Store secrets carefully and keep widget scope narrow.
What Homepage does well
- Service widgets for well over a hundred apps, from Jellyfin and Sonarr to Proxmox and Pi-hole.
- Docker integration that discovers containers from labels and shows their status and resource use.
- API calls are proxied through the server, so keys never reach the browser.
- Bookmarks, search, weather, and system resource widgets, all configured in YAML.
Who Homepage is for
Homepage is a good fit for a homelab dashboard that should show what is happening, not only where things are: download queues, stream counts, disk space, container health. It is a single-user tool by design. People who would rather click through a UI than edit YAML will be happier with Dashy or Homarr.
Deployment notes
Homepage is listed with support signals for linux, docker. Check the upstream documentation before exposing it to the internet, review authentication defaults, and keep backups outside the primary host.
Run the Docker image with a config folder mounted. Set the HOMEPAGE_ALLOWED_HOSTS variable to the hostname you will use, or the page refuses to load. For container discovery, mount the Docker socket read-only or, better, go through a socket proxy. There is no login screen, so put it behind your reverse proxy's authentication or keep it on the LAN. The YAML files are the entire state and belong in Git.
Common questions about Homepage
Does Homepage have authentication?
No. It is meant to sit behind something that does, such as Authelia, Authentik, or basic auth on your reverse proxy, or to stay reachable only on your local network or VPN.
How do I add Docker containers to Homepage automatically?
Give Homepage access to the Docker socket, then add homepage.* labels to each container for its name, group, icon, and URL. Labelled containers show up without touching the YAML.
Other self-hosted dashboards and start pages apps
- Dashy: Feature-rich start page for organizing service links and status widgets.
Compare them side by side in the dashboards and start pages category.