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12 picks · data-backed ranking

Best self-hosted apps for beginners (Docker)

The best self-hosted apps for beginners are n8n (source-available), Ollama and Open-WebUI (source-available). n8n leads with 206,738 GitHub stars. Only apps that publish a Docker image.

Every pick ships a Docker image, and the ones with an appsgit step-by-step deploy guide come first, so you can follow a tested walkthrough on your first install.

Updated · data from GitHub, refreshed nightly

Top picks

  1. Rank 1:

    n8n

    n8n-io/n8n

    Free node based Workflow Automation Tool. Easily automate tasks across different services.

    FeaturedSource-availableAutomation & WorkflowsTypeScriptDocker

    n8n has 206,738 GitHub stars, is source-available under the Sustainable Use License 1.0 (not an open-source license), ships a Docker image and had 9,029 commits in the last year; it replaces Zapier and IFTTT, and appsgit has a step-by-step deploy guide for it.

  2. Rank 2:

    Ollama

    ollama/ollama

    Get up and running with Llama 3.3, DeepSeek-R1, Phi-4, Gemma 3, and other large language models.

    AI & LLM ToolsGoDocker

    AI-nativeOllama has 182,289 GitHub stars, uses the MIT license, ships a Docker image and had 1,083 commits in the last year; it replaces ChatGPT, and appsgit has a step-by-step deploy guide for it.

  3. Rank 3:

    Open-WebUI

    open-webui/open-webui

    User-friendly AI Interface, supports Ollama, OpenAI API.

    Source-availableAI & LLM ToolsPythonDocker

    AI-nativeOpen-WebUI has 154,037 GitHub stars, is source-available under the Open WebUI License (BSD-3-Clause plus branding clause) (not an open-source license), ships a Docker image and had 4,746 commits in the last year; it replaces ChatGPT and Lovable, and appsgit has a step-by-step deploy guide for it.

Full ranking

All 12 picks, ranked

Ranked by GitHub stars and recent activity. Open any pick for live stats and licence details.

  1. 1

    n8n

    Free node based Workflow Automation Tool. Easily automate tasks across different services.

    n8n has 206,738 GitHub stars, is source-available under the Sustainable Use License 1.0 (not an open-source license), ships a Docker image and had 9,029 commits in the last year; it replaces Zapier and IFTTT, and appsgit has a step-by-step deploy guide for it.

  2. 2

    Ollama

    Get up and running with Llama 3.3, DeepSeek-R1, Phi-4, Gemma 3, and other large language models.

    AI-nativeOllama has 182,289 GitHub stars, uses the MIT license, ships a Docker image and had 1,083 commits in the last year; it replaces ChatGPT, and appsgit has a step-by-step deploy guide for it.

  3. 3

    Open-WebUI

    User-friendly AI Interface, supports Ollama, OpenAI API.

    AI-nativeOpen-WebUI has 154,037 GitHub stars, is source-available under the Open WebUI License (BSD-3-Clause plus branding clause) (not an open-source license), ships a Docker image and had 4,746 commits in the last year; it replaces ChatGPT and Lovable, and appsgit has a step-by-step deploy guide for it.

  4. 4

    Immich

    Photo and video backup solution directly from your mobile phone (alternative to Google Photos).

    Immich has 115,648 GitHub stars, uses the AGPL-3.0 license, ships a Docker image and had 2,638 commits in the last year; it replaces Google Photos and Adobe Photoshop, and appsgit has a step-by-step deploy guide for it.

  5. 5

    Supabase

    Postgres development platform with auth, realtime, storage and edge functions, the open-source Firebase alternative.

    Supabase has 111,147 GitHub stars, uses the Apache-2.0 license, ships a Docker image and had 6,123 commits in the last year; it replaces Firebase, and appsgit has a step-by-step deploy guide for it.

  6. 6

    Uptime Kuma

    Easy-to-use self-hosted uptime monitor with status pages and 90+ notification channels.

    Uptime Kuma has 92,149 GitHub stars, uses the MIT license, ships a Docker image and had 1,359 commits in the last year; it replaces Datadog and Uptime Robot, and appsgit has a step-by-step deploy guide for it.

  7. 7

    Home Assistant

    Home automation platform.

    Home Assistant has 91,266 GitHub stars, uses the Apache-2.0 license, ships a Docker image and had 17,497 commits in the last year; it replaces IFTTT and Nest / SmartThings, and appsgit has a step-by-step deploy guide for it.

  8. 8

    Syncthing

    Syncthing is an open source peer-to-peer file synchronisation tool.

    Syncthing has 89,175 GitHub stars, uses the MPL-2.0 license, ships a Docker image and had 223 commits in the last year; it replaces Google Drive and Dropbox, and appsgit has a step-by-step deploy guide for it.

  9. 9

    Caddy

    Powerful, enterprise-ready, open source web server with automatic HTTPS.

    Caddy has 77,243 GitHub stars, uses the Apache-2.0 license, ships a Docker image and had 331 commits in the last year; it replaces Netlify, and appsgit has a step-by-step deploy guide for it.

  10. 10

    Grafana

    Dashboards and visualization for metrics, logs and traces from Prometheus, Loki and dozens of other sources.

    Grafana has 77,096 GitHub stars, uses the AGPL-3.0 license, ships a Docker image and had 11,362 commits in the last year; it replaces Datadog and Grafana Cloud, and appsgit has a step-by-step deploy guide for it.

  11. 11

    Vaultwarden

    Lightweight Bitwarden server API implementation written in Rust.

    Vaultwarden has 68,572 GitHub stars, uses the AGPL-3.0 license, ships a Docker image and had 181 commits in the last year; it replaces Bitwarden and 1Password, and appsgit has a step-by-step deploy guide for it.

  12. 12

    Prometheus

    Metrics-based monitoring and alerting toolkit with a powerful query language, built for cloud-native systems.

    Prometheus has 66,381 GitHub stars, uses the Apache-2.0 license, ships a Docker image and had 2,592 commits in the last year; it replaces Datadog and Grafana Cloud, and appsgit has a step-by-step deploy guide for it.

FAQ

Questions and answers

Still curious? Email info@appsgit.com.

What are the best self-hosted apps for beginners?

The best self-hosted apps for beginners are n8n (source-available), Ollama and Open-WebUI (source-available). n8n leads with 206,738 GitHub stars. Only apps that publish a Docker image.

Is n8n free?

Not by the OSI definition. n8n is source-available rather than open source: its code is public under the Sustainable Use License 1.0, which is not an OSI-approved open-source license. The Sustainable Use License allows use and changes for your own internal business or personal purposes, but not reselling the software or offering it as a paid hosted service. Check the license in the repository before using it commercially.

Can I self-host these apps with Docker?

Yes, all of them. n8n, Ollama and Open-WebUI publish Docker images, so you can run them on a VPS or home server with Docker Compose.

Are all of these apps open source?

10 of the 12 apps on this list are open source; 2 are source-available. Source-available licenses add conditions, such as limits on hosted or commercial use, so read them before you deploy.

Which of these apps is the most actively developed?

Home Assistant, with 17,497 commits in the last 12 months and a latest release, 2026.9.4, from September 2026. Activity is a good sign that bugs and security issues get fixed.

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