12 picks · data-backed ranking
Best homelab apps to self-host
The best homelab apps to self-host are Jellyfin for media servers, Immich for photo galleries and Syncthing for file sync & storage. Jellyfin leads with 57,817 GitHub stars. One pick per category: media servers, photo galleries, file sync & storage, password managers, home automation & IoT, network utilities & DNS, personal dashboards, self-hosting platforms, backup, music streaming, e-books and bookmarks & link sharing.
Updated · data from GitHub, refreshed nightly
Top picks
- Rank 1:
Jellyfin
jellyfin/jellyfin
Media server for audio, video, books, comics, and photos with a sleek interface and robust transcoding capabilities. Almost all modern platforms have clients, including Roku, Android TV, iOS, and…
FeaturedMedia ServersC#DockerTop pick for media servers: Jellyfin has 57,817 GitHub stars, uses the GPL-2.0 license, ships a Docker image and had 2,025 commits in the last year; it replaces Plex and Spotify.
- Rank 2:
Immich
immich-app/immich
Photo and video backup solution directly from your mobile phone (alternative to Google Photos).
FeaturedPhoto GalleriesTypeScriptDockerTop pick for photo galleries: 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.
- Rank 3:
Syncthing
syncthing/syncthing
Syncthing is an open source peer-to-peer file synchronisation tool.
File Sync & StorageGoDockerTop pick for file sync & storage: 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.
Full ranking
All 12 picks, ranked
Ranked by GitHub stars and recent activity. Open any pick for live stats and licence details.
- 1
JellyfinFeatured
Media server for audio, video, books, comics, and photos with a sleek interface and robust transcoding capabilities. Almost all modern platforms have clients, including Roku, Android TV, iOS, and…
Media ServersDockerTop pick for media servers: Jellyfin has 57,817 GitHub stars, uses the GPL-2.0 license, ships a Docker image and had 2,025 commits in the last year; it replaces Plex and Spotify.
- 2
ImmichFeatured
Photo and video backup solution directly from your mobile phone (alternative to Google Photos).
Photo GalleriesDockerTop pick for photo galleries: 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.
- 3
Syncthing
Syncthing is an open source peer-to-peer file synchronisation tool.
File Sync & StorageDockerTop pick for file sync & storage: 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.
- 4
VaultwardenFeatured
Lightweight Bitwarden server API implementation written in Rust.
Password ManagersDockerTop pick for password managers: 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.
- 5
Home AssistantFeatured
Home automation platform.
Home Automation & IoTDockerTop pick for home automation & IoT: 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.
- 6
Pi-hole
Blackhole for Internet advertisements with a GUI for management and monitoring.
Network Utilities & DNSDockerTop pick for network utilities & DNS: Pi-hole has 61,167 GitHub stars, uses the EUPL-1.2 license, ships a Docker image and had 215 commits in the last year.
- 7
Grafana
Dashboards and visualization for metrics, logs and traces from Prometheus, Loki and dozens of other sources.
Monitoring & Status PagesDockerTop pick for personal dashboards: 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.
- 8
Coolify
Self-hostable Heroku, Netlify and Vercel alternative that deploys apps, databases and services to your servers.
Self-hosting PlatformsDockerTop pick for self-hosting platforms: Coolify has 62,628 GitHub stars, uses the Apache-2.0 license, ships a Docker image and had 4,939 commits in the last year; it replaces Heroku and Vercel.
- 9
Duplicati
Free backup software that stores encrypted, incremental backups on cloud storage and servers.
BackupDockerTop pick for backup: Duplicati has 15,062 GitHub stars, uses the MIT license, ships a Docker image and had 2,440 commits in the last year.
- 10
Navidrome Music Server
Modern Music Server and Streamer, compatible with Subsonic/Airsonic.
Music StreamingDockerTop pick for music streaming: Navidrome Music Server has 23,986 GitHub stars, uses the GPL-3.0 license, ships a Docker image and had 814 commits in the last year; it replaces Spotify and Audible.
- 11
Audiobookshelf
Audiobook and podcast server. It streams all audio formats, keeps and syncs progress across devices. Comes with apps for Android and iOS.
Music StreamingDockerTop pick for e-books: Audiobookshelf has 14,555 GitHub stars, uses the GPL-3.0 license, ships a Docker image and had 487 commits in the last year; it replaces Spotify and Kindle.
- 12
Karakeep
Bookmark-everything app with a touch of AI for the data hoarders out there.
Bookmarks & Link SharingDockerAI-nativeTop pick for bookmarks & link sharing: Karakeep has 29,464 GitHub stars, uses the AGPL-3.0 license, ships a Docker image and had 824 commits in the last year; it replaces Pocket.
What are the best apps to run in a homelab?
The best homelab apps to self-host are Jellyfin for media servers, Immich for photo galleries and Syncthing for file sync & storage. Jellyfin leads with 57,817 GitHub stars. One pick per category: media servers, photo galleries, file sync & storage, password managers, home automation & IoT, network utilities & DNS, personal dashboards, self-hosting platforms, backup, music streaming, e-books and bookmarks & link sharing.
Is Jellyfin free?
Yes. Jellyfin is open-source software released under the GPL-2.0 license, so you can self-host it at no cost. You only pay for the server it runs on, and some projects also offer an optional paid cloud plan.
Can I self-host these apps with Docker?
Yes, all of them. Jellyfin, Immich and Syncthing publish Docker images, so you can run them on a VPS or home server with Docker Compose.
Are all of these apps open source?
All 12 apps on this list are open source. You can self-host and modify each one under its license.
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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