Build a home server you actually understand
Learn how to build, secure, optimize, and maintain your own home server. Vendor-neutral guides, honest comparisons, and a searchable knowledge base for self-hosting and homelabs.
- 7+
- In-depth guides
- 16+
- Software reviewed
- 70+
- Glossary terms
Popular guides
Where most people start their homelab journey.
The Complete Home Server Beginner's Guide
Go from zero to a running home server: choose hardware, pick an operating system, deploy your first apps, and keep everything secure and backed up.
How to Build Your First NAS
A step-by-step guide to planning and building a reliable DIY NAS with TrueNAS or OpenMediaVault.
Featured tutorials
Step-by-step walkthroughs you can follow tonight.
How to Install Docker on Ubuntu
A step-by-step tutorial to install Docker Engine and Docker Compose on Ubuntu Server, then run your first container.
Explore by category
Find everything on a topic in one place.
Getting Started
New to home servers? Start here with the fundamentals.
Media Servers
Stream your movies, TV, music and photos from your own hardware.
Storage & NAS
Pool disks, protect data and build network-attached storage.
Networking
VLANs, reverse proxies, DNS, VPNs and remote access.
Virtualization
Run many systems on one machine with VMs and hypervisors.
Containers
Deploy apps quickly and reproducibly with Docker.
Operating Systems
Choose and configure the right OS for your server.
Automation
Automate your home and your server maintenance.
Security
Harden your server and expose services safely.
Backups
Follow the 3-2-1 rule and never lose your data.
Hardware
Mini PCs, drives, RAM, networking gear and power.
Latest articles
Fresh from the blog.
What Is a Home Server? A Plain-English Introduction
A beginner-friendly explanation of what a home server is, what you can do with one, and how to decide if you should build one.
The Complete Home Server Beginner's Guide
Go from zero to a running home server: choose hardware, pick an operating system, deploy your first apps, and keep everything secure and backed up.
Best Home Server Hardware in 2026
How to choose the CPU, RAM, storage and power for an efficient, reliable home server — with recommendations for every budget.
How to Install Docker on Ubuntu
A step-by-step tutorial to install Docker Engine and Docker Compose on Ubuntu Server, then run your first container.
The Home Server Security Checklist
A practical checklist to secure your home server: SSH hardening, firewall, updates, backups and safe remote access.
How to Build Your First NAS
A step-by-step guide to planning and building a reliable DIY NAS with TrueNAS or OpenMediaVault.
Featured self-hosted software
Hand-picked apps worth running on your server.
Home server glossary
Plain-English definitions for the jargon you'll encounter.
Home Server
A computer you run at home to provide services such as file storage, media streaming, backups or self-hosted apps to your devices.
NAS(Network-Attached Storage)
A dedicated storage device connected to your network that lets multiple devices store and access files centrally.
RAID(Redundant Array of Independent Disks)
A method of combining multiple drives so they act as one, improving performance and/or protecting against drive failure.
ZFS
An advanced filesystem and volume manager offering data integrity, snapshots, compression and software RAID.
Docker
A platform for packaging applications and their dependencies into lightweight, portable containers.
Container
An isolated, self-contained package that bundles an application with everything it needs to run.
Docker Compose
A tool that defines and runs multi-container applications from a single declarative YAML file.
Virtual Machine(VM)
A software-based computer that runs its own operating system on top of physical hardware via a hypervisor.
Comparisons
Honest, side-by-side comparisons to help you choose the right tool for the job.
Plex vs Jellyfin
Plex vs Jellyfin compared: features, hardware transcoding, privacy, cost and which media server is right for you.
Docker vs Podman
Docker vs Podman: architecture, security, rootless mode, Compose support and which container engine to use at home.
TrueNAS vs OpenMediaVault
TrueNAS vs OpenMediaVault: ZFS, hardware requirements, ease of use and which NAS OS fits your build.
Recommended hardware
Curated buying guides for every budget.
Best Mini PCs for a Home Server
The best low-power mini PCs for a home server in 2026 — efficient, quiet and powerful enough for Docker, media and virtualization.
Best Hard Drives for a NAS
The best NAS hard drives for reliability and value — CMR drives rated for 24/7 operation in your home server.
Best SSDs for a Home Server
The best SSDs for a home server boot drive, cache and app storage — reliable NVMe and SATA picks.
Editor's affiliate picks
Gear we'd buy ourselves. Purchases through these links may earn us a commission at no extra cost to you.
Disclosure: Some links on this page are affiliate links. If you buy through them we may earn a commission at no extra cost to you.
Beelink EQ series (Intel N-series)
The default recommendation: cheap, efficient, and more than enough for a first home server running Docker and a media server.
Visit websiteWD Red Plus (CMR)
Reliable, quiet and widely trusted for home NAS builds.
Visit websiteSamsung 990/980 (NVMe)
A dependable boot and app drive for any modern mini PC or server board.
Visit websiteAPC Back-UPS
Well supported by NUT for automatic, clean shutdowns of your NAS.
Visit websiteFrequently asked questions
Quick answers to the questions we hear most.