Best Self Hosted Alternatives to Homer

Flame is a self-hosted startpage for your server. It provides a customizable hub to organize and launch your applications and bookmarks through in-app editors, without editing configuration files.

Key Features

• Create, update, delete apps and bookmarks from a GUI editor
• Pin items to the homescreen for quick access
• Integrated search with multiple providers and the ability to add your own
• Authentication to protect settings, apps and bookmarks
• Extensive UI customization: custom CSS, 15 color themes, and a theme builder
• Weather widget showing current temperature and weather status
• Docker integration to auto-detect and add apps from container labels

Use Cases

• Set up a centralized startpage on a home server or Raspberry Pi to access your services
• Replace multiple dashboards with a single, customizable hub for bookmarks and apps
• Manage a personal DevOps cockpit for a small-scale home lab

CONCLUSION Flame offers a compact, self-hosted solution for organizing and launching server apps and bookmarks with a flexible UI and Docker integration.

Organizr is a web-based organizer for homelab and HTPC services that brings multiple internal apps and bookmarks into a single, unified interface. It is designed to reduce the friction of juggling many hostnames, ports, and logins by presenting services as configurable tabs.

Key Features

• Tab-based dashboard that can load services in-page (iframe) or as external links
• User accounts, guest access, and role/group-based access to specific tabs
• Multiple authentication options, including Plex, Emby, LDAP, and SFTP credentials
• Customizable UI (themes, colors, top bar branding, icons) and mobile-friendly layout
• Quick-access tab URLs and configurable default landing page
• Login logging and administration UI for user management
• Optional integrations for reverse-proxy authentication (for example, Nginx auth_request) and Fail2ban support
• “Forgot password” flow via email (requires a working mail setup)

Use Cases

• Central start page for Plex/Sonarr/Radarr and other homelab apps
• Shared family or team portal with controlled access to specific services
• Simplified internal navigation hub for servers with many web UIs

Limitations and Considerations

• Many features depend on correct reverse-proxy and authentication configuration; iframe embedding may require CSP/header adjustments in upstream apps
• Email-based password reset requires mail server configuration

Organizr fits best for users running multiple self-hosted services who want a single, configurable portal with optional multi-user access control. It is commonly deployed behind a reverse proxy and works well as a homelab landing page.

Homarr is a modern, easy-to-use dashboard for organizing and managing self-hosted services from a single homepage. It provides a highly customizable layout, rich widgets, and integrations that can display status and data from the apps you already run.

Key Features

• Drag-and-drop grid layout for building dashboards without YAML/JSON configuration
• 30+ integrations to surface service status and data in widgets
• Built-in authentication and authorization with users, groups, and permissions
• SSO support via OpenID Connect and LDAP
• Real-time widget updates using WebSockets, with Redis-backed updates
• Fast built-in search across supported integrations and Homarr data
• Large built-in icon picker with 10K+ icons
• Multiple deployment options including Docker and Kubernetes (Helm)

Use Cases

• Create a homelab/startpage portal to launch and monitor all services in one place
• Provide a multi-user dashboard for families or teams with role-based access
• Centralize operational visibility (status, widgets, quick actions) for media and infrastructure stacks

Limitations and Considerations

• Many widgets depend on third-party integrations; feature depth varies by integration
• Full functionality may require additional services such as Redis for real-time updates

Homarr fits well for anyone who wants a clean, customizable home dashboard with integrated visibility and access controls. Its extensible integration approach makes it suitable for both small personal setups and larger multi-user environments.

Lab Dash is an open-source web UI that serves as a customizable, self-hosted homepage and dashboard for homelabs and server environments. It provides a tile/grid-based interface to organize shortcuts, monitor services, and surface system information from a single page.

Key Features

• Customizable grid layout with drag-and-drop reordering and resizable widgets
• Widget types for shortcuts, system information, service health checks, and custom widgets
• Local configuration storage with optional local encryption for sensitive data (AES-256-CBC)
• Admin-only editing controls and configuration backup/restore support
• PWA support for installation as an app on desktop and mobile devices
• Designed to run in Docker/Docker Compose; can access the Docker socket for service discovery and stats
• Customizable appearance: background image, custom search providers, and configurable titles/tabs

Use Cases

• Centralized homelab homepage to quickly launch and organize self-hosted services
• Lightweight service status dashboard for basic health checks and quick diagnostics
• PWA start page for households or small teams to provide a unified access point to tools and media

Limitations and Considerations

• Not a full-featured monitoring or alerting platform; health checks are basic and intended for quick status checks
• No bundled server-side database; configuration is file-based and depends on filesystem volumes for persistence
• Setup assumes Docker/Docker Compose familiarity and requires an encryption secret for protected fields

Lab Dash is focused on providing a simple, privacy-oriented start page and dashboard for home servers, prioritizing ease of customization, local data control, and quick access to services.

DashLit is a lightweight, self-hosted startpage and personal dashboard for organizing links, launching services, and creating a simple application hub. It provides an installable PWA frontend with an in-browser editor so you can build and rearrange your homepage without editing files.

Key Features

• Drag-and-drop editor for creating and organizing link cards, groups, and shortcuts
• Support for light/dark themes and custom theme configuration
• Installable PWA for a native-like experience on desktop and mobile
• Optional password-based access control and JWT support for simple authentication
• File-based data storage (data directory) for easy backup and portability
• Docker and docker-compose ready for straightforward deployment
• Built with a Svelte + TypeScript frontend for a responsive, client-driven UI

Use Cases

• A personal startpage to centralize bookmarks and quick links for a home server or homelab
• A shared dashboard for small teams to collect service links and internal tools behind a simple password
• A lightweight app launcher for frequently used web apps and utilities

Limitations and Considerations

• Uses simple file-based storage by default, which may not scale for multi-tenant or large-team scenarios
• Authentication is basic (password / JWT) and lacks enterprise SSO, RBAC, and advanced user management
• Not designed as a full-featured portal with external integrations or centralized sync across deployments

DashLit is a pragmatic choice when you need a fast, easy-to-run startpage with a friendly editor and portable storage. It is best suited for personal use, homelabs, and small teams that require a simple centralized launcher for web services.

Iso is a lightweight, plug-and-play dashboard for organising and launching your self-hosted services. It is aimed at homelab and personal server users and is configured through a single JSON file for easy setup and portability. (github.com)

Key Features

• Single-file configuration: define the dashboard (title, services, order, icons, links) in a single config.json. (github.com)
• Docker-first distribution with a ready Docker image and an example Docker Compose configuration for quick deployment. (github.com)
• Multi-language UI: built-in support for English, Español, Français and Deutsch. (github.com)
• Themeable appearance and icon-ready service entries with optional custom icons and greeting messages. (github.com)
• Search bar support with configurable search engine (multiple engines supported or custom engineUrl placeholder). (github.com)

Use Cases

• Personal homelab startpage: centralise links to web UIs (Plex, Bitwarden, Home Assistant, etc.) for quick access.
• Small team or household launcher: expose commonly used self-hosted tools behind one minimal dashboard.
• Lightweight public-facing service index (internal network): provide a branded entrypoint for services without a heavy control panel.

Limitations and Considerations

• Manual configuration: services must be declared in config.json; there is no automatic service discovery or dynamic health checking built-in.
• Lightweight feature set: Iso focuses on linking and launching services rather than offering integrated monitoring, metrics, or advanced user-management features.
• Opinionated deployment: project assumes containerized deployment (Docker) and development tooling such as Bun or Nix for local development as noted in the repository. (github.com)

Iso is intentionally minimal and focused on being an easy-to-configure dashboard for self-hosted services. It is suitable for users who want a simple, themeable startpage with Docker-based deployment and straightforward JSON configuration.