Homarr

Last reviewed Sep 13, 2026 · 811 words

Homarr went through a full rewrite for its 1.0 line, and most of what you will read about it online describes the old codebase. The current version is the one to install: a dashboard you arrange in the browser by dragging tiles, where the tiles do things. Sonarr's calendar, Pi-hole's block count, a container's up/down state, Proxmox node load, what is playing on Jellyfin. It first appeared in 2022, it runs in 256 MB of RAM, and it takes about 10 minutes plus however long it takes you to collect API keys from the services you want on it.

The install and the key you must not lose

The current image is ghcr.io/homarr-labs/homarr and it insists on one thing the old version did not: a 64-character hex encryption key, used to encrypt the integration credentials (API keys for your other services) at rest.

services:
  homarr:
    image: ghcr.io/homarr-labs/homarr:latest
    ports:
      - "7575:7575"
    environment:
      - SECRET_ENCRYPTION_KEY=paste-the-output-of-openssl-rand-hex-32
    volumes:
      - ./appdata:/appdata
      - /var/run/docker.sock:/var/run/docker.sock:ro   # optional, Docker widget
    restart: unless-stopped

Generate the key with openssl rand -hex 32 and store it with your other secrets. A restored appdata directory without the same key gives you a dashboard where every integration silently fails to authenticate, and the fix is re-entering every API key by hand. Migration from the pre-1.0 version is a wizard on first launch that reads an export from the old install; it works, but expect to rearrange a few widgets afterwards.

The Docker socket mount deserves a pause. It lets Homarr show and control containers, which is convenient, and it hands a web app root-equivalent access to the host. Read-only helps less than it looks. I mount it on a box that only runs media and not on the one that runs my password manager. Backups are simple by comparison: the appdata directory holds the SQLite database and the uploaded icons, so a nightly copy of that folder plus the key is a full restore.

Integrations are the reason to choose it

A link tile with an icon is something Heimdall did in 2018. Homarr's value is the integration layer: a Jellyfin tile shows what is playing, the arr apps show upcoming releases and the download queue, qBittorrent shows transfer rates, AdGuard or Pi-hole shows blocks with a toggle to pause filtering, Proxmox shows CPU and RAM per node. Each one wants an API key from the target app, which is where the setup time goes. Once they are in, the dashboard is a status page as much as a launcher. There is a global search bar that can also search your integrated media, a weather widget, a calendar, and an iframe widget for everything else.

Accounts exist now, but plan around one board

Since 1.0 there are real user accounts with permissions, so a household member can have a board without your admin tiles, and OIDC login through Authentik or a similar provider works. You can create several boards, but the design still centres on one main board per install, and features like the search bar and the default landing page assume it. Treat extra boards as views for other people rather than as a way to run 5 separate dashboards.

Homarr vs Homepage is the actual decision

Homepage is the bigger project in this category and the direct rival. It is configured entirely in YAML files, it has more service integrations, and it renders a dense, information-first page that a lot of experienced self-hosters prefer. Homarr is configured in the browser, looks softer, and is the one to give a partner or a parent who will never open a config file. Dashy sits closer to Homepage with a YAML config plus a built-in editor; Heimdall is the older, simpler launcher with almost no integrations.

My rule of thumb: if your compose files are already in git and you like it that way, Homepage's YAML fits your workflow and you can version the dashboard with everything else. If you want to move a tile by dragging it, that is Homarr, and there is no wrong answer. The dashboards category covers the rest of the field.

What I'd do

Homarr 1.0 in Docker with the encryption key in your password manager, integrations for the 5 or 6 services you check daily, and no Docker socket unless the host runs nothing sensitive. Put it behind your reverse proxy at a short hostname and make it the browser start page on the household devices. If you are the kind of person who wants the dashboard in git, install Homepage instead and never look back.