Flame vs Homarr
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted dashboards & startpages options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
Homarr
Customizable dashboard for your self-hosted services
| Feature | Flame | Homarr |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Under-an-hour setup | Under-an-hour setup |
| Health score | 83 · Excellent | 89 · Excellent |
| Category | Dashboards & Startpages | Dashboards & Startpages |
| License | MIT | Apache-2.0 |
| Language | TypeScript | TypeScript |
| Setup difficulty | Easy | Easy |
| Min. RAM | 128 MB | 256 MB |
| Deployment | docker | docker |
| GitHub stars | ★ 6,551 | ★ 4,778 |
| First released | 2021 | 2022 |
| Replaces | Heimdall | Heimdall |
What are Flame and Homarr?
Flame
Flame is a minimalist, self-hosted start page for organizing applications and bookmarks with a clean interface. It targets users who want a fast, simple home page. It is deployed via Docker.
- Clean minimalist interface
- App and bookmark management
- Docker label integration
- Built-in weather widget
Homarr
Homarr is a sleek, customizable dashboard that organizes links and widgets for your self-hosted services with deep integrations. It targets home labbers wanting a polished start page. It is deployed via Docker.
- Drag-and-drop layout editor
- Service status integrations
- Built-in widgets and search
- Theming support
Flame vs Homarr: key differences
Both projects are written in TypeScript. Licensing differs — MIT for Flame versus Apache-2.0 for Homarr. Flame is the lighter option, starting around 128 MB of RAM against 256 MB for Homarr.
Why pick each one
Choose Flame if…
- Simple and fast
- Lightweight
- Easy to set up
Watch out for
- Few advanced features
- Limited active development
Choose Homarr if…
- Beautiful modern UI
- Easy drag-and-drop config
- Good integrations
Watch out for
- Newer with evolving features
- Mostly single-dashboard focus
Frequently asked questions
Is Flame or Homarr better?
Neither is universally better. Flame has the larger community; both share a easy setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.
Are Flame and Homarr free and open-source?
Yes. Flame is licensed under MIT and Homarr under Apache-2.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Flame and Homarr with Docker?
Flame: yes. Homarr: yes.
Which is lighter on resources, Flame or Homarr?
Flame has the smaller minimum footprint at 128 MB of RAM, compared to about 256 MB for Homarr. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.