Homarr: A Modern, Feature-Rich Self-Hosted Dashboard

Homarr is a modern dashboard for managing and monitoring your self-hosted services. Unlike simpler dashboards that just display links, Homarr integrates directly with your services — showing download progress from your *arr stack, Docker container status, media library stats, and more.

If Homepage is a bookmarks page with widgets, Homarr is closer to a control panel.

Why Homarr?

The self-hosted dashboard space is crowded. Here's what sets Homarr apart:

• Deep service integrations — Native support for Sonarr, Radarr, Lidarr, SABnzbd, qBittorrent, Deluge, Overseerr, Plex, Jellyfin, and dozens more
• Drag-and-drop layout — Configure your dashboard visually, no YAML files
• Docker integration — Start, stop, and restart containers directly from the dashboard
• Multi-user support — Different dashboards for different users
• Weather, calendar, RSS — Built-in widgets beyond service monitoring
• Search — Integrated search bar with configurable search engines

The trade-off: Homarr is heavier than Homepage (~200 MB RAM vs ~50 MB) and the visual editor means configuration isn't easily version-controlled.

Installation

# docker-compose.yml
services:
  homarr:
    image: ghcr.io/homarr-dev/homarr:latest
    container_name: homarr
    ports:
      - "7575:7575"
    volumes:
      - homarr_data:/appdata
      - /var/run/docker.sock:/var/run/docker.sock:ro
    environment:
      - TZ=America/Los_Angeles
    restart: unless-stopped

volumes:
  homarr_data:

The Docker socket mount is optional but enables container management features. If you only want a dashboard without Docker control, remove that line.

docker compose up -d

Access Homarr at http://your-server:7575. The first launch walks you through creating an admin account.

Core Concepts

Boards

Homarr organizes everything into boards. Each board is a separate dashboard layout. You might have:

• A main board with all services
• A media board focused on Plex/Jellyfin/*arr stack
• A monitoring board with system stats

Each user can have their own default board.

Apps

Apps are links to your services. Each app has:

• Name and URL — Basic link to the service
• Icon — Auto-detected from the Dashboard Icons project or custom upload
• Integration — Optional deep integration (see below)
• Category — Group apps visually on the board

Widgets

Widgets display live data. Built-in widgets include:

• Clock/Weather — Current time and weather conditions
• System resources — CPU, RAM, disk usage
• Docker — Container status and controls
• Calendar — Upcoming events from Sonarr/Radarr/Lidarr
• RSS — Feed reader widget
• Iframe — Embed any web page
• Media requests — Overseerr/Jellyseerr pending requests
• Download clients — SABnzbd/qBittorrent progress

Service Integrations

Media Stack

Sonarr → Shows upcoming episodes, missing episodes, queue status
Radarr → Movie collection stats, upcoming releases
Lidarr → Music library overview
Jellyfin/Plex → Currently playing, library stats, recent additions
Overseerr → Pending media requests

Each integration requires entering the service URL and API key. Homarr's settings UI walks you through this.

Download Clients

qBittorrent → Active downloads, speeds, queue
SABnzbd → Download progress, queue management
Deluge → Torrent status
Transmission → Download overview

Infrastructure

Proxmox → VM/container status
Pi-hole → Queries blocked, top clients
AdGuard Home → Query stats, filtering status
Portainer → Container management

Configuration Tips

Organize with Categories

Group related services:

1. Media — Plex, Jellyfin, Sonarr, Radarr
2. Infrastructure — Proxmox, Portainer, Traefik
3. Productivity — Nextcloud, Bookstack, Vikunja
4. Monitoring — Grafana, Uptime Kuma, NetData

Use the Search Bar

Configure Homarr's search to use your preferred engine. You can also add custom search providers — useful for searching your wiki or documentation.

Enable Ping

Homarr can ping your services and show their status with a colored indicator. This gives you a quick "is everything running" overview without a dedicated uptime monitor.

Docker Socket Proxy

Instead of mounting the Docker socket directly (security risk), use a socket proxy:

services:
  dockerproxy:
    image: ghcr.io/tecnativa/docker-socket-proxy:latest
    environment:
      - CONTAINERS=1
      - POST=0
    volumes:
      - /var/run/docker.sock:/var/run/docker.sock:ro
    networks:
      - docker-proxy

  homarr:
    image: ghcr.io/homarr-dev/homarr:latest
    environment:
      - DOCKER_HOST=tcp://dockerproxy:2375
    depends_on:
      - dockerproxy
    networks:
      - docker-proxy
      - default

networks:
  docker-proxy:

This restricts what Homarr can do with Docker — read-only access to container info without the ability to execute commands.

Homarr vs Homepage vs Heimdall

Choose Homarr When

• You want a visual dashboard builder without editing config files
• You need Docker container management from the dashboard
• You run a media stack and want deep *arr integration
• Multiple family members need their own dashboard view

Choose Homepage When

• You want a lightweight, fast dashboard
• You prefer YAML configuration that's easy to version control
• You need maximum widget variety
• You want a clean, minimal aesthetic

Choose Heimdall When

• You just need organized links to services
• You want a simple setup with minimal configuration
• You don't need service integrations or live data

Backup and Migration

Homarr stores all configuration in its data volume. To back up:

docker compose stop homarr
tar -czf homarr-backup.tar.gz /path/to/homarr_data
docker compose start homarr

To migrate to a new server, copy the backup and extract it to the new data volume location.

Verdict

Homarr fills a specific niche: it's the best self-hosted dashboard for people who want a visual control panel, not just a bookmarks page. The drag-and-drop editor makes it accessible to non-technical users, and the service integrations make it genuinely useful beyond link organization.

If you're already happy with Homepage's YAML-based approach, there's no compelling reason to switch. But if you've been putting off setting up a dashboard because you don't want to write config files, Homarr is worth a look. The Docker container management alone makes it a step above a simple link page.