Getting startedOctober 22, 2026·5 min read

How to Start a Homelab in 2026: The Zero-to-Running Guide

You’ve read what a homelab is and you want one. Good. This guide gets you from “no server” to “first app running” — without spending a euro more than necessary.

The golden rule: don’t buy anything before your first weekend is done. Most people already own something that can run a homelab.

Step 1 — Find your first machine (0 €)

Open a closet and look for:

  • An old laptop (2015 or newer, even with a slow CPU). The best first homelab machine: built-in screen/keyboard, UPS battery included, silent, low power.
  • An old desktop tower. Works fine; louder and hungrier, great for a garage/shelf.
  • Any mini PC if you’re buying: an Intel N100 box (Beelink, Minisforum, TrigKey…) costs ~100–150 €, draws 6–10 W idle, and is enormously more machine than a first homelab needs.

What honestly doesn’t matter yet: CPU power, RAM beyond 8 GB, RAID arrays, 10 GbE networking, ECC memory. Forget all of it for month one.

Minimum that works: 2 cores, 4 GB RAM (8 GB is the comfort zone), and a disk. That’s it.

Step 2 — Install the operating system (30–45 min)

You have three good options, in order of beginner-friendliness:

Option A — CasaOS (easiest, recommended for your very first box)

CasaOS is a friendly layer on top of Linux with a web panel: click “install app” and it’s done.

  1. Install Ubuntu Server 24.04 LTS (no desktop, just the base — the installer is straightforward; press Enter through the defaults).
  2. Reboot, log in, and run their one-line installer (find it on the official CasaOS site):
curl -fsSL https://get.casaos.io | sudo bash
  1. It prints a http://<IP>:80 address. Open it from any browser in your house and you have a dashboard with an app store. Truly that simple.

Option B — Docker on plain Ubuntu Server (the path most guides use)

Same Ubuntu Server base, but you install Docker yourself and run apps via “Compose” files (plain text recipes). More typing than CasaOS, but every tutorial on the internet matches this style, and you learn the skills that scale forever.

# after installing Ubuntu Server
sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade -y

Then follow the official Docker Engine install docs for Ubuntu, and add the Docker Compose plugin:

sudo apt install docker-ce docker-ce-cli containerd.io docker-buildx-plugin docker-compose-plugin
sudo usermod -aG docker $USER

Log out and back in (for the group change to apply), then test:

docker run --rm hello-world

If you see the hello message, you’re in business.

Option C — Proxmox (for when you outgrow one machine)

Proxmox is a proper virtualization platform: run multiple virtual machines and containers from one web UI. Amazing later; unnecessary for your first evening. Keep it in your pocket.

My recommendation: CasaOS if you want something visible today; Ubuntu + Docker if you want to learn the “real” way. Both are free, both are valid, neither is a dead end.

Step 3 — Your first evening project: Uptime Kuma (15 min)

Pick something small and satisfying: a self-hosted “is everything up?” monitor. It looks great, teaches you the Docker workflow, and you’ll use it forever.

With Docker installed:

mkdir -p ~/apps/uptime-kuma && cd ~/apps/uptime-kuma

Create a file named docker-compose.yml:

services:
  uptime-kuma:
    image: louislam/uptime-kuma:1
    container_name: uptime-kuma
    volumes:
      - ./data:/app/data
    ports:
      - "3001:3001"
    restart: unless-stopped

Then one command:

docker compose up -d

Open http://<your-server-IP>:3001 in the browser, create the admin account, and add your first monitors: your router (http://192.168.1.1), this website, your phone’s hotspot — whatever. You now have a self-hosted service running. Congratulations, you have a homelab.

Notice the pattern — it repeats for every Docker app forever:

  1. Find a docker-compose.yml (every app’s docs has one).
  2. Paste it into a folder.
  3. docker compose up -d.
  4. Open http://IP:PORT.

Step 4 — Make it reachable from outside (optional, next weekend)

Right now your homelab only works at home. When you want it on your phone anywhere: install Tailscale (free for personal use).

curl -fsSL https://tailscale.com/install.sh | sh
sudo tailscale up

It gives every device a private IP that works anywhere, no port-forwarding, no public exposure. This is the modern default for homelabbers; forget opening ports on your router for now.

What to do in week 2 and beyond

Don’t binge-install 20 apps. That’s the classic mistake — you end up maintaining 20 apps instead of enjoying any. Instead, one app per weekend, starting with whichever pain you feel most:

  1. Pi-hole or AdGuard Home — kill ads network-wide. Fastest “wow” moment in homelabbing.
  2. Immich — replace Google Photos. Photos you can back up and own.
  3. Vaultwarden — your password vault, self-hosted. (Yes, you can; it’s the same code Bitwarden uses.)
  4. Jellyfin — if you have your own movie/series files, this is the payoff moment.
  5. Navidrome — your music collection, streaming to your phone via Tailscale.

A word on backups (the unsexy thing that saves you)

Every disk dies eventually — including the one in your homelab. Before you put anything irreplaceable on it (photos!), set up a backup. Even the laziest version works:

  • An external USB drive + a weekly rsync cron job.
  • Or Restic/Borg inside a container for versioned, encrypted backups.
  • Or back up to a cheap cloud bucket (Backblaze B2 is ~5 €/TB-month) — ironic, but the cloud is great as a backup target.

The rule: 3-2-1 if you’re serious (3 copies, 2 media, 1 offsite); “one USB drive in a drawer” if you’re pragmatic. Anything is better than nothing.

Where to spend money later (and where not to)

When (and only when) you’ve been running this for a month or two:

Upgrade When it makes sense Rough cost
Bigger disk (4–8 TB) Your media/photos fill the first one 60–120 €
N100 mini PC Old laptop is too loud/hungry 100–150 €
Managed switch You start caring about VLANs 30–50 €
UPS battery You have services people depend on 80–120 €
NAS (Synology etc.) You want RAID and a polished UI 300 €+

And what not to buy, ever, on day one: enterprise rack servers off eBay (loud, power-hungry money pits), 10 GbE gear, fancy 6-bay NAS units. The best homelab hardware is the hardware you already own.

Recap

  1. Find an old laptop or mini PC — free or ~120 €.
  2. Install CasaOS (easy) or Ubuntu + Docker (the classic path).
  3. Run your first container (Uptime Kuma) — 15 minutes.
  4. Add Tailscale next weekend.
  5. One app per weekend, forever. No binges.

That’s a homelab. It starts embarrassingly small and grows at exactly the pace your curiosity does. See you in the app guides — and when your partner asks why the internet is suddenly ad-free, just smile and say “the homelab.”