About HomeLab Starter

HomeLab Starter is a guide site for people who are curious about running their own home server but have never done it before. We write for total beginners — no assumed Linux experience, no assumed networking background. If a term needs explaining, we explain it before using it.

What we cover

Our guides focus on the practical, cost-driven reasons most people get into self-hosting: replacing cloud photo storage, streaming your own media instead of paying for another subscription, blocking ads network-wide, and controlling a smart home without depending on a manufacturer's app. We cover the operating systems (Proxmox, TrueNAS, Unraid), the hardware (mostly budget mini PCs), and the apps themselves (Jellyfin, Immich, Pi-hole, Home Assistant, and more as the site grows).

How we choose recommendations

We recommend software and hardware based on what's genuinely well-suited to a beginner's first project — active community support, reasonable setup difficulty, and a real track record, not what pays the highest commission. Some links on this site are affiliate links, and we may earn a commission if you buy through them at no extra cost to you. This does not influence which products we recommend.

Where this site is headed

We're actively publishing new guides covering server setup walkthroughs, hardware buying guides, networking and security basics, and deeper dives into specific self-hosted apps. If there's a topic you'd like covered, reach out via our contact page.

A note on the current state of this site

HomeLab Starter is a new site. We publish thorough, complete guides rather than a large number of thin ones, so the article library will grow gradually. Every guide currently live has been written to be genuinely useful on its own, not filler content waiting to be expanded.