Home Lab & Self-Hosting
A hands-on guide to building and running a home lab: hardware, virtualization, storage, media, and self-hosted services — from someone who runs one.
Part 1
Jellyfin vs Plex in 2026: Which to Run?
Plex's 2025-2026 price hikes put remote streaming and hardware transcoding behind a paywall — and tripled the Lifetime Pass to $749.99. Running both on a Proxmox homelab, here's a first-hand decision table on cost, transcoding, privacy, and which media server actually fits your setup.
Part 2
WireGuard vs OpenVPN: Which to Self-Host?
WireGuard wins on speed, simplicity, and battery; OpenVPN wins on firewall-bypass over TCP 443 — and OpenVPN's kernel-space DCO has largely closed the old throughput gap. A first-hand decision table and a real WireGuard config to help you pick the right protocol for a self-hosted VPN.
Part 3
TrueNAS vs Unraid: Which NAS OS Wins?
Free, ZFS-grade TrueNAS SCALE versus Unraid's mixed-drive parity array (from $49) — with the two 2026 changes that reshape the choice: OpenZFS RAIDZ expansion and Unraid's native ZFS pools. A first-hand decision table to match a NAS OS to your actual drives and budget.
Part 4
Docker vs Virtual Machines: When to Use Each
Docker vs virtual machines: boot times, overhead, isolation, and a decision matrix from a real homelab running both side by side.
Part 5
Proxmox vs Docker: What to Run Where
Proxmox is the hypervisor, Docker runs your apps — they're not rivals. A first-hand homelab topology for running both together, with VM vs LXC guidance.
Part 6
Best Mini PC for a Home Server (2026)
Compare the best mini PC for a home server in 2026: real prices, idle watts, RAM ceilings, and Proxmox fit vs a Raspberry Pi, with power-cost math.
Part 7
How to Build a Homelab: A Beginner's Guide
Building a homelab is really seven decisions in order: hardware, hypervisor, containers, storage, apps, remote access, and a reverse proxy. This beginner's hub walks each one and hands off to a first-hand deep guide — so you always know what to do next.