Hands-on guides, comparisons and reviews for self-hosted tools — written by someone who runs them in production, not someone who installed them once.https://homelabspot.com/en-us© 2026 HomeLabSpothttps://homelabspot.com/blog/review-backblaze-b2/https://homelabspot.com/blog/review-backblaze-b2/What B2 actually costs for a restic repository, where the bill comes from, and the three things the S3-compatible API will not do for you.Thu, 22 Oct 2026 00:00:00 GMTbackblazeb2backupresticstoragesuhenggui@gmail.comhttps://homelabspot.com/blog/review-proxmox-ve/https://homelabspot.com/blog/review-proxmox-ve/Twelve months, three VMs and four containers on one mini PC. Snapshots, the subscription nag, and the parts that cost me a weekend.Wed, 21 Oct 2026 00:00:00 GMTproxmoxvirtualizationhomelabself-hostedsuhenggui@gmail.comhttps://homelabspot.com/blog/gitea-vs-forgejo/https://homelabspot.com/blog/gitea-vs-forgejo/Forgejo is a fork of Gitea, and the difference is governance as much as features. What that means for a self-hosted git server you plan to keep.Tue, 20 Oct 2026 00:00:00 GMTgiteaforgejogitself-hostedsuhenggui@gmail.comhttps://homelabspot.com/blog/caddy-vs-nginx-reverse-proxy/https://homelabspot.com/blog/caddy-vs-nginx-reverse-proxy/Both terminate TLS and route traffic. The difference is how much config you maintain and what breaks at 2am — tested side by side for three months.Mon, 19 Oct 2026 00:00:00 GMTcaddynginxreverse-proxyself-hostedsuhenggui@gmail.comhttps://homelabspot.com/blog/self-hosted-backup-guide/https://homelabspot.com/blog/self-hosted-backup-guide/A practical guide to self-hosting backups with restic and rclone, covering the exact commands, version, and mistakes I made.Thu, 15 Oct 2026 00:00:00 GMTbackupresticself-hosteddockersuhenggui@gmail.comhttps://homelabspot.com/blog/docker-compose-self-hosted-stack/https://homelabspot.com/blog/docker-compose-self-hosted-stack/A step-by-step guide to deploying multiple self-hosted services with Docker Compose, including networking, volumes, env vars, and the mistakes I made.Mon, 12 Oct 2026 00:00:00 GMTdockerdocker-composeself-hostedhomelabsuhenggui@gmail.comhttps://homelabspot.com/blog/self-hosted-monitoring-prometheus-grafana/https://homelabspot.com/blog/self-hosted-monitoring-prometheus-grafana/A practical guide to setting up Prometheus and Grafana for self-hosted monitoring, with a working config, alerting rules, and the mistakes I made.Thu, 08 Oct 2026 00:00:00 GMTmonitoringprometheusgrafanaself-hostedsuhenggui@gmail.comhttps://homelabspot.com/blog/self-host-password-manager-vaultwarden/https://homelabspot.com/blog/self-host-password-manager-vaultwarden/A step-by-step guide to self-hosting Vaultwarden (Bitwarden-compatible), with Docker setup, HTTPS, backups, and the security mistakes to avoid.Mon, 05 Oct 2026 00:00:00 GMTpassword-managervaultwardensecurityself-hostedsuhenggui@gmail.comhttps://homelabspot.com/blog/reverse-proxy-caddy-homelab/https://homelabspot.com/blog/reverse-proxy-caddy-homelab/A practical guide to using Caddy as a reverse proxy for a self-hosted stack, with automatic HTTPS, multiple subdomains, and the config mistakes I made.Thu, 01 Oct 2026 00:00:00 GMTcaddyreverse-proxyhomelabself-hostedsuhenggui@gmail.comhttps://homelabspot.com/blog/paperless-ngx-vs-documenso/https://homelabspot.com/blog/paperless-ngx-vs-documenso/A hands-on comparison of Paperless-NGX and Documenso for document management, covering self-hosting, features, and who should skip each.Mon, 28 Sep 2026 00:00:00 GMTpaperless-ngxdocumensoself-hosteddocumentssuhenggui@gmail.comhttps://homelabspot.com/blog/media-server-plex-jellyfin/https://homelabspot.com/blog/media-server-plex-jellyfin/A practical guide to choosing and setting up a self-hosted media server, comparing Plex and Jellyfin, with Docker config and remote access tips.Tue, 22 Sep 2026 00:00:00 GMTmedia-serverplexjellyfinself-hostedsuhenggui@gmail.comhttps://homelabspot.com/blog/self-host-git-server-gitea/https://homelabspot.com/blog/self-host-git-server-gitea/A step-by-step guide to self-hosting Gitea, a lightweight GitHub alternative, with Docker setup, SSH access, backups, and CI integration.Tue, 15 Sep 2026 00:00:00 GMTgitgiteaself-hosteddevopssuhenggui@gmail.comhttps://homelabspot.com/blog/home-assistant-smart-home/https://homelabspot.com/blog/home-assistant-smart-home/A practical guide to setting up Home Assistant for a self-hosted smart home, with Docker config, device integration, and the mistakes I made.Tue, 08 Sep 2026 00:00:00 GMThome-assistantsmart-homeself-hostediotsuhenggui@gmail.comhttps://homelabspot.com/blog/self-hosted-nas-nextcloud/https://homelabspot.com/blog/self-hosted-nas-nextcloud/A practical guide to setting up a self-hosted NAS and Nextcloud private cloud, with Docker, Samba shares, and the mistakes I made.Tue, 01 Sep 2026 00:00:00 GMTnasnextcloudsambaself-hostedsuhenggui@gmail.comhttps://homelabspot.com/blog/self-hosted-rss-reader-miniflux/https://homelabspot.com/blog/self-hosted-rss-reader-miniflux/A practical guide to self-hosting Miniflux, a fast and minimal RSS reader, with Postgres setup, keyboard shortcuts, and the reasons I moved off cloud readers.Tue, 25 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMTrssminifluxself-hostedproductivitysuhenggui@gmail.comhttps://homelabspot.com/blog/review-uptime-kuma/https://homelabspot.com/blog/review-uptime-kuma/An honest review of Uptime Kuma after running it for 6 months — what's great, what broke, and who should skip it.Thu, 20 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMTuptime-kumamonitoringself-hostedreviewsuhenggui@gmail.com