Homepage Hosting

How Homepage works

Homepage reads configuration files for service groups, bookmarks, information widgets, settings, and optional infrastructure integrations. The resulting page arranges links and live data into a responsive dashboard that can act as the front door to a homelab or internal service collection. Widgets query supported applications and systems through configured URLs and credentials, while ordinary bookmarks remain simple navigation entries.

The catalogue persists /app/config and sets HOMEPAGE_ALLOWED_HOSTS to the application hostname. It does not enable Homepage authentication variables. Although current upstream Homepage supports an optional password or OIDC gate, this package starts without that configuration, so anyone who can reach the address may see the dashboard and any information exposed by its widgets.

Key Homepage features

Homepage supports many documented service widgets, plus information components such as search, date and time, weather, resources, and greetings. Each live widget depends on the corresponding external service, network route, API, permissions, and credentials. The hosted package does not include those services or generate their API keys, and failures or version changes can make an individual widget unavailable.

Dashboard configuration may contain sensitive internal hostnames, service descriptions, API tokens, or operational data. Operators should enable a suitable access control before exposing it publicly and should scope every widget credential to the minimum required permissions. A dashboard is a view into other systems, not a substitute for their own authentication, monitoring, or administrative controls.

Who uses Homepage

Homelab users group media, storage, network, and automation services; technical teams publish a controlled internal launch page; and administrators combine bookmarks with selected health or resource indicators. A simple dashboard can reduce the need to remember many service addresses.

Homepage is not an identity provider, secrets manager, monitoring system, service catalogue with approvals, or network security boundary. It should not be used to expose administrative links or widget credentials to an audience that has not been authorised for the underlying services.

Self-hosting Homepage: requirements and cost

Homepage resource use is shaped by simultaneous viewers, number of configured widgets, external API response time, refresh frequency, images, and proxy traffic. PostgreSQL and MariaDB are Not required; the persistent /app/config volume stores the dashboard files. The software adds no separate application charge, while a large widget-heavy page can generate repeated outbound requests to many external systems.

On AvaHost, Homepage uses Plan 1 at €2. The hosted Homepage package includes one-click deployment, a custom domain with automated HTTPS, automatic application updates, and scheduled backups. The package persists configuration and sets the allowed hostname but does not enable Homepage password or OIDC authentication, create external service accounts, supply widget credentials, or secure the linked systems. Configure access before publishing sensitive links or operational data and keep secrets out of broadly readable configuration.