Top 8 Homelab Services for Beginners
Starting your homelab journey? These eight services provide the essential foundation — from file storage to monitoring, automation, and AI capabilities.
Building a homelab can feel overwhelming with hundreds of services to choose from. Start with these eight essentials that provide maximum value with minimal complexity. All are available in better-openclaw for one-command deployment.
1. Caddy — Reverse Proxy
Automatic HTTPS, simple configuration, and clean URLs for all your services. Every homelab needs a reverse proxy, and Caddy is the easiest to set up.
2. Uptime Kuma — Monitoring
Beautiful uptime monitoring for all your services. Get notifications on Slack, Discord, or email when something goes down. Simple, lightweight, and effective.
3. Portainer — Container Management
Visual Docker management in your browser. View logs, start/stop containers, and manage resources without memorizing CLI commands.
4. Nextcloud — File Storage
Your own Dropbox/Google Drive. File sync, calendar, contacts, and office suite — all self-hosted. The gateway service for most homelabbers.
5. Vaultwarden — Password Manager
A lightweight Bitwarden-compatible server. Store all your passwords self-hosted with browser extensions, mobile apps, and auto-fill.
6–8: Ollama, n8n, Grafana
Add AI capability with Ollama (local LLMs), automation with n8n (workflows), and visibility with Grafana (dashboards). These three turn a basic homelab into a powerful AI-capable infrastructure. Use npx create-better-openclaw --preset minimal --yes to start small and grow.