A start page looks like a trivial thing to build, which is why there are dozens of them and why so many are abandoned.
Updated 2026-10-03 · 8 options compared
The short answer
Homepage if you want live widgets — CPU, disk, container state, download queues — rather than just links. Dashy if you want the most customisable visual layout. Homer if you want one YAML file and no moving parts. All three are maintained; the choice is taste plus how much you value your time.
A start page looks like a trivial thing to build, which is why there are dozens of them and why so many are abandoned. The question that separates the survivors is not how they look in a screenshot but whether they still work after a year of updates, and whether adding a service takes thirty seconds or an evening. This list is ordered with that in mind, and it deliberately excludes projects whose last commit was years ago.
| # | Tool | License | Setup | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Homepage | GPL-3.0 | Beginner | A busy homelab where you want live status, not just links. |
| 2 | Dashy | MIT | Beginner | People who want the most control over layout and appearance. |
| 3 | Homarr | MIT | Beginner | A quick, visual dashboard you can arrange without editing files. |
| 4 | Homer | Apache-2.0 | Beginner | A dead-simple, permanent start page that cannot break. |
| 5 | Glance | AGPL-3.0 | Beginner | An information-dense page that surfaces feeds and status together. |
| 6 | Heimdall | MIT | Beginner | A stable, integration-rich start page. |
| 7 | Dashdot | MIT | Beginner | A live resource-usage display, especially on a wall screen. |
| 8 | Cockpit | LGPL-2.1 | Beginner | Web-based administration of a Linux server rather than a link hub. |
There are really two products here. A *start page* is a set of links with icons — pure configuration, no integration, very low risk. A *dashboard* also queries your services and shows live state: is the container up, how full is the disk, how many items are queued. If you only need the first, a static option like Homer will never surprise you. If you want the second, Homepage is the current best answer for the breadth of its service integrations, and the effort it saves is exactly the effort of checking five web interfaces every morning.
Best for: A busy homelab where you want live status, not just links.
The best integration depth available: it can read live data from Docker, Proxmox, qBittorrent, Sonarr, Radarr, Jellyfin, and dozens more, so the dashboard tells you what is actually happening rather than listing links. Configuration is YAML in a directory, which means it survives backups and can be edited in your normal editor.
Replaces: Homer, Dashy, Organizr
Best for: People who want the most control over layout and appearance.
The most flexible layout engine here — sections, subsections, multiple pages, many widget types, several themes — and it is comfortable being configured either through YAML or a visual editor. If your idea of a dashboard is closer to a designed control panel than an auto-generated list, this is the one that gets out of your way.
Replaces: Homer, Homarr, Heimdall
Best for: A quick, visual dashboard you can arrange without editing files.
Drag-and-drop layout with useful integrations, and a lower configuration barrier than living in YAML. It has broadened its service integration considerably, which makes it a reasonable middle path between Homer's simplicity and Homepage's depth.
Replaces: Homer, Dashy, Homepage
Best for: A dead-simple, permanent start page that cannot break.
A single static page defined by one YAML file, with no backend, no database and essentially nothing that can break. That minimalism is a genuine feature: it will still work in five years. Listed high because dependability deserves weight in a tool whose whole job is to be the first thing you open.
Replaces: Heimdall, Dashy, Homepage
Best for: An information-dense page that surfaces feeds and status together.
A newer, deliberately opinionated take that merges links with feed and status widgets — recent releases, unread counts, system metrics — into one dense page. It is less about arranging tiles than about surfacing what changed since you last looked, which is a genuinely different and often more useful premise.
Replaces: Homer, Dashy, Heimdall
Best for: A stable, integration-rich start page.
Long-standing, integration-rich and stable, with per-application widgets and a mature feature set. It is no longer the fastest-moving project in the category, but it is dependable, which for a start page may matter more than novelty.
Replaces: Homer, Homarr, Organizr
Best for: A live resource-usage display, especially on a wall screen.
Does one thing: a modern, attractive display of live server resource metrics — CPU, memory, disk, network, GPU. If you want a wall display or a homelab status screen rather than a link hub, this is lighter and better-looking than repurposing a general dashboard.
Replaces: Netdata, Glances, Cockpit
Best for: Web-based administration of a Linux server rather than a link hub.
Not a start page at all, but the thing you actually need once you run a Linux server: browser-based administration for services, storage, networking, logs and users. Included because many people reach for a dashboard when what they want is remote administration.
Replaces: Webmin, Portainer, cPanel