CasaOS

What is CasaOS?

CasaOS is an open-source personal cloud system that turns a home server or mini PC into an easy-to-use app platform. It offers a friendly interface for installing self-hosted apps, managing storage and monitoring the device.

Best for

Home server beginners who want a friendly app installer

Why choose CasaOS

CasaOS is aimed squarely at the person who bought a mini PC or an old laptop to run a few apps and does not want to learn Docker Compose to do it. It gives you an app store where services install with a click, a simple home screen for the ones you run, and basic disk and system monitoring — the parts of a personal cloud that most people actually touch. It is a friendly front door to self-hosting rather than a replacement for understanding it.

Replaces

• Unraid
• OpenMediaVault
• TrueNAS

Key features

• One-click app store for self-hosted apps
• Storage and drive management
• System monitoring dashboard
• Runs on mini PCs and old hardware

What to watch out for

Do not mistake the friendly interface for a full NAS operating system. CasaOS runs on top of a normal Linux install rather than replacing it, so underneath you still have a general-purpose machine with all the usual responsibilities. If you later want RAID, proper snapshots or enterprise storage features, you will have outgrown it and should be looking at TrueNAS or Unraid instead. The project also has a commercial side, and some of the polished pieces — remote access, mobile apps — connect to that vendor's services.

How to deploy

• Install script

Getting started

Start from a clean, supported Linux install on the machine that will host it, then run the official one-line installer. Give the box a static IP or DHCP reservation before anything else, because every bookmark and client config you set up afterwards will depend on it. Put your app data on the biggest disk you have and check what the default data path is — moving it later is possible but dull. Treat the one-click apps as a starting point: read the container's default settings before exposing anything to the internet, and add authentication of your own.

Typical setup

The intended home is a cheap mini PC, an old laptop or a single-board computer sitting quietly on a shelf, with one big disk attached for the application data. Users typically start with the one-click app store, add two or three services, and then begin installing containers by hand as they outgrow the catalogue. Most installations sit on the home network and are reached through a VPN or a reverse proxy rather than being exposed directly.

Who should look elsewhere

Avoid it if your ambition is a proper storage server with RAID, snapshots and data integrity features, because you will outgrow this within months and redoing the setup is the expensive part. It is also a poor fit for anyone who intends to expose services publicly: the interface is friendly towards you, and equally friendly towards anyone else who reaches it.

Project health

• GitHub stars: 37,288
• Last code push: 2026-09-28
• Open issues: 839
• Status: actively developed

Figures pulled from the GitHub API and refreshed periodically.