r/homelab

Community Overview
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reddit.com/r/homelab/
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About r/homelab

Welcome to your friendly /r/homelab, where techies and sysadmin from everywhere are welcome to share their labs, projects, builds, etc.

The community at a glance

r/homelab is a Subreddit for DevOps Engineers, Programmers, and Self-Hosters with roughly 1.1M members. It has been around since 2012. It has both a forum and a live chat communication style. On the Hive Index it ranks #1 in the Self-Hosting communities list and #4 in the DevOps communities list.

Roughly 233K members have joined in the past year. Popular discussion topics include Homelab, Server, and Storage. Common discussion themes are Solution Requests and Advice Requests. Product recommendations often mention ups, homelab, and switch.

On Reddit
Established 2012
1.1M Members

Community Topics

Community Features

Forum

This community has a forum

Chat

Only 9% of Self-Hosting communities have live chat

This community has a realtime chat

Subreddit Analysis

via GummySearch
Yearly: +233K members
Growth: +26.6% / year

Member growth over time

All time (yearly)

  • 2013: 5K members
  • 2014: 10K members
  • 2015: 12K members
  • 2016: 25K members
  • 2017: 43K members
  • 2018: 54K members
  • 2019: 94K members
  • 2020: 126K members
  • 2021: 95K members
  • 2023: 161K members
  • 2024: 115K members
  • 2025: 177K members
  • 2026: 190K members

Past year (monthly)

  • Nov: 19K members
  • Dec: 18K members
  • Jan: 19K members
  • Feb: 18K members
  • Mar: 35K members
  • Apr: 18K members
  • May: 18K members
  • Jun: 18K members
  • Jul: 18K members
  • Aug: 20K members
  • Sep: 16K members
  • Oct: 10K members

Themes

  • Solution Requests
    15 posts in the past month
    1. Anyone have the physical v-color RAM box for a return I can have?
    2. Private Cloud Platform Testing
    3. 40TB Mini NAS
    #1
    Solution Requests
    Anyone have the physical v-color RAM box for a return I can have? · Private Cloud Platform Testing · 40TB Mini NAS
    15
  • Advice Requests
    14 posts in the past month
    1. Help with homelab design
    2. 3-2-1 Backup Strategy
    3. Why aren't 12V DC UPs more common?
    #2
    Advice Requests
    Help with homelab design · 3-2-1 Backup Strategy · Why aren't 12V DC UPs more common?
    14
  • Ideas
    2 posts in the past month
    1. Perhaps Homelab Adjacent - DIY Portable FTP server for camera backup.
    2. I'm thinking of building a home storage server
    #3
    Ideas
    Perhaps Homelab Adjacent - DIY Portable FTP server for camera backup. · I'm thinking of building a home storage server
    2
  • Pain & Anger
    1 post in the past month
    1. DNS/Reverse Proxy/SSO Stack - I'm going insane
    #4
    Pain & Anger
    DNS/Reverse Proxy/SSO Stack - I'm going insane
    1
  • Self-Promotion
    1 post in the past month
    1. Lavix Vault: A Private, Self-Hosted AI Vault with Encryption, RAG, and SearXNG Search
    #5
    Self-Promotion
    Lavix Vault: A Private, Self-Hosted AI Vault with Encryption, RAG, and SearXNG Search
    1

Topics

  • Homelab
    19 posts in the past month
    #1
    Homelab
    19
  • Server
    11 posts in the past month
    #2
    Server
    11
  • Storage
    10 posts in the past month
    #3
    Storage
    10
  • Hardware
    7 posts in the past month
    #4
    Hardware
    7
  • Nas
    7 posts in the past month
    #5
    Nas
    7

Flair

  • Help
    44 posts in the past month
    1. Anyone have the physical v-color RAM box for a return I can have?
    2. Are there specific clips to use with adding a fan to passive heatsinks that came with the motherboard I got? Manual doesn't really specify anything particular, I'd measure but I'm not sure if anything generic works to clip a fan to the heatsink.
    3. How much AI is too much?
    #1
    Help
    Anyone have the physical v-color RAM box for a return I can have? · Are there specific clips to use with adding a fan to passive heatsinks that came with the motherboard I got? Manual doesn't really specify anything particular, I'd measure but I'm not sure if anything generic works to clip a fan to the heatsink. · How much AI is too much?
    44
  • Discussion
    19 posts in the past month
    1. Finaly building a purpose built lab
    2. Looking for a new L2/L3 switch. Is one company worse than the other (Unifi, TP-Link, Mikrotik...)
    3. What type of monitoring and alerting do you have for threat detection for your homelab?
    #2
    Discussion
    Finaly building a purpose built lab · Looking for a new L2/L3 switch. Is one company worse than the other (Unifi, TP-Link, Mikrotik...) · What type of monitoring and alerting do you have for threat detection for your homelab?
    19
  • Project Showcase: Hardware
    15 posts in the past month
    1. little upgrade
    2. A little upgrade to the Rack With a Sea View
    3. Perhaps Homelab Adjacent - DIY Portable FTP server for camera backup.
    #3
    Project Showcase: Hardware
    little upgrade · A little upgrade to the Rack With a Sea View · Perhaps Homelab Adjacent - DIY Portable FTP server for camera backup.
    15
  • Project Showcase: Software - Mostly AI Generated
    7 posts in the past month
    1. Threat-hunt your selfhosted logs in 10 minutes
    2. Lavix Vault: A Private, Self-Hosted AI Vault with Encryption, RAG, and SearXNG Search
    3. AGMS Multy System Management
    #4
    Project Showcase: Software - Mostly AI Generated
    Threat-hunt your selfhosted logs in 10 minutes · Lavix Vault: A Private, Self-Hosted AI Vault with Encryption, RAG, and SearXNG Search · AGMS Multy System Management
    7
  • Blog
    1 post in the past month
    1. First Tests of Steam Deck Home Server
    #5
    Blog
    First Tests of Steam Deck Home Server
    1

Product recommendations

  • ups
    4 posts in the past month
    1. Best buys for a rack-mount UPS?
    2. Best All-Around mid-range UPS
    3. Best way to integrate a UPS?
    #1
    ups
    Best buys for a rack-mount UPS? · Best All-Around mid-range UPS · Best way to integrate a UPS?
    4
  • homelab
    4 posts in the past month
    1. Is this the best way to start my homelab journey?
    2. Best way to access a homelab from outside the network?
    3. Best way to access a homelab from outside the network?
    #2
    homelab
    Is this the best way to start my homelab journey? · Best way to access a homelab from outside the network? · Best way to access a homelab from outside the network?
    4
  • switch
    4 posts in the past month
    1. How I Chose the Best Managed Network Switch for My Home Lab
    2. Can anyone recommend a 8 port managed 2.5gb switch?
    3. Cheap 1G Cisco Managed Switch Recs
    #3
    switch
    How I Chose the Best Managed Network Switch for My Home Lab · Can anyone recommend a 8 port managed 2.5gb switch? · Cheap 1G Cisco Managed Switch Recs
    4
  • nas
    3 posts in the past month
    1. Looking for best nas/plex path with optiplex 9020 usff and 2 20tb seagate expansion
    2. Recommend a Cheap 2-bay NAS?
    3. Super basic / budget NAS setup recs?
    #4
    nas
    Looking for best nas/plex path with optiplex 9020 usff and 2 20tb seagate expansion · Recommend a Cheap 2-bay NAS? · Super basic / budget NAS setup recs?
    3
  • hypervisor
    3 posts in the past month
    1. Best OS for hypervisor, using the VMs interatively?
    2. Best OS for hypervisor, using the VMs interatively?
    3. What is best option for hypervisor platform on laptop / wifi?
    #5
    hypervisor
    Best OS for hypervisor, using the VMs interatively? · Best OS for hypervisor, using the VMs interatively? · What is best option for hypervisor platform on laptop / wifi?
    3
View full analysis on GummySearchSynced 10/15/2026

Frequently asked questions

Who is r/homelab for?
Best for DevOps Engineers and Programmers and Self-Hosters enthusiasts looking for a Reddit-based community with forum discussion, live chat.
Is r/homelab free to join?
This listing is not marked as paid-only. Access rules and any fees are decided by the community.
How many members does r/homelab have?
Roughly 1.1M members, based on figures reported by the community or its host. Member counts are approximate and change over time.
What platform is r/homelab on?
r/homelab runs on Reddit. Reddit communities (or "subreddits") are forum-based groups on the popular social news aggregation, web content rating, and discussion website Reddit. Reddit is commonly known as "the front page of the internet". Users submit content to the site such as links, text posts, and images, which are then voted up or down and discussed by other members. From investing Reddit communities, to professional ones, to ones just for laughs, you're likely to find a community for you on Reddit.
What topics does r/homelab cover?
On the Hive Index, r/homelab is organized under DevOps Engineers, Programmers, Self-Hosters.
How do I join r/homelab?
You can join r/homelab by clicking this link, or pressing the "Go to community" button above.
What are the DevOps communities like?
Communities for DevOps engineers and platform teams covering CI/CD, cloud infrastructure, Kubernetes, and site reliability. Discord and Slack host active practitioner communities, with discussion ranging from tool comparisons and troubleshooting to career paths and on-call culture.
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Monthly Stats

67
Views /mo
(+18%)
62
Visitors /mo
(+44%)
10
Referrals /mo
(-17%)

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