HomeioDockge is deliberately narrow: compose files in, running stacks out, with a clean editor and live output. That is the right tool until the day you need to check a disk, mount a drive, schedule a job or restore last week's state. Homeio keeps the Compose model and adds the server around it.
Dockge is deliberately small. People look elsewhere when they want an app catalog, several hosts, or the server itself managed too.
Open source (AGPL-3.0) · Debian, Ubuntu, Raspberry Pi OS or Docker
Keeps the compose model (paste a compose file or a docker run command) and adds an app store, a shell inside every container, files, disks, Samba, scheduled image pulls, backups and a full server terminal.
Best for: One server where the stacks are only part of the job.
Open source (zlib) · one container, agents for more hosts
The best-known container console: stacks, containers, images, networks and volumes, with templates and several environments. Heavier than Dockge, and some features sit in the paid edition.
Best for: Fine-grained container work across a few hosts.
Open source (GPL-3.0) · core plus agents
Stacks from git repositories, builds, deployments and alerts across many servers. The step up when Dockge's agents are not enough.
Best for: A homelab with several Docker hosts and git-managed stacks.
Open source (GPL-3.0) · install script on Linux
An app store rather than a compose editor: pick an app, click install, get updates. You write less compose and control less of it.
Best for: Installing popular apps without writing compose files.
Open source (MIT) · terminal app
A terminal interface for containers, logs and compose projects. Nothing listens on the network.
Best for: Managing stacks over SSH.
| Need | In Homeio |
|---|---|
| Edit and run a stack | Edit the compose file in place, then redeploy. Live output while it pulls and starts. Dockge: the same, and it is what Dockge is best at. |
| Start a new service | Pick it from the catalog and fill in the form, or paste your own compose file or docker run command. Dockge: write the compose file, or convert a docker run command. |
| A shell in a container | Open in Terminal on an app opens a shell inside its container (script install, 1.10.2 and later). Dockge has an interactive container shell too. |
| Is the disk filling up | Disk, CPU, memory and network on the desktop, updated live, with a disk alert at a threshold you set (90% by default). Dockge shows no host metrics. |
| Scheduled maintenance | Cron tasks for image pulls, restarts, scripts and backups, with a notification on failure. Dockge has no scheduler. |
| Files and drives | A file manager with editor and previews, Samba shares, SMB mounts, USB drives, and partitioning and formatting in Settings. |
| More than one host | One host. Dockge can manage other hosts through agents. |
| Footprint | Node and PostgreSQL. The Docker install caps the container at 1 GB of memory. Dockge is a single, lighter container. |
Dockge keeps each stack as a folder in /opt/stacks, so moving them is copying a compose file.
See which stacks Dockge manages.
ls /opt/stacks
docker compose lsInstall Homeio on the same host.
curl -fsSL https://get.homeio.app | sudo bashFor each stack, stop it, then paste its compose file into a Homeio custom app. Relative bind mounts such as ./data resolve against the stack folder in Dockge, so change them to absolute paths (for example /opt/stacks/immich/data) before you paste.
cd /opt/stacks/immich && docker compose down
cat compose.yamlStart it from Homeio and check the logs window. Then schedule a weekly image pull in Scheduled Tasks, which Dockge does not do.
Only if you keep leaving Dockge for other tools. Dockge, from the author of Uptime Kuma, does one job: edit and run compose.yaml files in a browser. If you also SSH in to check disk space, mount a drive, restore a volume or set up a cron job, Homeio puts those next to the stacks. If you do not, Dockge is lighter and you should keep it.
It is smaller: one container with SQLite, where Homeio runs Node and PostgreSQL. Its stacks are plain folders in /opt/stacks that you can edit with any tool and it picks up. It can manage stacks on other hosts through agents, where Homeio manages one host. Both open an interactive shell inside a container, and Homeio's terminal is also a full shell on the server itself.
A catalog (the CasaOS app store, plus any sources you add) with install forms and update checks; a file manager with a Monaco editor; Samba shares, SMB mounts and USB drives; a partition manager; host and per-container metrics; a cron scheduler; weekly backups; two-factor login; and Tailscale and Cloudflare Tunnel in Settings.
Yes: paste a compose file, or a docker run command that Homeio converts to Compose, and it becomes a custom app you can edit, redeploy and, since 1.9.1, remove. Stacks Dockge already runs keep running; Homeio lists their containers read-only and does not touch them.
Yes. Homeio's Docker install listens on 12026, Dockge on 5001, and they manage separate stacks. Many people move stacks over one at a time.
It can pull new images for every stack on a cron schedule, and it notifies you if the run fails. The pull does not recreate containers, so the new version takes effect when you update or redeploy the app. That is deliberate: an unattended recreate is how a database container ends up on a major version you did not plan for.
Yes, it is open source under the AGPL-3.0; Dockge is MIT licensed. Since 1.9.5 it sends an anonymous ping twice a day with a random ID, the version and the platform, with public totals at homeio.app/stats; HOMEIO_TELEMETRY=false turns it off.
The demo needs no install. On a spare machine or a VM, the Docker install takes a few minutes and listens on port 12026, so it does not fight your current setup for port 80.