HomeioYunoHost turns a fresh Debian into a well-integrated server for a household or a small group, with SSO, shared accounts and email. The cost is its own packaging: an app has to be packaged before you can install it. Homeio runs anything with a Docker image, for a single admin, on the Linux you already have.
YunoHost's strength is integration: one account for every app, SSO and email. Some alternatives keep that idea; others trade it for Docker's catalog.
Open source (AGPL-3.0) · Debian, Ubuntu, Raspberry Pi OS or Docker
Any app with a Docker image, from the store or as a compose file, on the Debian you already have. It also runs the host: disks, Samba, scheduled tasks, backups, a full terminal and Cloudflare Tunnel or Tailscale. One admin account, no SSO.
Best for: One person running many apps, Docker-first.
Free for two apps, paid beyond · Ubuntu
The closest to YunoHost's integration, built on Docker: single sign-on across apps, email, automatic updates and backups, from a curated catalog.
Best for: A household or small team that wants SSO and email, and will pay for polish.
Open source (AGPL-3.0) · Debian
A Debian blend focused on privacy and running your own services, packaged by Debian itself. A smaller catalog than YunoHost, very low-maintenance.
Best for: Privacy-first services on a small board.
Docker-based · runs on an existing Linux
Docker apps behind a built-in reverse proxy, automatic HTTPS and an OpenID Connect provider with multi-factor login. The nearest Docker-based answer to YunoHost's SSO.
Best for: Docker apps with single sign-on, exposed on your domain.
Open source (GPL-3.0) · install script on Linux
A one-click Docker app store with a large catalog and little else, so it stays light.
Best for: Many apps, minimal setup.
| Need | In Homeio |
|---|---|
| Run an app nobody packaged | Paste its compose file or docker run command. It installs like any catalog app. YunoHost: package it yourself, or wait for one. |
| Accounts for the household | One admin account. Multi-user with roles is planned for 2.0. YunoHost: users, groups and SSO across apps. |
| Host your own email | Not built in. YunoHost ships a full mail stack. |
| Keep the OS you have | Installs on your current system, x86_64 or ARM64. YunoHost recommends a fresh, dedicated Debian. |
| Debug a failing app | Live container logs with level badges and keyword filter; restart or redeploy from the desktop. YunoHost: systemd services and their journal. |
| Recurring jobs | A cron scheduler for app restarts, image pulls, backups and scripts, with failure notifications. |
| Backups | Weekly archive of the database, /DATA and the compose stacks, restored from Settings. YunoHost has per-app and system backups built in. |
| Reach it from outside | Tailscale for the dashboard, Cloudflare Tunnel to publish single apps on your domain. YunoHost expects a domain and open ports, and manages certificates. |
YunoHost users usually want apps on a domain. With Homeio that goes through Cloudflare Tunnel, so there are no ports to open and no certificates to renew.
On a Debian 12 machine, install Homeio.
curl -fsSL https://get.homeio.app | sudo bashInstall the apps you used on YunoHost from the store (Nextcloud, Vaultwarden, FreshRSS and so on). If you saved their data, copy it into /DATA/AppData/<app> before starting each one.
In Settings → Integrations, connect Cloudflare with an API token for your domain. Then publish an app on a subdomain such as cloud.example.com: Homeio creates the DNS record and the tunnel rule.
Check from outside your network. Cloudflare serves HTTPS, and your router has no open ports.
curl -I https://cloud.example.comYunoHost installs apps as native Debian services from its own packaging scripts, with a shared user directory, single sign-on and an email server. Homeio runs every app as a Docker Compose stack and is built for one administrator. The practical question is whether you want the YunoHost ecosystem's integration or Docker's portability.
When several people need accounts, when you want one login across apps, or when you want to host your own email. YunoHost does all three out of the box. Homeio has one account and no SSO, and it does not run a mail server.
Coverage and speed. Any app with a Docker image can run in Homeio: paste its compose file or its docker run command. A new upstream version is available as soon as its image is published. On YunoHost, an app needs a package, and updates arrive when the package maintainer ships them. For popular apps that works well; for niche ones it can mean waiting or packaging it yourself.
Not as its app model. YunoHost apps are native Debian packages written for YunoHost, integrated with its accounts, SSO and backups. You can install Docker next to it, but those containers live outside YunoHost's management. If most of the apps you want ship as Docker images, a Docker-based manager such as Homeio, Cosmos or Runtipi is the more natural fit.
No. Homeio installs on an existing Debian, Ubuntu or Raspberry Pi OS system. YunoHost recommends a dedicated, fresh Debian because it configures Nginx, users, DNS and mail system-wide.
No. Each app keeps its own login. If you want SSO in front of your apps, Authelia or Authentik run fine as Compose apps; you wire them up yourself.
Both have backups built in. Homeio archives its database, everything under /DATA and your compose stacks weekly, keeps the last seven, and restores from Settings. Like YunoHost's local archives, they sit on the same machine until you copy them elsewhere.
A desktop-style file manager with a Monaco editor, Samba shares and SMB mounts, USB drives, a partition manager, live CPU, memory, disk and network metrics, a cron scheduler, two-factor login, and Tailscale and Cloudflare Tunnel in Settings.
Yes, and both use the same licence: Homeio and YunoHost are free software under the AGPL-3.0. Since 1.9.5, Homeio sends an anonymous ping twice a day, 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.