Home Server reviews from Reddit
Summary
We analyzed 138 Reddit reviews across 18 subreddits and 63 posts to rank the best Home Server brands recommended by redditors, including communities like r/HomeServer, r/homelab, r/selfhosted, r/linux4noobs, r/frigate_nvr. Top-rated brands include Intel (4.4/5), Synology (4.6/5), TrueNAS (4.4/5).
Stats
Reviews138
Subreddits18
Posts63
Brands68
Products55
138 reviews from
and
By Brand
/By Product
#1
Intel
4.4
(14)
"I picked up a new i5-12600KF for $100 on sale and built a new proxmox node for gaming servers. Handles everything I throw at it, runs cool and quiet."
"For transcoding, you cannot do better than the Intel arc cards."
"For encode/decode/transcode you cannot do better than the Intel arc cards, period."
"I just got a 13500TE, should idle down pretty low."
"I chose intel 14100. It’s more than enough."
"Look on your local markets for an i3/i5 6th-9th Gen Intel CPU in an old office PC. You can find them for between $50-$150"
"Think about an Intel 6th gen i7 or better."
"I just got a 13500TE, should idle down pretty low."
"Sticking with intel for its quick sync hardware transcoding support is the right move."
"Intel NUC."
#2
Synology
4.6
(9)
"Gampang banget sih setupnya, ngikut tutorial youtube 15 menit jg udah jadi"
"Beli aja prebuilt synology or any NAS enclosure"
"Get a 2 bay Synology, or even a Beestation."
"Synology Photos"
"Look up synology Nas. I have ds220+ 4TB raid."
"Have a Synology NAS and use the Synology Photos app, which works great."
"Look into a small two bay Nas like a DS223 which would be plenty for the amount of data you're working with."
"I’ve got an old Synology 716+II with coral for 10 2k cameras and it’s again ok."
"I don’t know much about it, but you might look at the BeeStation line from Synology."
#3
TrueNAS
4.4
(7)
"TrueNAS core is the best free nas software."
"So i made a private icloud server, matx with lsi 9207 8i and 8 3 TB WD Red plus (CMR)..."
"Something running 24/7, get an old i5 with multiple sata ports and run truenas."
"I'd like to try jellyfish, proxmox and TrueNas instead of OMV."
"Use a NAS distro - TrueNAS, OpenMediaVault and owncloud are obvious candidates."
"I'd take a stab at something like truenas which you could install as is on the old gaming computer."
"Look at TrueNAS CORE & Unraid, and other similar appliance OS."
#4
Dell
4.3
(7)
"I am running frigate as a home assistant add-on on a Dell 9020 micro which has a 4th generation Intel processor."
"I have a Dell Optiplex 5080 i7 SFF desktop running Proxmox, and it's relatively quiet."
"You can always start with an Optiplex or NUC, cheap, reliable, low power draw. I really like Proxmox, it makes managing your server so much easier and safer."
"You could probably fit the bill with some Dell Optiplex or similar if you want to keep it small and compact."
"I would suggest that if this is your first home server then start with low end hardware"
"For hardware, you could get used dell optiplex and a 8TB hdd for under 400."
"I would suggest building a home server using a low-budget OEM SFF or Tower PC, like Dell Optiplex 3050."
#5
unRAID
4.7
(6)
"Unraid is by far the easiest option. I know the initial cost may put some people off but in my opinion is well worth it."
"I went with Unraid because everyone says it is beginner friendly. It has been just that."
"I find that for this kind of stuff it's hard to beat Unraid."
"I recommend unraid, its not free but its worth the price."
"Instead of using several VMs, I would just install a Nas Hypervisor like truenas or unRAID and run everything on it, via docker or Kubernetes."
"Honestly I’ve been using unraid for at least for movies and docker."
#6
N100
3.7
(6)
"I recommend a miniPC with an N100 CPU. You can get them for about 150.- on Amazon with a 512GB SSD and 16 GB Ram."
"An N100 box for $150 would be the sweet spot in terms of power and efficiency."
"N100 is great, but I just scored a barebone Ryzen 5 4500U."
"N100 is a good cpu. As another commenter said, you can run a lot of services on it."
"Look at fanless N100 machines."
"Not impressed by 14W, even if partly it was on meh cheapo power supply."
#7
Lenovo
4.4
(5)
"You convinced me, I just ordered the Lenovo 430. Thanks!"
"Lenovo M900 Tiny, plenty used on ebay for cheap."
"I recommend you buy a 5 pack of decent fans like arctic p12, to replace the installed ones..."
"I find that used 1 liter PCs make great servers."
"I'm using an old Lenovo m920x (8th gen i5) for Plex and that's fast enough."
#8
Proxmox
4.0
(4)
"Proxmox is a solid option since you can build upon it by adding VMs. It's free and you have nothing to lose by trying it."
"I'd like to try jellyfish, proxmox and TrueNas instead of OMV."
"Not an expert but recommended Proxmox > Ubuntu Server VM > Docker > Immich, other services."
"I just virtualize everything on proxmox."
#9
HP
4.0
(4)
"I was contemplating picking up a HP EliteDesk 800 G4 SFF from marketplace for a good price."
"Honestly I would look at a mini N100 PC. They are inexpensive and can transcode well in Plex."
"I've got an ancient HP EliteDesk 800 Mini from about 2016 as a Proxmox server."
"It handles five 4mp/QHD streams and three 8mp/4k streams and CPU hovers around 30%."
#10
Wyse 5070
4.7
(3)
"More powerful than pi and you can use it for many other things. I have one and I am super happy with it"
"I use one dedicated to Plex/Jellyfin, and have no issues. They run cool, fanless, and barely sip any power."
"I also recommend the Dell Wyse 5070, just check if the processor listed has Intel QuickSync if you care about video transcoding."
#11
Nextcloud
4.7
(3)
"I'm using NextCloud for files (+ calendar and tasks) but you should really use Immich for photos. It's 1000x better."
"Nextcloud is great as a file manager, and for image backup."
"Nextcloud might be what you need, but do yourself a favour and think about backups or redundancy."
#12
AMD
4.7
(3)
"Another commenter mentioned the 5950X, I see they're under $350 these days and have plenty of cores for MC as well as the single core performance you need for game servers."
"A used 5950x would be a good choice, 16 cores vs your 6 with a solid single core performance improvement."
"I went with AMD for the ECC support at the price point."
#13
Raspberry Pi
4.3
(3)
"I would recommend RaspberryPi for your project."
"If you want to go as low as possible with power usage, a raspberry or single board computer is the way to go."
"I would exchange it for a raspberry pi 3 or 4 doing the same stuff for less electricity consumption."
#14
immich
5.0
(2)
"Can highly recommend immich if you want to self host."
"If you're confident running your own server look at immich.app."
#15
Immich
5.0
(2)
"You should really use Immich for photos. It's 1000x better."
"Because for pictures you can look into something like Immich."
#16
SyncThing
4.5
(2)
"Install syncthing on your main machine, and on your phone."
"Try SyncThing and it is Open Source."
#17
Beelink
4.5
(2)
"A Beelink Mini S12 plus an SSD would be about right for you."
"I would go with some thing like a refurbishment corp. pc from Amazon, you can find them with with an i5 or better."
#18
Dell Optiplex
4.0
(2)
"A good deal on a used office machine should work. Browse Facebook marketplace for an optiplex/something similar."
"Go for a dell optiplex. They are cheap on eBay."
#19
Jellyfin
4.0
(2)
"For you main question, I personally use Jellyfin. It’s easy to setup and consistently works great and is open source."
"Any SFF PC you can get from ewaste is a good choice. I like Jellyfin."
#20
Xpenology
4.0
(2)
"Saya pribadi pake xpenology, awalnya buat mau tau synology gmn, tp ya dipakein ke pc biasa juga ok, udah hampir 7 tahun pake."
"If you are building your own server, then xpenology, unraid or truenas are all options to use."
#21
Odroid
4.0
(2)
"For something small and simple for max 4 drives check out odroid h4."
"Look into an Odroid H3+. SBC can Take Up to 64GB of ram."
#22
NAS
3.5
(2)
"Build your own NAS using second-hand parts."
"Don’t buy a NAS second hand IMO."
#23
BookStack
5.0
(1)
"I use BookStack for all of my documentation for my homelab."
#24
ZeroTier
5.0
(1)
"+1 for ZeroTier! I've used it for several years now both for home projects."
#25
HP EliteDesk 800 G4 SFF
5.0
(1)
"A HP EliteDesk 800 G4 SFF would be a better fit than that workstation, it'll use much less power and won't need a GPU for transcoding."
#26
Amazon Prime
5.0
(1)
"Amazon Prime for example offers unlimited photo storage, so that might be useful for some users."
#27
Docker
5.0
(1)
"I'm using Docker, not VMs, though."
#28
RAM
5.0
(1)
"Go for 1 stick of 32 GB of ram or a dual channel of 64gb total with 2 free slots on motherboard."
#29
Resilio
5.0
(1)
"Look at Resilio Sync. iPhones are weird, so there's a trick."
#30
Fractal Design
5.0
(1)
"I have a server I built in a Fractal Design Node 804 with an i5 14500."
#31
Wyse
5.0
(1)
"A Wyse 5070 has no fans. Totally silent."
#32
SuperMicro
5.0
(1)
"I can highly recommend the SuperMicro 4124GS-TNR for that. Brilliant system."
#33
HP or Dell
5.0
(1)
"I really would advise buying second hand HP or Dell enterprise machines. They are energy efficient, well documented and simply great."
#34
BeeLink
5.0
(1)
"$160 shipped is the BeeLink S12 Pro 4-Core N100 Mini PC with 16G Ram."
#35
N305
5.0
(1)
"I have all of my Frigate stuff running on a basic N305 minipc server."
#36
OpenSSH
4.0
(1)
"Or do you just run yours headless with OpenSSH?"
#37
Mini PCs
4.0
(1)
"Look at mini PCs if you want something small and cheap with decent performance."
#38
CubeCoders
4.0
(1)
"Take a look at AMP from CubeCoders."
#39
Coral
4.0
(1)
"The load that a Coral takes off the cpu is huge in regards to detection load."
#40
Plex
4.0
(1)
"Plex also works great and looks great, but some."
#41
DIY NAS
4.0
(1)
"As someone who has a DIY nas gw saranin prebuilt aja, cuma riset dulu dikit yg best value yg mana."
#42
Dell/HP Workstation
4.0
(1)
"I would suggest grabbing a used dell/hp workstation off of eBay and adding a hard drive."
#43
Asrock
4.0
(1)
"Runs gitlab and a couple runners neatly for more than 2 years."
#44
PC
4.0
(1)
"Get a 1L PC. They sip power at idle but have some power when need be."
#45
Ultra.cc
4.0
(1)
"Get a cloud hoster like ultra.cc which can run sonarr/radarr/etc."
#46
Emby
4.0
(1)
"You could try emby or plex."
#47
Debian
4.0
(1)
"I ended up using Debian and installed QbitTorrent and Minidlna."
#48
AliExpress Integrated NAS Motherboard
4.0
(1)
"Buy an integrated nas MOBO from AliExpress with an n100 Intel chip."
#49
TrueNAS Scale
4.0
(1)
"I found that TrueNAS Scale was a better choice for me than OMV."
#50
Intel Core i5-10400
4.0
(1)
"If you are wanting to run multiple 4k transcoding streams, you are going to want to look at making another system."
#51
QNAP
4.0
(1)
"If you are willing to flex on the Android and Windows gaming, a QNAP type NAS should work for you."
#52
TerraMaster
4.0
(1)
"I have a Terramaster external USB enclosure that holds up to 4 drives."
#53
ASRock
4.0
(1)
"It's a great Case and really small. You will only need SSD, CPU and Ram."
#54
HP EliteDesk
4.0
(1)
"I have a HP Elitedesk 800 G4 Mini PC Core I5-8500 with 32gb Ram."
#55
HP ProDesk
4.0
(1)
"The HP ProDesk 400 G6 looks like it would be the best fit for your requirements."
#56
Intel NUC
4.0
(1)
"Look into mini PCs. You can get small systems like Intel NUC or Lenovo ThinkCentre Tiny."
#57
Refurbished desktop PCs
4.0
(1)
"Refurbished desktop PCs w/ 8-32GB of RAM and at least a dual-core CPU."
#58
Laptop
4.0
(1)
"I actually think a laptop is a good option because sooner or later something goes wrong."
#59
Linode
4.0
(1)
"One possible idea is to turn up a cloud instance; with perhaps something like Linode or Digital Ocean."
#60
Mini PC
4.0
(1)
"Definitely self hosting, I would choose a mini PC for that, it will consume much less power."
#61
S12 Pro N100
4.0
(1)
"If you HAVE to choose between these two go with the S12."
#62
SER5 Pro
4.0
(1)
"I recently picked up an SER5 Pro from Amazon pretty cheaply and it should work for you if you are looking for a budget device."
#63
Used PC
4.0
(1)
"Get a used PC from known brands with an i3 8100 and 16GB of ram."
#64
Seeed Studio
4.0
(1)
"I got one of these for about $350 shipped on sale."
#65
Old Desktop PC
3.0
(1)
"I’d start with an old desktop PC with room for 3-4 drives."
#66
Intel Core i3-10th Gen
3.0
(1)
"Bare minimum I would say an i3 10th gen or higher would suffice."
#67
Acemagic
3.0
(1)
"If you have a low-power setup, the Acemagic AK1 with a N95 CPU should be able to handle simple chores and storing files."
#68
Orico DAS
2.0
(1)
"When I was shopping around for one, I found that people had horrible experiences with that brand and that specific model."
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