Homelab
Homelab and self-hosting tools and guides
Everything here is for people running their own gear at home, storage arrays, always-on servers, and the power and backup behind them. The calculators do the math you actually need before you buy or build, and the guides are the storage and cost calls I have made on my own rack, put plainly. Free, no signup.
Tools
RAID / ZFS / unRAID Storage Calculator Usable capacity, fault tolerance, and cost per TB across RAID 0/1/5/6/10, RAIDZ1/2/3, and unRAID. RAIDZ Calculator ZFS RAIDZ1/2/3 usable space, fault tolerance, and the real figure after ZFS padding and slop. SHR Calculator Synology SHR-1 and SHR-2 usable space from mixed drive sizes, plus the figure DSM actually reports. unRAID Calculator unRAID usable space with one or two parity disks and any mix of drive sizes, each disk kept full. RAIDZ Expansion Calculator Adding a drive to a RAIDZ vdev (OpenZFS 2.3+)? See the real usable space right after expanding, why it is less than the naive math, and what rewriting old data reclaims. Homelab Power & Electricity Cost Calculator Add your always-on devices, set your kWh rate, and see daily, monthly, and yearly electricity cost with a per-device breakdown. UPS Runtime & Sizing Calculator Estimate how long your UPS will run your gear, or work out what size UPS and battery you need for a target runtime. Subnet / CIDR Calculator Enter a network like 192.168.1.0/24 to get the mask, wildcard, network and broadcast, usable host range, host count, and split it into smaller subnets. Self-Hosting vs SaaS Cost Calculator Compare the real cost of self-hosting an app against the subscription. Enter the monthly fee, your hardware and power or a VPS, and get the break-even point and total over time.
Guides
Storage and RAID
- Which RAID should I use? Five questions, one straight recommendation, and what you give up with each level.
- RAID levels explained: 0, 1, 5, 6, 10 How RAID 0, 1, 5, 6, and 10 differ in redundancy, capacity, and speed.
- ZFS RAIDZ explained RAIDZ1 vs 2 vs 3, parity overhead, and which to pick.
- RAID vs unRAID How the two storage models differ, and when each fits.
- RAID rebuild risk and UREs Why single parity gets dangerous on large modern drives.
- Best NAS drives for a home server CMR vs SMR, NAS-rated vs desktop, capacity, and the drives I actually run.
Self-hosted alternatives
- Self-hosted Google Photos alternative (Immich) Moving a photo library out of Google One: the hardware, the cost, and what you give up.
- Self-hosted Plex alternative (Jellyfin) Why I run both, the transcoding hardware you need, and the cost as Plex paywalls remote streaming.
- Self-hosted password manager (Vaultwarden) A free Bitwarden server on your own box: the security work it demands, and who should not.
- Self-hosted Dropbox alternative (Nextcloud) The all-rounder versus lighter file-only options, the hardware you need, and the real cost.
- Self-hosted ChatGPT alternative (Ollama + Open WebUI) A private local assistant for quick tasks, the GPU you need, and where it cannot match the frontier.
- Self-hosted Microsoft Office alternative (OnlyOffice) The free suite whose files actually open right in Word, why it beats LibreOffice, and the real cost.
- Self-hosted RSS reader (FreshRSS) One free inbox for blogs, YouTube, subreddits, and Hacker News, versus paying for Feedly.
- Self-hosted Spotify alternative (Navidrome) Own your music library so playlists never lose tracks, the apps, and how I stream it anywhere.
Power and UPS
- How much does it cost to run a homelab? The power math, typical device wattages, and a worked yearly example.
- What my homelab actually costs to run A real, itemized power bill for an always-on rack, and the cheap-power twist.
- What size UPS do I need? Add up your load, understand VA vs watts, and pick a UPS and battery that fit.
- Best UPS for a NAS or homelab Why pure sine wave and USB shutdown matter, and the models I would buy.
Servers and networking
- Home server vs VPS vs managed hosting Where to run a service: your home box, a raw cloud VPS, or managed hosting.
- Local LLMs vs a cloud GPU When your homelab GPU is enough, and when to rent a cloud GPU by the hour.
- Subnetting explained IP addresses, subnet masks, and CIDR notation, with a worked example.