# Self-hosting on a Raspberry Pi 5: 15 apps that run well on 8 GB

> Self-hosted apps for the Raspberry Pi 5: 15 that run well on 8 GB, each with a verified ARM64 Docker image, plus storage, cooling and the limits to know.

Published 2026-10-06 by appsgit editors. Category: roundups. Tags: raspberry-pi, self-hosting, homelab, roundup, docker, network-utilities, home-automation.

**Self-hosted apps that run well on a Raspberry Pi 5 with 8 GB include Pi-hole, AdGuard Home, Home Assistant, Vaultwarden, Uptime Kuma, Navidrome, Syncthing and Paperless-ngx.** All 15 apps below publish ARM64 Docker images (we checked each registry on October 6, 2026), stay light enough to run several at once, and are useful from day one. Two need care: Immich wants most of the Pi's memory for machine learning, and Jellyfin should only direct-play because the Pi 5 has no hardware video encoder. Put the system on an NVMe drive rather than a microSD card, and the Pi 5 makes a quiet, low-power home server.

## Before you start: setting up the Pi 5 as a server

- **Power supply.** Raspberry Pi recommends a 5 V, 5 A USB-C supply such as its own 27 W unit. Weaker supplies limit USB power and cause odd instability under load.
- **Cooling.** Use the official Active Cooler or a case with a fan. A server runs 24/7, and a throttling Pi feels slow.
- **Storage.** Boot from an NVMe SSD through an M.2 HAT. MicroSD cards are slow for databases and wear out under constant writes. At the very least, keep app data off the card.
- **Operating system.** Install 64-bit Raspberry Pi OS Lite (or Ubuntu Server for ARM), enable SSH keys, then install Docker Engine from Docker's repository. Our [Docker Compose tutorial](https://appsgit.com/blog/docker-compose-for-self-hosters) covers the rest.
- **Images.** Before adding any app, confirm its image lists `arm64` (sometimes shown as `arm64/v8`). Everything below does.

A word on value: memory shortages pushed Raspberry Pi prices up three times between December 2025 and April 2026. As of October 2026 the official prices are $175 for 8 GB and $305 for 16 GB, board only. If you are buying from scratch, compare with a used office mini PC in our [best mini PC for a home server](https://appsgit.com/blog/best-mini-pc-home-server) guide. If you already own a Pi 5, put it to work.

## The 15 apps

| # | App | Job | ARM64 image | Notes on a Pi 5 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | [Pi-hole](https://appsgit.com/apps/pi-hole) | Network ad blocking | Yes | The classic Pi workload |
| 2 | [AdGuard Home](https://appsgit.com/apps/adguard-home) | Network ad blocking, encrypted DNS | Yes | Alternative to Pi-hole; run one |
| 3 | [Home Assistant](https://appsgit.com/apps/home-assistant) | Smart home hub | Yes | Or install Home Assistant OS on a dedicated Pi |
| 4 | [Vaultwarden](https://appsgit.com/apps/vaultwarden) | Password manager | Yes | Very light |
| 5 | [Uptime Kuma](https://appsgit.com/apps/uptime-kuma) | Uptime monitoring | Yes | Light |
| 6 | [Beszel](https://appsgit.com/apps/beszel) | Server metrics | Yes | Watches the Pi's CPU, RAM and temperature |
| 7 | [Homepage](https://appsgit.com/apps/homepage-by-gethomepage) | Dashboard | Yes | Light |
| 8 | [Syncthing](https://appsgit.com/apps/syncthing) | File sync | Yes | Light; disk speed matters |
| 9 | [Navidrome](https://appsgit.com/apps/navidrome-music-server) | Music streaming | Yes | Light; transcodes audio easily |
| 10 | [Audiobookshelf](https://appsgit.com/apps/audiobookshelf) | Audiobooks and podcasts | Yes | Light |
| 11 | [FreshRSS](https://appsgit.com/apps/freshrss) | RSS reader | Yes | Light |
| 12 | [Actual](https://appsgit.com/apps/actual) | Budgeting | Yes | Light |
| 13 | [WG-Easy](https://appsgit.com/apps/wg-easy) | WireGuard VPN with a web UI | Yes | Reach the Pi from anywhere |
| 14 | [Paperless-ngx](https://appsgit.com/apps/paperless-ngx) | Document archive with OCR | Yes | Works; OCR of large scans is slow |
| 15 | [Jellyfin](https://appsgit.com/apps/jellyfin) | Media server | Yes | Direct play only |

## The always-on essentials (1 to 7)

**[Pi-hole](https://appsgit.com/apps/pi-hole) or [AdGuard Home](https://appsgit.com/apps/adguard-home).** Blocking ads for the whole network is the job the Pi became famous for, and it barely registers on a Pi 5. Pick one; [Pi-hole vs AdGuard Home](https://appsgit.com/compare/pi-hole-vs-adguard-home) helps you choose, and the [Pi-hole guide](https://appsgit.com/guides/pi-hole) walks through setup. Give the Pi a static IP before pointing your router's DNS at it.

**[Home Assistant](https://appsgit.com/apps/home-assistant).** Home Assistant supports the Pi 5 both as a container and as Home Assistant OS. The container works alongside your other apps; Home Assistant OS on a dedicated Pi adds the add-on store and one-click backups. See the [Home Assistant guide](https://appsgit.com/guides/home-assistant).
- [Pi-hole](https://appsgit.com/apps/pi-hole): Blackhole for Internet advertisements with a GUI for management and monitoring. (61,462 stars, EUPL-1.2, Shell, Docker)
- [Home Assistant](https://appsgit.com/apps/home-assistant): Home automation platform. (91,730 stars, Apache-2.0, Python, Docker)
- [Vaultwarden](https://appsgit.com/apps/vaultwarden): Lightweight Bitwarden server API implementation written in Rust. (69,685 stars, AGPL-3.0, Rust, Docker)
**[Vaultwarden](https://appsgit.com/apps/vaultwarden).** A Bitwarden-compatible password server in one small Rust binary, ideal for a Pi. Put it behind HTTPS and set up backups before you move your passwords in; the [Vaultwarden guide](https://appsgit.com/guides/vaultwarden) covers both.

**[Uptime Kuma](https://appsgit.com/apps/uptime-kuma), [Beszel](https://appsgit.com/apps/beszel) and [Homepage](https://appsgit.com/apps/homepage-by-gethomepage).** Monitoring and a dashboard cost very little memory. Beszel is especially handy on a Pi because it shows temperature and throttling alongside CPU and RAM. Start with the [Uptime Kuma guide](https://appsgit.com/guides/uptime-kuma).

## Files, music and books (8 to 10)

**[Syncthing](https://appsgit.com/apps/syncthing)** keeps folders in sync between your devices and the Pi, which then acts as an always-on peer. The [Syncthing guide](https://appsgit.com/guides/syncthing) covers folder permissions.

**[Navidrome](https://appsgit.com/apps/navidrome-music-server)** streams your music library to any Subsonic-compatible app. Audio transcoding is cheap, so it runs comfortably on the Pi; see the [Navidrome guide](https://appsgit.com/guides/navidrome-music-server). **[Audiobookshelf](https://appsgit.com/apps/audiobookshelf)** does the same for audiobooks and podcasts, with progress sync between phone and web.

## Everyday tools (11 to 13)

**[FreshRSS](https://appsgit.com/apps/freshrss)** is a fast, mature RSS reader that works with many mobile apps. **[Actual](https://appsgit.com/apps/actual)** is a local-first budgeting app; the [Actual guide](https://appsgit.com/guides/actual) sets up sync. **[WG-Easy](https://appsgit.com/apps/wg-easy)** runs a WireGuard VPN with a simple web UI, so you can reach everything on the Pi from your phone without exposing it to the internet.

## The heavier two (14 and 15)

**[Paperless-ngx](https://appsgit.com/apps/paperless-ngx).** Its documentation states that it runs on a Raspberry Pi, with some tasks slower on low-powered hardware. Expect OCR of long multi-page scans to take a while; day-to-day searching is fast. The project suggests setting `PAPERLESS_WEBSERVER_WORKERS` to 1 to save memory. Follow the [Paperless-ngx guide](https://appsgit.com/guides/paperless-ngx).

**[Jellyfin](https://appsgit.com/apps/jellyfin).** The Pi 5 has no hardware video encoder, and Jellyfin has deprecated hardware acceleration on Raspberry Pi. It works well when your devices can play the files directly, and poorly when they need transcoding. For a serious media server, read our [home server for Plex and Jellyfin](https://appsgit.com/blog/home-server-for-plex-jellyfin) guide.

## What about Immich?

[Immich](https://appsgit.com/apps/immich) supports arm64, and many people run it on a Pi 5. But its documentation asks for at least 6 GB of RAM, recommends 8 GB, and says that on 4 GB systems it can run with machine learning disabled. On an 8 GB Pi that already runs a dozen services, either disable machine learning or give Immich a 16 GB Pi or a different machine. The [Immich guide](https://appsgit.com/guides/immich) shows the settings.

## Also runs well on a Pi 5

[Linkding](https://appsgit.com/apps/linkding) for bookmarks, [Memos](https://appsgit.com/apps/memos) for quick notes, [Gitea](https://appsgit.com/apps/gitea) for Git hosting and [ntfy](https://appsgit.com/apps/ntfy) for push notifications all publish arm64 images and stay light.

## A sample 8 GB layout

A sensible starting stack on one 8 GB Pi 5: AdGuard Home or Pi-hole, Vaultwarden, Uptime Kuma, Beszel, Homepage, Syncthing, Navidrome and FreshRSS. Add apps one at a time and watch memory in Beszel after each; if free memory stays low, move the heaviest app to another machine rather than relying on swap.

## Keep the Pi healthy

- Use bind mounts on the NVMe drive for all app data, and back it up off the Pi.
- Watch temperatures with Beszel; add better cooling if you see throttling.
- Update deliberately with `docker compose pull && docker compose up -d`.
- Do not expose admin panels; use WG-Easy or Tailscale for remote access.

New to self-hosting? Our [homelab for beginners](https://appsgit.com/blog/homelab-for-beginners) guide explains what to run first, and the [network utilities](https://appsgit.com/categories/network-utilities) and [home automation](https://appsgit.com/categories/home-automation) categories list more apps to try.

## Apps mentioned

- [Pi-hole](https://appsgit.com/apps/pi-hole): Blackhole for Internet advertisements with a GUI for management and monitoring. (61,462 stars, EUPL-1.2, Shell, Docker)
- [AdGuard Home](https://appsgit.com/apps/adguard-home): User-friendly ads & trackers blocking DNS server. (37,706 stars, GPL-3.0, TypeScript, Docker)
- [Home Assistant](https://appsgit.com/apps/home-assistant): Home automation platform. (91,730 stars, Apache-2.0, Python, Docker)
- [Vaultwarden](https://appsgit.com/apps/vaultwarden): Lightweight Bitwarden server API implementation written in Rust. (69,685 stars, AGPL-3.0, Rust, Docker)
- [Uptime Kuma](https://appsgit.com/apps/uptime-kuma): Easy-to-use self-hosted uptime monitor with status pages and 90+ notification channels. (92,919 stars, MIT, JavaScript, Docker)
- [Beszel](https://appsgit.com/apps/beszel): Lightweight server monitoring hub with Docker stats, history and alerts. (26,546 stars, MIT, Go, Docker)
- [Homepage by gethomepage](https://appsgit.com/apps/homepage-by-gethomepage): Highly customizable homepage (or startpage / application dashboard) with Docker and service API integrations. (33,359 stars, GPL-3.0, JavaScript, Docker)
- [Immich](https://appsgit.com/apps/immich): Photo and video backup solution directly from your mobile phone (alternative to Google Photos). (117,263 stars, AGPL-3.0, TypeScript, Docker)
- [Jellyfin](https://appsgit.com/apps/jellyfin): Media server for audio, video, books, comics, and photos with a sleek interface and robust transcoding capabilities. Almost all modern platforms have clients, including Roku, Android TV, iOS, and… (58,608 stars, GPL-2.0, C#, Docker)
- [Navidrome Music Server](https://appsgit.com/apps/navidrome-music-server): Modern Music Server and Streamer, compatible with Subsonic/Airsonic. (24,362 stars, GPL-3.0, Go, Docker)
- [Audiobookshelf](https://appsgit.com/apps/audiobookshelf): Audiobook and podcast server. It streams all audio formats, keeps and syncs progress across devices. Comes with apps for Android and iOS. (14,795 stars, GPL-3.0, JavaScript, Docker)
- [Syncthing](https://appsgit.com/apps/syncthing): Syncthing is an open source peer-to-peer file synchronisation tool. (89,757 stars, MPL-2.0, Go, Docker)
- [Paperless-ngx](https://appsgit.com/apps/paperless-ngx): Scan, index, and archive all of your paper documents with an improved interface (fork of Paperless). (47,100 stars, GPL-3.0, Python, Docker)
- [FreshRSS](https://appsgit.com/apps/freshrss): Self-hostable RSS feed aggregator. (16,422 stars, AGPL-3.0, PHP, Docker)
- [Actual](https://appsgit.com/apps/actual): Local-first personal finance tool based on zero-sum budgeting, supporting synchronization across devices, custom rules, manual transaction importing (from QIF, OFX, and QFX files), and optional… (29,762 stars, MIT, TypeScript, Docker)
- [wg-easy](https://appsgit.com/apps/wg-easy): The easiest way to run WireGuard VPN with a web UI. (27,270 stars, AGPL-3.0, TypeScript, Docker)
- [linkding](https://appsgit.com/apps/linkding): Minimal bookmark management with a fast and clean UI. Simple installation through Docker and can run on your Raspberry Pi. (11,348 stars, MIT, Python, Docker)
- [Memos](https://appsgit.com/apps/memos): Knowledge base that works with a SQLite db file. (64,080 stars, MIT, Go, Docker)
- [Gitea](https://appsgit.com/apps/gitea): Git with a cup of tea! Painless self-hosted all-in-one software development service, including Git hosting, code review, team collaboration, package registry and CI/CD. (58,694 stars, MIT, Go, Docker)
- [ntfy](https://appsgit.com/apps/ntfy): Push notifications to phone or desktop using HTTP PUT/POST, with Android app, CLI and web app, similar to Pushover and Gotify. (35,076 stars, Apache-2.0, Go, Docker)

## FAQ

### Can a Raspberry Pi 5 run a home server?

Yes. A Pi 5 with 8 GB of RAM, an NVMe drive and 64-bit Raspberry Pi OS runs Docker and a dozen or more light self-hosted apps, such as Pi-hole, Vaultwarden, Uptime Kuma, Home Assistant and Navidrome, at around 3 W of idle power for the bare board.

### Do self-hosted apps support ARM64?

Most popular ones do. Every app in this list publishes an arm64 image, which we checked on Docker Hub or GitHub Container Registry on October 6, 2026. Smaller projects sometimes ship amd64 only, so check the image's architectures before you plan around it.

### Can a Raspberry Pi 5 run Jellyfin or Plex?

For direct play, yes. The Pi 5 has no hardware video encoder and Jellyfin has deprecated hardware acceleration on Raspberry Pi, so transcoding falls back to the CPU and struggles. Use clients that play your files directly, or choose an Intel mini PC for transcoding.

### Is a Raspberry Pi 5 still worth buying for self-hosting?

It depends on price. After the 2026 memory-driven price rises, the official list price is $175 for 8 GB and $305 for 16 GB. If you already own one, it is a great server. If you are buying, a used x86 mini PC often costs about the same and does more.

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Canonical page: https://appsgit.com/blog/raspberry-pi-5-self-hosted-apps
Source: appsgit (https://appsgit.com), the app store for github. Data as of 2026-10-26 (GitHub API), refreshed daily.
Descriptions adapted from [awesome-selfhosted](https://github.com/awesome-selfhosted/awesome-selfhosted-data) ([CC BY-SA 3.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/)).
Machine access: JSON API https://appsgit.com/api/v1/apps (OpenAPI: https://appsgit.com/openapi.json), MCP server https://mcp.appsgit.com/mcp, full index https://appsgit.com/llms-full.txt.