--- title: 2026 Self-Host User Survey Results | daily.dev description: The 2026 Self-Host User Survey collected 6,221 responses, up 52% from last year. Docker dominates container platforms, and Portainer's management share fell... canonical: https://daily.dev/posts/2026-self-host-user-survey-results-mmg35jeyf twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:site: @dailydotdev og:type: website og:site_name: daily.dev og:title: 2026 Self-Host User Survey Results | daily.dev og:description: The 2026 Self-Host User Survey collected 6,221 responses, up 52% from last year. Docker dominates container platforms, and Portainer's management share fell... og:url: https://daily.dev/posts/2026-self-host-user-survey-results-mmg35jeyf og:image: https://api.daily.dev/og/posts/mmG35JEyF.png og:image:alt: 2026 Self-Host User Survey Results og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 630 og:locale: en --- > ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://daily.dev/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # 2026 Self-Host User Survey Results **[selfh.st](https://daily.dev/sources/selfhst)** · 7 min read · 0 upvotes · 0 comments ## Summary The 2026 Self-Host User Survey collected 6,221 responses, up 52% from last year. Docker dominates container platforms, and Portainer's management share fell from 66% to 33% as Dockhand, Komodo, and Arcane gained ground. Jellyfin, Home Assistant, and Immich remain top favorite apps, while Plex and the *arr apps lost share. Forgejo overtook Gitea as the leading self-hosted Git platform. 60% of respondents now use AI to assist with self-hosting, with Claude the most used service ahead of ChatGPT and Gemini, and 23% relying only on self-hosted models. Debian and Ubuntu lead among Linux distributions, and two-thirds of respondents deploy a NAS. ## Full article daily.dev links to this article rather than hosting it. Read it at the original source: ## Questions this post answers ### what is the most popular container management platform for self-hosters besides Portainer Portainer still leads but its share fell sharply from 66% to 33% as newer, lighter tools gained ground. Dockhand, Komodo, and Arcane are the younger platforms eating into that dominance, according to the 2026 Self-Host User Survey of over 6,200 respondents. Just over half of container users manage them with dedicated software at all. _Anyone weighing a switch from Portainer can track homelab tool trends like these on daily.dev._ ### which AI service do self-hosters use most for homelab help Claude is the most used AI service among self-hosters, ahead of ChatGPT and Gemini. About 60% of surveyed self-hosters use AI in some capacity, mostly for troubleshooting, configuration, and learning, with roughly half also using it for application development. 23% rely exclusively on self-hosted models rather than cloud AI services. _Developers choosing an AI assistant for infrastructure work can follow usage trends like this on daily.dev._ ### is Forgejo more popular than Gitea for self-hosted git Forgejo overtook Gitea as the most popular self-hosted Git platform in the 2026 Self-Host User Survey, which gathered over 6,200 responses. Other self-hosted git options with under 50 responses included cgit, Gogs, and Soft Serve, grouped as 'other' in the results. _Teams picking a self-hosted git platform can watch adoption shifts like this on daily.dev._ ## Similar posts on daily.dev - [Self-Host Weekly \(16 October 2026\)](https://daily.dev/posts/self-host-weekly-16-october-2026--ujbltyc1g) · selfh.st · 101 upvotes · 2 comments - [The Self-Hosted Apps I Keep Installed but Rarely Use](https://daily.dev/posts/the-self-hosted-apps-i-keep-installed-but-rarely-use-8mqxmh0zy) · Noted · 51 upvotes · 2 comments - [2026 is the Year of Self-hosting](https://daily.dev/posts/2026-is-the-year-of-self-hosting-ocn7tvk3u) · Hacker News · 166 upvotes · 19 comments --- Tags: [#linux](https://daily.dev/tags/linux), [#docker](https://daily.dev/tags/docker), [#self-hosting](https://daily.dev/tags/self-hosting) [View this post on daily.dev](https://daily.dev/posts/2026-self-host-user-survey-results-mmg35jeyf) ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180},"sameAs":["https://twitter.com/dailydotdev","https://github.com/dailydotdev","https://www.linkedin.com/company/daily-dev-ltd"]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://daily.dev/#website","url":"https://daily.dev","name":"daily.dev","publisher":{"@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization"},"potentialAction":{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https://daily.dev/search?q={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"TechArticle","headline":"2026 Self-Host User Survey Results","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/2026-self-host-user-survey-results-mmg35jeyf","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/2026-self-host-user-survey-results-mmg35jeyf"},"datePublished":"2026-11-12T13:06:01.030Z","dateModified":"2026-11-12T13:06:27.099Z","description":"The 2026 Self-Host User Survey collected 6,221 responses, up 52% from last year. Docker dominates container platforms, and Portainer's management share fell...","image":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/posts/5f6d043f0c4050a3479b051da81c04ad?_a=AQAEuop","thumbnailUrl":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/posts/5f6d043f0c4050a3479b051da81c04ad?_a=AQAEuop","isAccessibleForFree":true,"articleSection":"selfh.st","inLanguage":"en","publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180}},"author":{"@type":"Organization","name":"selfh.st","logo":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/t_logo,f_auto/v1/logos/d7b6e42c7bcd435a816cef8b33c977b5","url":"https://daily.dev/sources/selfhst"},"commentCount":0,"discussionUrl":"https://daily.dev/posts/2026-self-host-user-survey-results-mmg35jeyf","interactionStatistic":[{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"LikeAction"},"userInteractionCount":0},{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"CommentAction"},"userInteractionCount":0}],"keywords":"linux,docker,self-hosting","timeRequired":"PT7M"} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https://daily.dev"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"selfh.st","item":"https://daily.dev/sources/selfhst"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"2026 Self-Host User Survey Results"}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"FAQPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/2026-self-host-user-survey-results-mmg35jeyf#faq","mainEntity":[{"@type":"Question","name":"what is the most popular container management platform for self-hosters besides Portainer","acceptedAnswer":{"@type":"Answer","text":"Portainer still leads but its share fell sharply from 66% to 33% as newer, lighter tools gained ground. Dockhand, Komodo, and Arcane are the younger platforms eating into that dominance, according to the 2026 Self-Host User Survey of over 6,200 respondents. Just over half of container users manage them with dedicated software at all. Anyone weighing a switch from Portainer can track homelab tool trends like these on daily.dev."}},{"@type":"Question","name":"which AI service do self-hosters use most for homelab help","acceptedAnswer":{"@type":"Answer","text":"Claude is the most used AI service among self-hosters, ahead of ChatGPT and Gemini. About 60% of surveyed self-hosters use AI in some capacity, mostly for troubleshooting, configuration, and learning, with roughly half also using it for application development. 23% rely exclusively on self-hosted models rather than cloud AI services. Developers choosing an AI assistant for infrastructure work can follow usage trends like this on daily.dev."}},{"@type":"Question","name":"is Forgejo more popular than Gitea for self-hosted git","acceptedAnswer":{"@type":"Answer","text":"Forgejo overtook Gitea as the most popular self-hosted Git platform in the 2026 Self-Host User Survey, which gathered over 6,200 responses. Other self-hosted git options with under 50 responses included cgit, Gogs, and Soft Serve, grouped as 'other' in the results. Teams picking a self-hosted git platform can watch adoption shifts like this on daily.dev."}}]} ```