--- title: The best home server OS in 2026 isn't trying to be a NAS... description: Proxmox is recommended as the best home server OS for 2026, outperforming NAS-focused operating systems like TrueNAS when used as a primary OS. The author... canonical: https://daily.dev/posts/the-best-home-server-os-in-2026-isn-t-trying-to-be-a-nas-at-all-vh0qnyrcz twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:site: @dailydotdev og:type: website og:site_name: daily.dev og:title: The best home server OS in 2026 isn't trying to be a NAS at all | daily.dev og:description: Proxmox is recommended as the best home server OS for 2026, outperforming NAS-focused operating systems like TrueNAS when used as a primary OS. The author... og:url: https://daily.dev/posts/the-best-home-server-os-in-2026-isn-t-trying-to-be-a-nas-at-all-vh0qnyrcz og:image: https://api.daily.dev/og/posts/vh0qnyrCZ.png og:image:alt: The best home server OS in 2026 isn't trying to be a NAS at all 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. # The best home server OS in 2026 isn't trying to be a NAS at all **[XDA Developers](https://daily.dev/sources/xda-developers)** · 5 min read · 0 upvotes · 0 comments ## Summary Proxmox is recommended as the best home server OS for 2026, outperforming NAS-focused operating systems like TrueNAS when used as a primary OS. The author argues that NAS OSes limit what home servers can do, while Proxmox's virtualization platform lets you run a NAS OS inside a VM alongside other workloads. Key benefits highlighted include LXC containers, VM management via a web UI, high availability clustering, GPU passthrough, snapshot backups, and community helper scripts for easy setup. The author shares personal experience running a dozen Linux VMs and virtualizing Home Assistant, media servers, and NAS storage on a single machine. ## Full article daily.dev links to this article rather than hosting it. Read it at the original source: ## Similar posts on daily.dev - [I rebuilt my home servers from scratch, and this is the OS setup I wish I'd started with](https://daily.dev/posts/i-rebuilt-my-home-servers-from-scratch-and-this-is-the-os-setup-i-wish-i-d-started-with-sm4o4gxgw) · XDA Developers · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [I picked Proxmox over TrueNAS Scale for my home lab, and I'd make the same choice today](https://daily.dev/posts/i-picked-proxmox-over-truenas-scale-for-my-home-lab-and-i-d-make-the-same-choice-today-coiuykxzk) · XDA Developers · 1 upvotes · 0 comments - [Proxmox is total overkill for running a single home server, and that's exactly why you should use it](https://daily.dev/posts/proxmox-is-total-overkill-for-running-a-single-home-server-and-that-s-exactly-why-you-should-use-it-smdutocjt) · XDA Developers · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [TrueNAS 26 is finally catching up to Proxmox, but my home lab isn't switching](https://daily.dev/posts/truenas-26-is-finally-catching-up-to-proxmox-but-my-home-lab-isn-t-switching-nzynngqj7) · XDA Developers · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [The best NAS distro is getting better at virtualization, but you shouldn't use it exclusively for that](https://daily.dev/posts/the-best-nas-distro-is-getting-better-at-virtualization-but-you-shouldn-t-use-it-exclusively-for-th-we9qolsm7) · XDA Developers · 0 upvotes · 0 comments --- Tags: [#homelab](https://daily.dev/tags/homelab), [#infrastructure](https://daily.dev/tags/infrastructure), [#linux](https://daily.dev/tags/linux), [#proxmox](https://daily.dev/tags/proxmox), [#self-hosting](https://daily.dev/tags/self-hosting) [View this post on daily.dev](https://daily.dev/posts/the-best-home-server-os-in-2026-isn-t-trying-to-be-a-nas-at-all-vh0qnyrcz) ```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":"The best home server OS in 2026 isn't trying to be a NAS at all","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/the-best-home-server-os-in-2026-isn-t-trying-to-be-a-nas-at-all-vh0qnyrcz","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/the-best-home-server-os-in-2026-isn-t-trying-to-be-a-nas-at-all-vh0qnyrcz"},"datePublished":"2026-05-16T13:00:26.144Z","dateModified":"2026-10-15T02:19:15.471Z","description":"Proxmox is recommended as the best home server OS for 2026, outperforming NAS-focused operating systems like TrueNAS when used as a primary OS. 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