Running a $10 OpenStick homelab
The gist
Laurens Bosscher runs a full homelab stack on a $10 OpenStick with 512 MB RAM.
The write-up shows how little hardware self-hosting needs, and its security limits.
How it unfolded
- Nov 7, 2026Bosscher publishes a blog post listing the software he runs on a $10 OpenStick and each service's memory use. The device has 512 MB RAM (~450 MB usable), 4x ARM Cortex-A53 cores at 1 GHz, 4 GB eMMC, 150 Mbit/s Wi-Fi, a 4G modem with GPS, passive cooling and 1 programmable LED.
- Nov 7, 2026The stack runs Debian with systemd and Podman; his own AdGuard Home fork (40 MB) blocks 60% of DNS queries after adding blocklists.
- Nov 7, 2026Zeroclaw uses ~3 MB RSS when idle (64 MB allocated), supports 30 channels including Telegram, email and WhatsApp, and is given access to the OpenStick only. Other listed services include Cloudflare Tunnel (~8-20 MB), Beszel (20 MB total), Dozzle, Gatus (~10 MB), Fusion RSS (22 MB), Shiori (10 MB), Diun (9 MB) and CastSponsorSkip (5-10 MB).
Key terms
- Podman
- An open-source container management tool from Red Hat that handles containers, images, volumes and pods.
Source: Wikipedia