IdleWatt measures real-world power draw, calculates true running costs, and recommends gear for self-hosters who'd rather not pay $40 a month to run a Plex server.
Six interactive calculators built specifically for homelab planning. Each one solves a question I got tired of answering with a spreadsheet.
Add components, see idle watts, monthly cost at your kWh rate, and 5-year total. Includes US state defaults.
→Pick a use case and budget. Get a recommended parts list with measured idle wattage and current pricing.
→RAID 1/5/6/10, ZFS RAIDZ1/2/3, SHR. Usable space, parity overhead, fault tolerance, rebuild estimates.
→Add rack components, get an estimated dBA at 1 meter. For anyone with a homelab in a living space.
→Enter your idle/load watts and UPS VA rating. Estimated runtime with battery age compensation.
→Searchable, sortable measurements for popular homelab hardware. Mini PCs, NAS units, switches, more.
→Complete parts lists at fixed power and price targets. Updated quarterly with current pricing.
Five complete builds from 6W idle to 22W idle. The reference data nobody else publishes.
Four bays, ZFS-ready, fanless or near-silent, under 15W idle. Parts list and assembly notes.
Proxmox-ready with room for 50+ LXCs. Targets 35W idle while running real workloads.
Long-form how-to and comparison content. Every recommendation backed by measured data.
From "what is a homelab" to running 30 services on a single mini PC. The cornerstone guide for new self-hosters.
The three NAS strategies, head to head. Power, price, software, lock-in, repairability, 5-year cost.
Minisforum MS-01 vs Beelink EQ14 vs GMKtec NucBox vs Topton N100. Measured idle watts and use-case fit.
For homelabs in living spaces, bedrooms, or shared offices. dBA-tested rackmount picks.
Why "IdleWatt"? The single biggest hidden cost of a homelab is electricity. A server idling at 80W in California costs about $200/year to run. The same workload on a tuned mini PC at 8W costs $20. That difference compounds — and almost no homelab content actually measures it. We do.