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Beszel review (2026)
Updated 10 November 2026
Verdict: Beszel is the easiest good-looking monitor for a homelab: a small agent on each machine, a simple hub, clean graphs, container stats and alerts, all MIT licensed. It deliberately stops at monitoring. When something breaks you still need SSH or a remote-access tool.
Disclosure: written by the bananana.dev team. Facts read on Beszel's GitHub README on November 10, 2026.
What it does
- Hub built on PocketBase, plus an agent per system.
- CPU, memory, disk, bandwidth, temperature and load history.
- Docker and Podman container stats.
- Alerts on those metrics and on up/down status.
- Multiple users with sharing; OAuth2 sign-in.
Strengths
Very low overhead, quick to set up with Docker, and a tidy interface. It's a common recommendation in homelab monitoring roundups in 2026 for good reason.
Limits
- Monitoring only: no terminal, screen, files or automations.
- To see it away from home you'll need a VPN, tunnel or reverse proxy.
- No native phone app.
Pair it with, or replace it with
- Keep Beszel and add access: Tailscale plus SSH.
- One tool for both: bananana.dev gives the graphs plus a terminal, screen, files, Docker and phone apps, with no port forwarding, free for 10 devices. It's proprietary, where Beszel is open source.
See also: Beszel vs Netdata.
FAQ
Is Beszel free? Yes, MIT licensed.
Does Beszel monitor Docker? Yes, Docker and Podman container stats.
Can Beszel restart a service? No, it's monitoring only.