deputyOS vs CasaOS
CasaOS is a friendly Docker dashboard that installs on top of Linux; deputyOS is a complete signed image. What that difference means in practice.
Last reviewed
Short answer: CasaOS if you want a friendly dashboard on a machine you already run. deputyOS if you want the whole box to be an appliance with nothing underneath to maintain.
Where CasaOS is the better choice
- Installs onto an existing Linux box rather than replacing it
- Very approachable interface — an excellent first homelab
- Large Docker app catalogue with one-click installs
- Over 33,000 GitHub stars and a broad community
- Keeps whatever else you were already running on that machine
Where deputyOS is the better choice
- A complete image rather than a layer over an OS you still maintain
- Security baseline enforced by default rather than left to you
- Atomic A/B updates with automatic rollback
- Multi-device fleet management with per-device cost and audit
- Reproducible builds with signatures and attestations
Layer versus image
CasaOS installs onto an existing Linux system and gives it a pleasant dashboard and an app store. deputyOS replaces the whole system with a signed image.
That single difference drives everything else.
With CasaOS you keep responsibility for the OS: kernel updates, firewall policy, user accounts, SSH hardening, and whatever else was on the box. CasaOS manages containers; it does not manage the machine. If the underlying Debian install drifts or falls behind on patches, that is yours to notice.
With deputyOS there is no underlying install. The system partition is read-only, updates land as whole images into an inactive slot, and a failed boot rolls back automatically. There is nothing to drift because there is nothing writable to drift.
The trade you are making
CasaOS is more flexible and less opinionated. You can run anything Docker runs alongside it, on hardware that is doing other jobs.
deputyOS is more constrained and more predictable. You cannot apt install a
missing tool into the running system — changes go through a rebuild. In exchange,
every device on a given version is byte-identical, so a bug reproduces everywhere
and a fix lands everywhere.
Where CasaOS is the better call
If this is your first home server, CasaOS is a gentler introduction and the community consensus is that it builds confidence well. If the machine already does other things you care about, CasaOS coexists and deputyOS does not.
If you want an appliance rather than a dashboard, that is the other choice.