Five years ago I was building a home lab the way most people do it, by stacking hardware and hoping for the best. Here’s what I wish somebody had kicked down my door and told me before I wasted the time and money I did.

There’s a short list of tools I’d trust with my life, and a longer list of tools I reach for without thinking. The gap between those two lists is where most of my real opinions live.

I run both Authelia and Authentik in production — not because I couldn’t pick one, but because I learned the hard way that they’re solving different problems. Here’s what the comparison guides won’t tell you.