ARM vs x86 for Home Servers Compared

Quick Verdict

ARM is ideal for low-power, always-on single-purpose tasks like Pi-hole, DNS resolution, and lightweight containers. x86 is required for Plex hardware transcoding, running VMs, and any app that doesn’t publish an ARM Docker image. Most self-hosters should start with x86 — specifically an Intel N100 mini PC. It draws almost as little power as a Raspberry Pi while running everything without compatibility headaches.

What’s the Difference?

ARM and x86 are instruction set architectures — the fundamental language a CPU speaks. Software compiled for one won’t run natively on the other. This matters for self-hosting because Docker images must be built for your CPU’s architecture.

x86 (CISC — Complex Instruction Set Computing): Intel and AMD processors. Dominates desktops, laptops, and servers. Each instruction can do a lot of work, but individual instructions are more power-hungry. This is what runs in data centers, so virtually all server software targets x86 first.

ARM (RISC — Reduced Instruction Set Computing): Raspberry Pi, Apple Silicon, AWS Graviton, Ampere Altra. Each instruction is simpler and more power-efficient. ARM dominates phones and is making serious inroads into servers (AWS runs a huge chunk of their infrastructure on Graviton), but desktop and self-hosting software support still lags behind x86.

Why this matters for Docker: When you docker pull an image, the registry serves a binary compiled for your architecture. If the maintainer only built for linux/amd64 (x86), it won’t run on your Raspberry Pi (linux/arm64). Multi-arch images solve this — the same image name works on both — but not every project publishes them. This single issue is the biggest practical difference between ARM and x86 for self-hosting.

Performance Comparison

Raw specs don’t tell the full story for self-hosting. Most apps are I/O-bound (waiting on disk or network), not CPU-bound. But when you need CPU headroom — Plex transcoding, Nextcloud file previews, database queries — the gaps are real.

Metric	Raspberry Pi 5 (ARM)	Ampere Altra Q80 (ARM)	Intel N100 (x86)	Intel i5-12400 (x86)
Cores / Threads	4C / 4T	80C / 80T	4C / 4T	6C / 12T
Base Clock	2.4 GHz	3.0 GHz	1.0 GHz (boost 3.4)	2.5 GHz (boost 4.4)
Geekbench 6 Single	~350	~1,100	~1,100	~2,000
Geekbench 6 Multi	~1,200	~12,000+	~3,200	~10,000
RAM	Up to 8 GB LPDDR4X	Up to 1 TB DDR5	Up to 16 GB DDR4/DDR5	Up to 128 GB DDR5
Max Memory Bandwidth	~17 GB/s	~200+ GB/s	~38 GB/s	~76 GB/s
Quick Sync / GPU Transcode	No	No	Yes (AV1, HEVC, H.264)	Yes (AV1, HEVC, H.264)
Price Range	~$80-100 (kit)	~$2,000+ (server)	~$150-200 (mini PC)	~$300-500 (full build)

Key takeaways:

• The Intel N100 matches the Raspberry Pi 5’s core count but delivers roughly 3x the single-threaded performance. For self-hosting, single-thread speed matters more than core count because most containers are lightly threaded.
• The Raspberry Pi 5 is not slow — it handles Pi-hole, Home Assistant, WireGuard, and similar workloads without breaking a sweat. It struggles with CPU-heavy tasks like media transcoding or running multiple database-backed apps simultaneously.
• The Ampere Altra is included for context — ARM is absolutely competitive at the high end. But you’re not putting a $2,000+ server chip in your homelab. For consumer ARM, the Pi 5 is the realistic option.
• The Intel N100 has Intel Quick Sync, which means hardware-accelerated video transcoding. This alone makes it categorically better than any ARM option for Plex or Jellyfin.

Power Consumption

This is where ARM’s reputation was built — and where the gap has narrowed dramatically thanks to Intel’s efficient N100 chip.

Device	Idle Power	Load Power	Annual Cost @ $0.12/kWh	Annual Cost @ $0.30/kWh
Raspberry Pi 5 (no drives)	3-4W	10-12W	~$4-5	~$10-13
Raspberry Pi 5 + SSD + case	5-6W	12-15W	~$6-7	~$15-18
Intel N100 mini PC	6-8W	20-25W	~$8-12	~$20-30
Used Dell OptiPlex (i5-6500)	20-30W	65-80W	~$25-35	~$65-90
Intel i5-12400 desktop build	25-35W	75-85W	~$30-40	~$75-100
AMD Ryzen 5 5600G build	25-40W	80-100W	~$30-45	~$75-115

The real-world gap is smaller than you’d think. A Raspberry Pi 5 with an SSD draws about 5-6W at idle. An Intel N100 mini PC draws 6-8W at idle. That’s a difference of roughly $2-4 per year in electricity at US average rates. You won’t recoup the software compatibility headaches of ARM with $3 of annual power savings.

Where ARM still wins decisively: solar-powered or battery-backed setups. If you’re running off a small solar panel or need maximum uptime during power outages with a UPS, every watt counts. A Pi 5 on a 100Wh battery lasts roughly 17-20 hours. An N100 mini PC lasts 12-15 hours. A desktop i5 lasts 3-4 hours.

Software Compatibility

This is the deciding factor for most self-hosters. Not performance, not power — whether the thing you want to run actually works on your hardware.

Multi-Arch (Works on Both ARM and x86)

These projects publish Docker images for both linux/amd64 and linux/arm64. You can run them on a Raspberry Pi or an Intel N100 without issues:

• Networking: Pi-hole, AdGuard Home, WireGuard, Tailscale, Nginx, Traefik, Caddy
• Databases: PostgreSQL, MariaDB, Redis, MongoDB, InfluxDB
• Monitoring: Grafana, Prometheus, Uptime Kuma, Netdata
• File/Storage: Nextcloud, Syncthing, MinIO, Filebrowser
• Security: Vaultwarden, Authelia
• Home Automation: Home Assistant (native ARM support — runs great on Pi)
• Other: Gitea, Forgejo, Paperless-ngx, Immich, Jellyfin (software transcode), FreshRSS, Miniflux, n8n, Node-RED

x86-Only or Degraded ARM Support

These either don’t publish ARM images, or their ARM support is missing key features:

• Plex Media Server — ARM images exist, but no hardware transcoding on ARM. Software transcoding on a Pi 5 handles maybe one 1080p stream at best. On an N100 with Quick Sync, you get 5-10+ simultaneous transcodes.
• Some *arr stack images — Sonarr, Radarr, Prowlarr, and Lidarr have ARM builds, but some companion tools (like Bazarr older versions, tdarr) may not.
• Frigate NVR — Requires Coral TPU or CPU-intensive object detection. Works on ARM but significantly slower without x86-optimized OpenVINO support.
• Many niche/small projects — Smaller open-source projects often only build for linux/amd64. Check Docker Hub or the project’s docker-compose.yml before committing to ARM.
• Windows-based tools — Anything requiring Wine or a Windows compatibility layer. Rare in self-hosting, but it comes up.

Surprisingly Good ARM Support

These work better on ARM than most people expect:

• Jellyfin — Full ARM64 support including software transcoding. No hardware transcode, but the Pi 5’s GPU can help with tone mapping. Handles direct play perfectly.
• Immich — Full ARM64 support. Machine learning model inference is slower on ARM but functional.
• Home Assistant — One of the best ARM experiences in self-hosting. Native ARM support, huge community running it on Pi hardware.
• Go and Rust applications — These languages cross-compile trivially. If an app is written in Go or Rust, it almost certainly has ARM builds. Vaultwarden (Rust), Miniflux (Go), Caddy (Go), and Traefik (Go) all work perfectly on ARM.

The Compatibility Rule of Thumb

If you’re running 3 or fewer containers and they’re all on the multi-arch list above, ARM is fine. Once you hit 5+ containers or want to try new apps regularly, x86 saves you from constantly checking architecture support before every docker pull.

Cost Comparison

Total cost of ownership over 3 years, including hardware and electricity at $0.12/kWh:

Setup	Hardware Cost	Storage (1TB SSD)	Annual Power Cost	3-Year TCO
Raspberry Pi 5 8GB kit	$100	$50 (USB SSD)	~$6	~$168
Intel N100 mini PC (16GB/512GB)	$175	Included	~$10	~$205
Used Dell OptiPlex i5-6500	$120	$50 (2.5” SSD)	~$30	~$260
Intel i5-12400 build	$400	$80 (NVMe)	~$35	~$585

Prices approximate as of February 2026. Hardware prices fluctuate — check current listings.

The Raspberry Pi isn’t as cheap as it looks. A bare Pi 5 is $80, but you need a case ($10-15), power supply ($12), microSD or SSD ($30-50), and potentially a cooling solution ($5-10). A complete kit runs $100-120. An Intel N100 mini PC comes with a case, power supply, RAM, and storage included for $150-200. The price gap is $50-80 — which buys you 3x the performance and full software compatibility.

Used enterprise hardware is the budget king. A Dell OptiPlex or Lenovo ThinkCentre with an i5-6500 or i5-7500 goes for $80-150 on eBay. You get a full x86 system with 8-16GB RAM, a real SSD bay, and enough power for 10+ containers. The trade-off is higher power draw (20-30W idle vs 6-8W for the N100).

Choose ARM If…

• You’re running a single dedicated appliance. Pi-hole as your network DNS, Home Assistant for automation, or a WireGuard endpoint. One device, one job, always on.
• Power consumption is a hard constraint. Solar panels, battery backup, or you live somewhere with $0.40+/kWh electricity.
• You need GPIO pins. Hardware projects, sensor monitoring, relay control — ARM boards with GPIO headers are the only option.
• Your total budget is under $100. A used Pi 4 for $40-50 is the cheapest entry into self-hosting.
• You already own a Raspberry Pi. Don’t buy new hardware if your Pi handles your current workload. Upgrade when you hit a wall, not before.
• You want to learn ARM/embedded Linux. ARM boards are excellent educational tools.

Choose x86 If…

• You plan to run 5+ Docker containers. The performance headroom and software compatibility of x86 eliminate friction as your setup grows.
• You want Plex with hardware transcoding. Intel Quick Sync on even the cheapest N100 destroys any ARM chip for video transcoding. This is non-negotiable if you share your Plex library.
• You want to run virtual machines. Proxmox, ESXi, or KVM — virtualization is an x86 stronghold. ARM VMs exist but the ecosystem is limited.
• Software compatibility matters more than power savings. You never want to find a great self-hosted app and discover it’s x86-only.
• You’re building a general-purpose home server. One box that runs everything — media, files, backups, DNS, monitoring, automation — should be x86.
• Budget allows $150-250. The Intel N100 category hits the sweet spot of price, performance, and power efficiency.

The Intel N100: Best of Both Worlds?

The Intel N100 (and its siblings N95, N200, N305) changed the ARM vs x86 calculus. Before these chips, choosing low power meant choosing ARM. Now you can get:

• 6-8W idle power — within 2-3W of a Raspberry Pi 5
• Full x86 compatibility — every Docker image, every VM, every app
• Intel Quick Sync — hardware transcoding for AV1, HEVC, and H.264
• 16GB DDR5 RAM — more than enough for 20+ containers
• NVMe storage — faster than any Pi’s USB or microSD interface
• $150-200 price point — complete systems, ready to run

Mini PCs like the Beelink S12 Pro, ACEMAGIC S1, MinisForum UN100C, and Trigkey G5 all use N100-class chips. They come with a case, power supply, RAM, and storage. Plug in Ethernet, install your OS, and you’re running.

This is what we recommend for most self-hosters starting out. The N100 eliminates the ARM vs x86 trade-off entirely. You get ARM-like power consumption with x86’s universal compatibility. Unless you specifically need GPIO or have a sub-$100 budget, the N100 is the better starting point.

For a detailed breakdown of N100 mini PCs, see our Intel N100 Mini PC Review.

FAQ

Can ARM run Docker?

Yes. Docker runs natively on ARM64 (aarch64), which includes the Raspberry Pi 4, Pi 5, and Apple Silicon Macs. The limitation isn’t Docker itself — it’s whether individual Docker images are built for ARM. Major projects support both architectures. Smaller or older projects may only target x86.

Is a Raspberry Pi good enough for a NAS?

For light use, yes — a Pi 4 or Pi 5 with a USB 3.0 SSD enclosure works as a basic NAS running OpenMediaVault or a Samba share. For serious NAS use with multiple drives, RAID, and high throughput, no. The Pi lacks SATA ports, has limited USB bandwidth, and no ECC RAM support. A dedicated NAS (Synology, TrueNAS on x86) is better for multi-drive setups.

Can the Intel N100 do Plex transcoding?

Yes, and it’s excellent at it. The N100’s Intel Quick Sync handles 5-10+ simultaneous 1080p transcodes with minimal CPU load. It also supports hardware-accelerated 4K HEVC and AV1 decoding. For a self-hosted Plex or Jellyfin server, the N100 is arguably the best value proposition available — capable transcoding at 6-8W idle power draw.

Will more Docker images support ARM in the future?

The trend is clearly moving toward multi-arch. ARM server adoption by AWS (Graviton), Apple (M-series), and Ampere is pushing developers to cross-compile. Go and Rust make cross-compilation trivial, and GitHub Actions / Docker Buildx make multi-arch CI easy. In 2-3 years, the compatibility gap will likely be much smaller. But today, x86 still has broader support, and that matters if you want to experiment with new apps.

Can I migrate containers from ARM to x86 (or vice versa)?

Container data (databases, config files, media) transfers between architectures without issues — it’s just files. But you cannot move a container image between architectures. You’ll need to docker pull the correct image for your new architecture and mount your existing data volumes. For most apps, this means stopping the container, copying the data directory to the new machine, pulling the image, and starting it. Test on the new hardware before decommissioning the old one.

Related

• Best Mini PCs for Home Servers
• Intel N100 Mini PC Review
• Raspberry Pi as a Home Server
• Raspberry Pi vs Mini PC
• Home Server Power Consumption Guide
• Docker Compose Basics
• Best NAS for Home Servers