Compare homelab device running costs
Ranked by estimated annual cost to run 24/7 at the US average of $0.17/kWh, the cheapest device here is the External USB SSD (~$2.98/year) and the most expensive is the Dell PowerEdge R720 (2U server) (~$226.36/year) — a difference of over $223.38 per year for always-on operation. Idle power draw is the single biggest driver of cost for continuously-running homelab gear.
Source: HomelabWatts wattage database. Data as of 2026-06-13.
| Device | Category | Idle | Typical 24/7 | Est. $/yr |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| External USB SSD | Storage | 1 W | 2 W | $2.98 |
| Raspberry Pi 4 Model B (4GB) | Single-board computer | 3 W | 4 W | $5.96 |
| TP-Link 8-port gigabit switch (unmanaged) | Network switch | 3 W | 4 W | $5.96 |
| Raspberry Pi 5 (8GB) | Single-board computer | 4 W | 6 W | $8.94 |
| External 3.5" USB hard drive | Storage | 4 W | 6 W | $8.94 |
| Synology DS224+ (2-bay NAS) | NAS | 6 W | 9 W | $13.40 |
| Intel N100 mini-PC | Mini-PC | 7 W | 12 W | $17.87 |
| pfSense/OPNsense mini-PC (4x i225) | Router / gateway | 8 W | 12 W | $17.87 |
| MikroTik CRS328 switch | Network switch | 12 W | 17 W | $25.32 |
| Synology DS923+ (4-bay NAS) | NAS | 10 W | 18 W | $26.81 |
| Dell OptiPlex Micro (i5) | Mini-PC | 8 W | 18 W | $26.81 |
| Lenovo ThinkCentre Tiny (i5) | Mini-PC | 8 W | 18 W | $26.81 |
| HP EliteDesk 800 Mini (i5) | Mini-PC | 9 W | 19 W | $28.29 |
| Intel NUC (Core i5, 13th gen) | Mini-PC | 9 W | 20 W | $29.78 |
| QNAP TS-464 (4-bay NAS) | NAS | 12 W | 20 W | $29.78 |
| Ubiquiti USW-24-PoE switch | Network switch | 14 W | 20 W | $29.78 |
| Beelink Ryzen 7 mini-PC | Mini-PC | 11 W | 24 W | $35.74 |
| Ubiquiti Dream Machine Pro | Router / gateway | 22 W | 25 W | $37.23 |
| NVIDIA Tesla P4 (8GB) | GPU | 9 W | 26 W | $38.72 |
| Supermicro Xeon D-1541 build | Tower/custom server | 30 W | 45 W | $67.01 |
| NVIDIA RTX 3060 (12GB) | GPU | 15 W | 62 W | $92.33 |
| Custom TrueNAS tower (6x HDD) | Tower/custom server | 55 W | 78 W | $116.16 |
| Dell PowerEdge R620 (1U server) | Rack server | 90 W | 123 W | $183.17 |
| NVIDIA RTX 4090 (24GB) | GPU | 25 W | 138 W | $205.51 |
| HP ProLiant DL380 Gen9 (2U server) | Rack server | 100 W | 142 W | $211.47 |
| Dell PowerEdge R720 (2U server) | Rack server | 110 W | 152 W | $226.36 |
Source: HomelabWatts wattage database, data as of 2026-06-13. Figures are estimates; see methodology. Costs scale linearly with your kWh price — use the calculator for your own region.
How to read this table
"Typical 24/7" is a representative all-day average that weights idle 70% and load 30%, since most homelab hardware spends most of its time idle. For a device you run only part of the day, divide the annual figure proportionally — running 8 hours a day costs roughly a third of these numbers.
Frequently asked questions
What is the cheapest homelab device to run?
In this database the External USB SSD is the cheapest to run continuously — about $2.98/year at $0.17/kWh — thanks to its low 1 W idle draw.
Why do enterprise rack servers cost so much more to run?
Dual-socket rack servers idle at 90-110 W or more before doing any work, so they cost $226.36+/year continuously. A modern mini-PC does most homelab jobs at under 15 W idle, which is why many people downsize from racks to small nodes.
Does running at load change the ranking much?
For 24/7 services, idle draw dominates the bill because the hardware spends most of its time waiting. Load matters more for bursty workloads like transcoding or AI inference. Compare idle and load on each device's page.
Last updated: 2026-06-13