---
title: "Home Lab terms"
description: "Who can use the free Home Lab plan, its firm limits, its storage rule, and how inactivity leads to a warning at 90 days and suspension at 120."
url: "https://support.outpostplatform.com/account/home-lab/"
product: "platform"
type: "concept"
status: "draft"
ai_summary: "Home Lab is free, for personal non-commercial home use only: your own devices and your household's. One per person by verified email or phone. Firm limits: 15 managed endpoints, 10 unmanaged devices, 1 administrator, your own S3-compatible storage only. Community support. No portal sign-in and no endpoint activity for 90 days sends a warning; at 120 days it is suspended and closed."
source: "https://gitlab.com/outpostplatform/docs/-/edit/main/src/content/docs/account/home-lab.md"
license: "CC BY 4.0"
---

# Home Lab terms

Home Lab is the free Outpost plan for managing the computers in your own home.
It is the full product for a small personal fleet, with firm limits and a few
rules that keep it free. This page explains who can use it, what it includes,
and how an inactive Home Lab is closed.

## Who can use Home Lab

Home Lab is for personal, non-commercial home use only.

- **You may** manage your own devices and those of members of your own
  household.
- **You may not** use it for commercial purposes, for an employer or a
  business, or to manage anyone else's systems, whether or not you are paid.
- **Each person may hold one Home Lab.** Outpost matches it by verified email
  address and verified mobile number, and refuses a second one with **This
  email address or phone number already has a Home Lab. Choose a paid plan
  instead.**
- **Home Lab is accepted by an individual.** When you sign up, choose **For
  myself**. An account created for an organization is not offered Home Lab,
  and is refused with **Home Lab is for personal, non-commercial use. Choose
  another plan for an organization.**

Essentials and the higher plans can also be used by individuals, including for
personal and home use. Any commercial use needs a paid plan.

## What Home Lab includes

| Limit | Home Lab |
| --- | --- |
| Managed endpoints | Up to 15 |
| Unmanaged devices | Up to 10 |
| Console users | 1 administrator account, who is the owner. Roles cannot be assigned. |
| Storage | Your own S3-compatible storage only. Outpost Cloud Storage is not available. |
| Support | Community and documentation |
| Trial | None. Home Lab is free. |

These limits are firm. At a limit, the console refuses the next endpoint,
device, or user with a message that names the limit, such as **Home Lab
includes 15 endpoints. Upgrade to Essentials to add more.** Everything you
already have keeps working. The features each plan includes are on
[Plans and limits](/account/plans-and-limits/).

Because Home Lab stores files only in storage you provide, add your own
S3-compatible storage before you use backups or other features that store
files. Until you do, the console refuses them with **Home Lab uses your own
S3-compatible storage. Add your own S3-compatible storage to store files.** and
an **Add storage** link. See [Backup](/backup/).

## No commitments

Home Lab is provided as is, without a service level or a support commitment.
Help comes from the community and from this documentation. Outpost may change,
limit, or end the free plan, and gives notice first where it can so that you
can export your data or move to a paid plan. The Terms of Service, section 22,
are the full rules.

## Inactivity

A Home Lab that nobody uses is closed, so that free accounts do not pile up.
Two things count as activity:

- The account owner signing in to the Outpost portal. Signing in to the console
  does not count.
- Any enrolled endpoint reporting in.

| After this long without activity | What happens |
| --- | --- |
| Less than 90 days | The portal dashboard's **Plan** card says **Stays active while you use it. Without activity it is suspended on** followed by the date. |
| 90 days | Outpost emails the account owner a warning with the suspension date. The portal dashboard says **Your Home Lab will be suspended on** followed by the date. |
| 120 days | The Home Lab is suspended and scheduled to close. The console and the portal show **This Home Lab was suspended after 120 days without activity. Contact Outpost.** |

Any activity before the suspension restarts the count. To keep a Home Lab you
rarely sign in to, sign in to the Outpost portal at least once every 90 days.

After a suspension, the closing schedule in
[Cancel your subscription and export your data](/account/cancel-and-export/#after-cancellation-takes-effect)
applies: 30 days to export, then deletion. A suspended Home Lab cannot be
reactivated from the portal. To keep it, reply to the suspension email or
[contact support](/support/contact/) before the export window ends.

## Moving to a paid plan

You can upgrade from Home Lab to Essentials or Enterprise yourself, from the
portal dashboard. An upgrade has no trial and needs a payment method. Your own
S3-compatible storage keeps working on every paid plan. See
[Upgrade or change your plan](/account/change-plan/).

## Related

- [Plans and limits](/account/plans-and-limits/)
- [Create your Outpost account](/account/create-account/)
- [Upgrade or change your plan](/account/change-plan/)