Is Umbrel open source?

Not in the OSI sense: Umbrel is source-available — you can read the code, but the license restricts what you can do with it. That trade-off buys polish; whether it matters is a values question.

What hardware does Umbrel run on?

Umbrel runs on Raspberry Pi, x86, Umbrel Home. A Lightning node is included/managed out of the box.

Best for The smoothest first node. Difficulty level: beginner. The polished app-store experience — note the source-available (not OSI open-source) license.

Node OS · beginner

Umbrel

The polished app-store experience — note the source-available (not OSI open-source) license.

TypeNode OS

Open sourceSource-available (not OSI)

HardwareRaspberry Pi, x86, Umbrel Home

Lightning includedYes

App storeYes

Pricingfree (optional hardware)

Difficultybeginner

The longer story

Umbrel made node-running feel like unboxing a phone: a beautiful OS with a one-click app store where Bitcoin Core, Lightning, Electrum servers and dozens of self-hosted apps install like consumer software. It is the single biggest reason “run a node” stopped being a weekend project.

It suits newcomers and anyone who values polish over purism. The honest caveat is the license: source-available, not OSI open-source — you can read the code but not freely fork the ecosystem. For the verification-maximalist posture, Start9 is the counterpart.

Official site @umbrel

Quick answers

Is Umbrel open source?: Not in the OSI sense: Umbrel is source-available — you can read the code, but the license restricts what you can do with it. That trade-off buys polish; whether it matters is a values question.
What hardware does Umbrel run on?: Umbrel runs on Raspberry Pi, x86, Umbrel Home. A Lightning node is included/managed out of the box.
Who is Umbrel for?: Best for The smoothest first node. Difficulty level: beginner. The polished app-store experience — note the source-available (not OSI open-source) license.

Compare & alternatives

start9 vs umbrel raspiblitz vs umbrel mynode vs umbrel alby-hub vs umbrel Start9 (StartOS)RaspiBlitz myNode nodl

All node stacks → · Why run a node at all → · What your node verifies, counted live →