Self-hosted Bitcoin Node Distros

Pre-configured Linux distributions / app frameworks for running a Bitcoin node + Lightning + apps with minimal setup.

Major distros

Umbrel

Most popular self-host distro.
App store ecosystem (Lightning, BTCPay, mempool.space, Specter, Jam, ~390 apps in getumbrel/umbrel-apps as of September 2026).
Runs on Raspberry Pi 5, x86, mini PC, VM. Standalone OS only: since umbrelOS 1.0 it cannot be installed on top of an existing Linux distro, and curl -L https://umbrel.sh | bash now just prints a pointer to the ISO downloads (September 2026).
Tor is off by default: Settings -> Advanced -> "Remote Tor access" is opt-in, and umbreld stores torEnabled: false on first start (umbrelOS 1.7.4, July 2026).
Open-source, easy onboarding.
Default Bitcoin Core + LND.
umbrelOS 1.7.4 (July 2026) is the current stable line.
umbrelOS 2.0.0-beta.1 (September 2026) adds Machines (Windows, Ubuntu, Debian, Android), multiple user accounts, Storage Manager with FailSafe (RAID), GPU acceleration, automatic HTTPS and an MCP server for AI agents.

Start9 StartOS

Privacy-first, sovereignty-focused.
Named StartOS; the Embassy / EmbassyOS branding is retired.
App marketplace with curated services shipped as signed S9PK packages.
StartOS 0.4.0 (July 2026) is a full rewrite: LXC replaces Docker/Podman, new clearnet-capable networking stack, Tor demoted to an optional plugin.
Hardware: Server One (store.start9.com, September 2026) or DIY; 0.4.0 images cover x86_64, aarch64 (incl. Pi) and RISC-V.

RaspiBlitz

Raspberry Pi-focused.
Ecosystem of plugins (BTCPay, RTL, ThunderHub, JoinMarket, etc.).
Active community; v1.12.1 (March 2026) is the latest tagged release and the repo is still receiving commits as of September 2026.
Tor is on out of the box: a fresh setup writes runBehindTor='on' into raspiblitz.conf and provisioning then runs tor.network.sh on (v1.12.1 and dev, September 2026).
Boot from microSD or external SSD.

MyNode

Premium product (closed-source for paid features) + free tier.
App library similar to Umbrel.
Tor is on out of the box: the installer runs systemctl enable tor and the stock /etc/tor/torrc carries an active HiddenServiceDir /var/lib/tor/mynode/ (v3) for the web UI, plus separate onions for bitcoind and LND (mynodebtc/mynode master, September 2026).
Mac/Linux installer.

Citadel (historical)

Fork of Umbrel; community-driven, FOSS-exclusive.
Dormant as of September 2026: runcitadel/core archived on GitHub (last commit October 2023), no public GitLab project touched since June 2024, runcitadel.space no longer resolves.
Context for Umbrel-fork design, not a deployment target.

Common features

Bitcoin Core auto-configured.
LND (or CLN) integrated.
Tor v3 hidden service for remote access - available everywhere, but the out-of-box default splits the field as of September 2026: on StartOS 0.4.0+ (July 2026) Tor is an optional plugin on a clearnet-first stack and on umbrelOS it is an opt-in Settings switch ("Remote Tor access"), while RaspiBlitz and MyNode both turn it on during setup.
Web UI for monitoring + app management.
Backups and updates managed.

Hardware requirements

CPU: Raspberry Pi 4/5 minimum; better with x86.
RAM: 4 GB minimum, 8+ GB recommended.
Disk: 1+ TB SSD for an unpruned node - block data alone was ~769 GB (716 GiB) on 15 September 2026 and grows ~88 GB/year at the current rate (blockchain.com Blockchain Size chart), before chainstate, txindex or an Electrum index.
Network: stable, decent bandwidth (~770 GB to download for a full IBD as of September 2026).

App ecosystem

Common apps across distros (checked 16 September 2026 against the Umbrel, Start9 and Start9-Community package repos and the RaspiBlitz services menu):

Bitcoin Core, LND, Core Lightning.
BTCPay Server.
mempool.space.
electrs / Fulcrum (Electrum server).
Ride The Lightning (RTL).
ThunderHub (LND web UI) - community-packaged on Start9.
Specter Desktop - community-packaged on Start9.
Jam / JoinMarket.

Not common, despite frequently being listed as such:

Eclair - Start9 only (Start9Labs/eclair-startos).
BitFeed - Umbrel only.
Sphinx Relay - Umbrel only, and legacy: upstream stakwork/sphinx-relay has had no push since July 2024 and the Umbrel package has not been version-bumped since October 2024.

Use cases

Personal Bitcoin sovereignty.
Self-hosted Lightning routing node.
Family / small business with shared infrastructure.
Privacy-conscious users doing Tor-only - check the distro's default first. As of September 2026 StartOS 0.4.0+ (July 2026) ships Tor as a plugin and umbrelOS ships it behind the "Remote Tor access" switch, both off out of the box; RaspiBlitz and MyNode enable it during setup.

Compared

Aspect	Umbrel	Start9	RaspiBlitz	MyNode	Citadel
Open-source	yes	yes	yes	partial	yes
App store	rich	curated	many	rich	frozen
Tor default	off (opt-in)	plugin (0.4.0+)	on	on	unverified
Hardware	Pi 5 + x86	Server One + DIY	Pi only	x86	Pi + x86
Maturity	high	high	high	high	dormant

Row data as of September 2026: umbrelOS 1.7.4 stable / 2.0.0-beta.1, StartOS 0.4.0.1, RaspiBlitz v1.12.1. "Tor default" is about what a fresh install does, not about what is available, and was read from each project's source: umbreld's torEnabled: false, the StartOS 0.4.0 plugin model, runBehindTor='on' in RaspiBlitz _bootstrap.sh, and MyNode's stock /etc/tor/torrc plus systemctl enable tor in its installer. Citadel is dormant and was not re-checked.

Common issues

microSD wear → use SSD when possible.
ISP NAT preventing inbound P2P → use Tor or port forwarding.
Resource over-allocation when running too many apps simultaneously.
Update breaks: take snapshots before major upgrades.

bitcoin-infrastructure-node-distros