I get the point about servers and sovereignty — but that’s exactly why I’m critical of Umbrel.
If you’re doing anything serious, you shouldn’t be running a “node OS” at all. You run Debian, understand your system, use Docker/Portainer, and write your own configs. Umbrel doesn’t give you sovereignty there — it hides Debian behind a UI skin.
And if someone just wants easy installs, running a full OS is overkill. Umbrel isn’t a custom OS anyway, it’s still Debian underneath — just with opinions baked in.
Yantra sits in the middle: it’s just a Docker container (~155MB) that gives you an app-store experience without touching or taking over your system. No lock-in, no pretending to be an OS, no loss of control.
Sovereignty isn’t about running more layers — it’s about knowing what’s actually running.
If you’re doing anything serious, you shouldn’t be running a “node OS” at all. You run Debian, understand your system, use Docker/Portainer, and write your own configs. Umbrel doesn’t give you sovereignty there — it hides Debian behind a UI skin.
And if someone just wants easy installs, running a full OS is overkill. Umbrel isn’t a custom OS anyway, it’s still Debian underneath — just with opinions baked in.
Yantra sits in the middle: it’s just a Docker container (~155MB) that gives you an app-store experience without touching or taking over your system. No lock-in, no pretending to be an OS, no loss of control.
Sovereignty isn’t about running more layers — it’s about knowing what’s actually running.