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Is there any kind of paint I can apply at home that would be suitable for a bike, instead of paying for powder coat?
Closest you'll get in a paint is two-pack but you can't really do that at home. Rattle can is fine for bikes imo. Not super tough but good enough. You can always lacquer it or add some Heli tape.
Halfords have a nice range of 'enamel' paint in spray cans. Thinking that might be better than normal car body paint. Apparently car body paint has to flex with panels, but of course my bike doesn't..
Spray.bike make paint specifically for bikes, I've got some of their lacquer ready to go on my freshly painted frame (although I used Montana paint), but no actual experience yet.
Wow, that sounds brilliant. Cold powder coat for home use.
Hammerite?
I've done the odd frame in enamel using a foam roller.
Thin the paint, roll on, once dry flatten, repeat building up layers of paint. Not the quickest method but tough and repairable.
A few pics here of my Prophet project
https://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/prophet-reborn/
"Wow, that sounds brilliant. Cold powder coat for home use."
looks just like a normal acrylic to me - with some marketing.
nickjb was pretty much spot on. You'll struggle to find anything close to powder coating that you can apply simply at home. You could try a yacht paint or car refinish. My initial thoughts would be to find a single pack polysiloxane coating if they exist in the consumer market.
Rattle can wise I guess the car stuff would be closest in terms of end use so give you the best long term performance and damage/scratch resistance. Putting a clear coat will also help.