ntfy
Home AutomationSend push notifications to your phone via simple HTTP
Replaces Pushover, Pushbullet
Best Lightweight Home Automation for self-hosting
The 44 best Lightweight home automation you can self-host, ranked by community traction.
Homebridge
Home AutomationBring non-HomeKit smart devices into Apple Home
Replaces Apple HomeKit hubs
Tasmota
Home AutomationOpen-source firmware for ESP-based smart devices
Replaces Tuya Cloud
WLED
Home AutomationFirmware for controlling addressable LED strips
Replaces Philips Hue
Gotify
Home AutomationSimple self-hosted push notification server
Replaces Pushover, Firebase Cloud Messaging
Zigbee2MQTT
Home AutomationBridge Zigbee devices to MQTT without vendor hubs
Replaces SmartThings
ESPHome
Home AutomationConfigure ESP devices with simple YAML
Replaces SmartThings
Mosquitto
Home AutomationLightweight MQTT message broker
Replaces SmartThings
evcc
Home AutomationSolar-aware electric vehicle charging controller
Replaces SmartThings
Piper
Home AutomationFast, local neural text-to-speech for voice assistants
Replaces Amazon Polly, Google TTS
Mushroom
Home AutomationModern minimalist card collection for Home Assistant dashboards
Replaces proprietary smart home apps
Bubble Card
Home AutomationMinimalist mobile-first card pack for Home Assistant
Replaces SmartThings app
OpenMQTTGateway
Home AutomationBridge for RF, IR, BLE, and sensors to MQTT
Replaces SmartThings Hub
Domoticz
Home AutomationLightweight home automation system
Replaces SmartThings
ESPEasy
Home AutomationMultifunctional firmware for ESP8266 and ESP32 sensors
Replaces Tuya
Sonoff DIY Tools
Home AutomationLocal control toolkit for Sonoff smart switches
Replaces eWeLink Cloud
openWakeWord
Home AutomationOpen-source wake word detection library
Replaces Picovoice
Button Card
Home AutomationHighly customizable button card for Home Assistant Lovelace
Replaces proprietary smart home dashboards
Awtrix Light
Home AutomationOpen firmware for LED matrix smart home displays
Replaces LaMetric Time
OpenBeken
Home AutomationTasmota-like firmware for non-ESP smart devices
Replaces Tuya Cloud
SmartApp Bridge
Home AutomationSelf-hosted automation engine for IoT devices
Replaces SmartThings
ApexCharts Card
Home AutomationAdvanced graphing card for Home Assistant dashboards
Replaces Grafana panels
diyHue
Home AutomationOpen-source emulator of the Philips Hue Bridge
Replaces Philips Hue Bridge
card-mod
Home AutomationApply custom CSS styles to Home Assistant Lovelace cards
Replaces proprietary dashboard theming tools
TinyTuya Server
Home AutomationLocal control library and server for Tuya devices
Replaces Tuya Smart app
Mini Media Player
Home AutomationCompact media player card for Home Assistant dashboards
Replaces Sonos app
ESPresense
Home AutomationDIY Bluetooth presence detection with ESP32 nodes
Replaces Life360
HA-Bridge
Home AutomationEmulate Philips Hue to control devices by voice
Replaces Philips Hue Bridge
Govee2MQTT
Home AutomationLocal MQTT bridge for Govee smart lights
Replaces Govee Home app
LocalTuya
Home AutomationLocal control of Tuya-based smart devices
Replaces Tuya Smart Cloud
OwnTracks Recorder
Home AutomationSelf-hosted store and access for location history
Replaces Google Location Sharing, Life360
Frigate Cards
Home AutomationAdvanced camera card for Home Assistant dashboards
Replaces Ring app
OpenHASP
Home AutomationOpen hardware and software for touchscreen controls
Replaces Nextion HMI
Ring-MQTT
Home AutomationLocal MQTT bridge for Ring cameras and alarms
Replaces Ring app
Pimatic
Home AutomationNode.js home automation framework for the Raspberry Pi
Replaces SmartThings
Zigbee Herdsman
Home AutomationZigbee adapter library that powers Zigbee2MQTT
Replaces Philips Hue Bridge
Grott Growatt Monitor
Home AutomationLocal monitoring proxy for Growatt solar inverters
Replaces Growatt ShinePhone
Zigbee2MQTT Assistant
Home AutomationWeb management UI for Zigbee2MQTT networks
Replaces SmartThings Hub
SmartIR
Home AutomationClimate, TV, and fan control via IR controllers
Replaces Sensibo
Theengs Gateway
Home AutomationBLE-to-MQTT gateway for hundreds of sensors
Replaces SmartThings Hub
Zwave-JS Server
Home AutomationSmall server wrapping the Z-Wave JS driver over WebSocket
Replaces SmartThings
ESPHome Web Tools
Home AutomationBrowser-based flasher for ESPHome smart devices
Replaces Tuya Smart
Habapp
Home AutomationPython rules engine for openHAB and MQTT
Replaces IFTTT
FHEM
Home AutomationPerl-based server for home automation tasks
Replaces SmartThings
No apps match these filters.
At a glance
| App | Deploy effort | Difficulty | Min. RAM | License | ★ Stars |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ntfy | ≈5-minute setup | Easy | 64 MB | Apache-2.0 | 34,802 |
| Homebridge | Under-an-hour setup | Easy | 256 MB | Apache-2.0 | 25,509 |
| Tasmota | Read-the-docs project | Medium | 16 MB | GPL-3.0 | 24,847 |
| WLED | Read-the-docs project | Easy | 16 MB | MIT | 18,834 |
| Gotify | Under-an-hour setup | Easy | 64 MB | MIT | 16,055 |
| Zigbee2MQTT | Under-an-hour setup | Medium | 256 MB | GPL-3.0 | 15,721 |
| ESPHome | Under-an-hour setup | Medium | 512 MB | GPL-3.0 | 11,877 |
| Mosquitto | Under-an-hour setup | Easy | 64 MB | EPL-2.0 | 11,263 |
| evcc | Under-an-hour setup | Medium | 256 MB | MIT | 7,364 |
| Piper | Under-an-hour setup | Medium | 256 MB | MIT | 5,867 |
Quick picks
- Most adopted: ntfy (34,802 GitHub stars).
- Lightest footprint: Tasmota (from 16 MB RAM, against 512 MB for the heaviest here).
- Fastest to deploy: ntfy (verified single-container compose).
- Licensing: 23 of 44 use MIT; check the rest individually if you plan to modify and redistribute.
Every option here is open-source and self-hostable, tagged Lightweight within the home automation category. Deploy effort is graded from published container recipes, not vendor claims — see the methodology.