Home Assistant
Home AutomationOpen-source home automation that puts privacy first
Replaces SmartThings, Google Home
Best Real-Time Home Automation for self-hosting
The 39 best Real-Time home automation you can self-host, ranked by community traction.
Frigate
Home AutomationLocal NVR with real-time AI object detection
Replaces Google Home
Tasmota
Home AutomationOpen-source firmware for ESP-based smart devices
Replaces Tuya Cloud
ThingsBoard
Home AutomationOpen-source IoT platform for device management and data
Replaces AWS IoT, Azure IoT
WLED
Home AutomationFirmware for controlling addressable LED strips
Replaces Philips Hue
Mosquitto
Home AutomationLightweight MQTT message broker
Replaces SmartThings
HACS
Home AutomationCommunity store for custom Home Assistant integrations and themes
Replaces SmartThings community add-ons
Scrypted
Home AutomationHigh-performance smart home and camera platform
Replaces Google Home
OpenMQTTGateway
Home AutomationBridge for RF, IR, BLE, and sensors to MQTT
Replaces SmartThings Hub
MQTT Explorer
Home AutomationVisual MQTT client for exploring and debugging topics
Replaces MQTT.fx
Home Assistant Companion
Home AutomationSelf-hosted backend pairing for Home Assistant mobile apps
Replaces Google Home app
Hyperion
Home AutomationAmbient lighting software for screens and media
Replaces Philips Hue Sync, Govee Immersion
Mozilla WebThings Gateway
Home AutomationOpen gateway for the decentralized web of things
Replaces SmartThings, Google Home
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
deCONZ
Home AutomationZigbee gateway software for ConBee and RaspBee
Replaces Philips Hue Bridge
ApexCharts Card
Home AutomationAdvanced graphing card for Home Assistant dashboards
Replaces Grafana panels
Mini Media Player
Home AutomationCompact media player card for Home Assistant dashboards
Replaces Sonos app
Home Assistant Floorplan
Home AutomationInteractive SVG floorplan UI for Home Assistant
Replaces Control4
ESPresense
Home AutomationDIY Bluetooth presence detection with ESP32 nodes
Replaces Life360
Govee2MQTT
Home AutomationLocal MQTT bridge for Govee smart lights
Replaces Govee Home app
ioBroker
Home AutomationIntegration platform for the Internet of Things
Replaces SmartThings, Hubitat
HASS.Agent
Home AutomationWindows companion for Home Assistant control
Replaces IFTTT
OpenEnergyMonitor Emoncms
Home AutomationWeb app for processing, logging, and visualizing energy data
Replaces Sense
LocalTuya
Home AutomationLocal control of Tuya-based smart devices
Replaces Tuya Smart Cloud
Z-Wave JS UI
Home AutomationFull-featured Z-Wave control panel and MQTT gateway
Replaces SmartThings
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
Tasmoadmin
Home AutomationCentral management panel for many Tasmota devices
Replaces Tuya Smart
Ring-MQTT
Home AutomationLocal MQTT bridge for Ring cameras and alarms
Replaces Ring app
EMHASS
Home AutomationEnergy management optimization for Home Assistant
Replaces Tesla Energy app
Zigbee Herdsman
Home AutomationZigbee adapter library that powers Zigbee2MQTT
Replaces Philips Hue Bridge
Zigbee2MQTT Assistant
Home AutomationWeb management UI for Zigbee2MQTT networks
Replaces SmartThings Hub
Node-RED Dashboard 2.0
Home AutomationModern data-driven dashboard for Node-RED flows
Replaces Home Assistant Lovelace
OpenHAB Cloud
Home AutomationCompanion cloud service for remote openHAB access
Replaces SmartThings
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
WallPanel
Home AutomationAndroid app that turns tablets into smart home wall panels
Replaces Control4 touch panels
No apps match these filters.
At a glance
| App | Deploy effort | Difficulty | Min. RAM | License | ★ Stars |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Home Assistant | ≈5-minute setup | Medium | 1,024 MB | Apache-2.0 | 91,548 |
| Frigate | Under-an-hour setup | Hard | 2,048 MB | MIT | 36,559 |
| Tasmota | Read-the-docs project | Medium | 16 MB | GPL-3.0 | 24,847 |
| ThingsBoard | Under-an-hour setup | Hard | 2,048 MB | Apache-2.0 | 22,546 |
| WLED | Read-the-docs project | Easy | 16 MB | MIT | 18,834 |
| Mosquitto | Under-an-hour setup | Easy | 64 MB | EPL-2.0 | 11,263 |
| HACS | Read-the-docs project | Easy | 64 MB | MIT | 7,797 |
| Scrypted | Under-an-hour setup | Medium | 1,024 MB | Apache-2.0 | 6,007 |
| OpenMQTTGateway | Read-the-docs project | Medium | 64 MB | GPL-3.0 | 4,104 |
| MQTT Explorer | Under-an-hour setup | Easy | 128 MB | Apache-2.0 | 4,086 |
Quick picks
- Most adopted: Home Assistant (91,548 GitHub stars).
- Lightest footprint: Tasmota (from 16 MB RAM, against 2,048 MB for the heaviest here).
- Fastest to deploy: Home Assistant (verified single-container compose).
- Licensing: 21 of 39 use MIT; check the rest individually if you plan to modify and redistribute.
Every option here is open-source and self-hostable, tagged Real-Time within the home automation category. Deploy effort is graded from published container recipes, not vendor claims — see the methodology.
Keep exploring
Head-to-head: Real-Time home automation
- deCONZ vs Zigbee Herdsman
- Frigate vs Home Assistant
- Frigate vs Mozilla WebThings Gateway
- Frigate vs Scrypted
- Frigate Cards vs Ring-MQTT
- Home Assistant vs ioBroker
- Home Assistant vs Mosquitto
- Home Assistant vs Mozilla WebThings Gateway
- Home Assistant vs OpenHAB Cloud
- Home Assistant vs Scrypted
- Home Assistant vs Z-Wave JS UI
- Home Assistant vs Zwave-JS Server