AppDaemon vs evcc
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted home automation options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
evcc
Solar-aware electric vehicle charging controller
| Feature | AppDaemon | evcc |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Under-an-hour setup | Under-an-hour setup |
| Health score | 76 · Good | 91 · Excellent |
| Category | Home Automation | Home Automation |
| License | Apache-2.0 | MIT |
| Language | Python | Go |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 256 MB | 256 MB |
| Deployment | docker, bare-metal | docker, binary |
| GitHub stars | ★ 969 | ★ 7,283 |
| First released | 2016 | 2019 |
| Replaces | SmartThings | SmartThings |
What are AppDaemon and evcc?
AppDaemon
AppDaemon is a loosely coupled, multi-threaded, sandboxed Python execution environment for writing automation apps for Home Assistant and other systems. It enables complex logic beyond YAML automations.
- Python automation apps
- Sandboxed execution
- Dashboards via HADashboard
- Works with Home Assistant
evcc
evcc is an open-source EV charging controller that optimizes charging around solar production and electricity prices. It targets EV owners with solar or dynamic tariffs. It is deployed via Docker or a binary.
- Solar-optimized EV charging
- Dynamic tariff support
- Many wallbox integrations
- Home Assistant integration
AppDaemon vs evcc: key differences
AppDaemon is written in Python, while evcc is built with Go. Licensing differs — Apache-2.0 for AppDaemon versus MIT for evcc. AppDaemon is the more established project (first released 2016), while evcc arrived in 2019. Evcc has the considerably larger community, at 7,283 GitHub stars versus 969.
Why pick each one
Choose AppDaemon if…
- Powerful programmatic automations
- Full Python flexibility
Watch out for
- Requires Python knowledge
- Extra component to maintain
Choose evcc if…
- Maximizes solar self-use
- Wide hardware support
- Lightweight
Watch out for
- Niche use case
- Requires compatible hardware
Frequently asked questions
Is AppDaemon or evcc better?
Neither is universally better. evcc has the larger community; both share a medium setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.
Are AppDaemon and evcc free and open-source?
Yes. AppDaemon is licensed under Apache-2.0 and evcc under MIT. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run AppDaemon and evcc with Docker?
AppDaemon: yes. evcc: yes.