Calaos vs ThingsBoard
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted home automation options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
Not the right match-up?
Calaos
Free home automation platform with touchscreen UI
VS
ThingsBoard
Open-source IoT platform for device management and data
| Feature | Calaos | ThingsBoard |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Home Automation | Home Automation |
| License | GPL-3.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Language | Shell | Java |
| Setup difficulty | Hard | Hard |
| Min. RAM | 512 MB | 2,048 MB |
| Deployment | bare-metal | docker, kubernetes, bare-metal |
| GitHub stars | ★ 73 | ★ 22,200 |
| First released | 2013 | 2017 |
| Replaces | Loxone | AWS IoT, Azure IoT |
Why pick each one
Frequently asked questions
Is Calaos or ThingsBoard better?
Neither is universally better. ThingsBoard has the larger community; both share a hard setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.
Are Calaos and ThingsBoard free and open-source?
Yes. Calaos is licensed under GPL-3.0 and ThingsBoard under Apache-2.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Calaos and ThingsBoard with Docker?
Calaos: check the project docs for container support. ThingsBoard: yes.