SHSelfHostIndex

deCONZ vs HA-Bridge

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?
DE deCONZ Zigbee gateway software for ConBee and RaspBee VS HA HA-Bridge Emulate Philips Hue to control devices by voice
FeaturedeCONZHA-Bridge
Deploy effortUnder-an-hour setupUnder-an-hour setup
Health score85 · Excellent31 · At risk
CategoryHome AutomationHome Automation
LicenseBSD-3-ClauseApache-2.0
LanguageC++Java
Setup difficultyMediumEasy
Min. RAM256 MB256 MB
Deploymentdocker, bare-metaldocker, bare-metal, binary
GitHub stars★ 1,908★ 1,485
First released20172015
ReplacesPhilips Hue BridgePhilips Hue Bridge

What are deCONZ and HA-Bridge?

deCONZ

deCONZ is gateway software for the ConBee and RaspBee Zigbee adapters, exposing a REST API to control Zigbee devices. It includes a graphical network editor for managing the Zigbee mesh.

  • Zigbee gateway with REST API
  • Graphical network editor
  • Works with ConBee and RaspBee
  • Home Assistant integration

Read the full deCONZ guide →

HA-Bridge

HA-Bridge emulates a Philips Hue bridge so that voice assistants and other Hue-compatible controllers can trigger arbitrary devices and HTTP commands. It lets older or unsupported gear be controlled through familiar smart home ecosystems.

  • Philips Hue emulation
  • Voice assistant control
  • HTTP and command triggers
  • Web configuration

deCONZ vs HA-Bridge: key differences

DeCONZ is written in C++, while HA-Bridge is built with Java. Licensing differs — BSD-3-Clause for deCONZ versus Apache-2.0 for HA-Bridge. HA-Bridge is the more established project (first released 2015), while deCONZ arrived in 2017.

Why pick each one

Choose deCONZ if…

  • Visual mesh management
  • Stable Zigbee stack

Watch out for

  • Tied to specific adapters
  • Partly closed-source core
deCONZ details

Choose HA-Bridge if…

  • Released under the Apache-2.0 license
  • Easy to set up — beginner-friendly
  • First-class Docker support for quick deployment
  • Active community (1.5k GitHub stars)

Watch out for

  • Development has slowed
  • Java runtime needed
HA-Bridge details

Frequently asked questions

Is deCONZ or HA-Bridge better?

Neither is universally better. deCONZ has the larger community, while HA-Bridge is simpler to set up (easy difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.

Are deCONZ and HA-Bridge free and open-source?

Yes. deCONZ is licensed under BSD-3-Clause and HA-Bridge under Apache-2.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.

Can I run deCONZ and HA-Bridge with Docker?

deCONZ: yes. HA-Bridge: yes.

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