diyHue 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?
diyHue
Open-source emulator of the Philips Hue Bridge
VS
ThingsBoard
Open-source IoT platform for device management and data
| Feature | diyHue | ThingsBoard |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Home Automation | Home Automation |
| License | MIT | Apache-2.0 |
| Language | Python | Java |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Hard |
| Min. RAM | 128 MB | 2,048 MB |
| Deployment | docker, bare-metal | docker, kubernetes, bare-metal |
| GitHub stars | ★ 1,813 | ★ 22,200 |
| First released | 2017 | 2017 |
| Replaces | Philips Hue Bridge | AWS IoT, Azure IoT |
Why pick each one
Frequently asked questions
Is diyHue or ThingsBoard better?
Neither is universally better. ThingsBoard has the larger community, while diyHue is simpler to set up (medium difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.
Are diyHue and ThingsBoard free and open-source?
Yes. diyHue is licensed under MIT and ThingsBoard under Apache-2.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run diyHue and ThingsBoard with Docker?
diyHue: yes. ThingsBoard: yes.