Mozilla WebThings Gateway vs EMQX
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?
Mozilla WebThings Gateway
Open gateway for the decentralized web of things
VS
EMQX
Scalable MQTT broker
| Feature | Mozilla WebThings Gateway | EMQX |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Home Automation | Home Automation |
| License | MPL-2.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Language | TypeScript | Erlang |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 512 MB | 512 MB |
| Deployment | bare-metal, docker | docker |
| GitHub stars | ★ 2,643 | ★ 16,599 |
| First released | 2018 | 2026 |
| Replaces | SmartThings, Google Home | — |
Why pick each one
Choose Mozilla WebThings Gateway if…
- Open standards-based
- Privacy-focused
Choose EMQX if…
- Released under the Apache-2.0 license
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Mature project with 16.6k GitHub stars
- Written in Erlang
Frequently asked questions
Is Mozilla WebThings Gateway or EMQX better?
Neither is universally better. EMQX has the larger community; both share a medium setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.
Are Mozilla WebThings Gateway and EMQX free and open-source?
Yes. Mozilla WebThings Gateway is licensed under MPL-2.0 and EMQX under Apache-2.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Mozilla WebThings Gateway and EMQX with Docker?
Mozilla WebThings Gateway: yes. EMQX: yes.