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Mozilla WebThings Gateway vs Home Assistant Operating System

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?
MO Mozilla WebThings Gateway Open gateway for the decentralized web of things VS HO Home Assistant Operating System Embedded operating system optimized for Home Assistant
FeatureMozilla WebThings GatewayHome Assistant Operating System
CategoryHome AutomationHome Automation
LicenseMPL-2.0Apache-2.0
LanguageTypeScriptPython
Setup difficultyMediumEasy
Min. RAM512 MB1,024 MB
Deploymentbare-metal, dockerone-click, bare-metal
GitHub stars★ 2,643★ 7,390
First released20182019
ReplacesSmartThings, Google HomeSmartThings, Hubitat

Why pick each one

Choose Mozilla WebThings Gateway if…

  • Open standards-based
  • Privacy-focused
Mozilla WebThings Gateway details

Choose Home Assistant Operating System if…

  • Easiest full-featured HA install
  • Managed add-ons
Home Assistant Operating System details

Frequently asked questions

Is Mozilla WebThings Gateway or Home Assistant Operating System better?

Home Assistant Operating System is the stronger all-round pick: it has both the larger community and the simpler easy setup. Consider Mozilla WebThings Gateway if its specific feature set fits your needs better.

Are Mozilla WebThings Gateway and Home Assistant Operating System free and open-source?

Yes. Mozilla WebThings Gateway is licensed under MPL-2.0 and Home Assistant Operating System under Apache-2.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.

Can I run Mozilla WebThings Gateway and Home Assistant Operating System with Docker?

Mozilla WebThings Gateway: yes. Home Assistant Operating System: check the project docs for container support.

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