EMQX vs Mushroom
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?
EMQX
Scalable MQTT broker
VS
Mushroom
Modern minimalist card collection for Home Assistant dashboards
| Feature | EMQX | Mushroom |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Home Automation | Home Automation |
| License | Apache-2.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Language | Erlang | TypeScript |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Easy |
| Min. RAM | 512 MB | 32 MB |
| Deployment | docker | source |
| GitHub stars | ★ 16,599 | ★ 5,098 |
| First released | 2026 | 2022 |
| Replaces | — | proprietary smart home apps |
Why pick each one
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
Choose Mushroom if…
- Released under the Apache-2.0 license
- Easy to set up — beginner-friendly
- Mature project with 5.1k GitHub stars
- Written in TypeScript
Frequently asked questions
Is EMQX or Mushroom better?
Neither is universally better. EMQX has the larger community, while Mushroom is simpler to set up (easy difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.
Are EMQX and Mushroom free and open-source?
Yes. EMQX is licensed under Apache-2.0 and Mushroom under Apache-2.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run EMQX and Mushroom with Docker?
EMQX: yes. Mushroom: check the project docs for container support.