SHSelfHostIndex

ESPHome vs Home Assistant Companion

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?
ES ESPHome Configure ESP devices with simple YAML VS HO Home Assistant Companion Self-hosted backend pairing for Home Assistant mobile apps
FeatureESPHomeHome Assistant Companion
CategoryHome AutomationHome Automation
LicenseGPL-3.0Apache-2.0
LanguageC++Kotlin
Setup difficultyMediumEasy
Min. RAM512 MB64 MB
Deploymentdocker, bare-metalsource
GitHub stars★ 11,505★ 3,788
First released20182020
ReplacesSmartThingsGoogle Home app

Why pick each one

Choose ESPHome if…

  • No coding needed for devices
  • Great with Home Assistant
  • OTA updates
ESPHome details

Choose Home Assistant Companion if…

  • Turns phones into sensors
  • Tight HA integration
Home Assistant Companion details

Frequently asked questions

Is ESPHome or Home Assistant Companion better?

Neither is universally better. ESPHome has the larger community, while Home Assistant Companion is simpler to set up (easy difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.

Are ESPHome and Home Assistant Companion free and open-source?

Yes. ESPHome is licensed under GPL-3.0 and Home Assistant Companion under Apache-2.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.

Can I run ESPHome and Home Assistant Companion with Docker?

ESPHome: yes. Home Assistant Companion: check the project docs for container support.

Related comparisons