SHSelfHostIndex

WLED vs HA-Bridge

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?
WL WLED Firmware for controlling addressable LED strips VS HA HA-Bridge Emulate Philips Hue to control devices by voice
FeatureWLEDHA-Bridge
CategoryHome AutomationHome Automation
LicenseMITApache-2.0
LanguageC++Java
Setup difficultyEasyEasy
Min. RAM16 MB256 MB
Deploymentbinary, sourcedocker, bare-metal, binary
GitHub stars★ 18,518★ 1,477
First released20162015
ReplacesPhilips HuePhilips Hue Bridge

Why pick each one

Choose WLED if…

  • Easy to flash and use
  • Vibrant effects
WLED details

Choose HA-Bridge if…

  • Released under the Apache-2.0 license
  • Easy to set up — beginner-friendly
  • First-class Docker support for quick deployment
  • Active community (1.5k GitHub stars)
HA-Bridge details

Frequently asked questions

Is WLED or HA-Bridge better?

Neither is universally better. WLED has the larger community; both share a easy setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.

Are WLED and HA-Bridge free and open-source?

Yes. WLED is licensed under MIT and HA-Bridge under Apache-2.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.

Can I run WLED and HA-Bridge with Docker?

WLED: check the project docs for container support. HA-Bridge: yes.

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