WLED 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?
WLED
Firmware for controlling addressable LED strips
VS
Mushroom
Modern minimalist card collection for Home Assistant dashboards
| Feature | WLED | Mushroom |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Home Automation | Home Automation |
| License | MIT | Apache-2.0 |
| Language | C++ | TypeScript |
| Setup difficulty | Easy | Easy |
| Min. RAM | 16 MB | 32 MB |
| Deployment | binary, source | source |
| GitHub stars | ★ 18,518 | ★ 5,098 |
| First released | 2016 | 2022 |
| Replaces | Philips Hue | proprietary smart home apps |
Why pick each one
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 WLED or Mushroom 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 Mushroom free and open-source?
Yes. WLED is licensed under MIT and Mushroom under Apache-2.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run WLED and Mushroom with Docker?
WLED: check the project docs for container support. Mushroom: check the project docs for container support.