SHSelfHostIndex

OpenHAB Cloud vs FHEM

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?
OP OpenHAB Cloud Companion cloud service for remote openHAB access VS FH FHEM Perl-based server for home automation tasks
FeatureOpenHAB CloudFHEM
CategoryHome AutomationHome Automation
LicenseEPL-2.0GPL-2.0
LanguageTypeScriptPerl
Setup difficultyHardHard
Min. RAM512 MB256 MB
Deploymentdocker, bare-metaldocker, bare-metal
GitHub stars★ 306★ 22
First released20142005
ReplacesSmartThingsSmartThings

Why pick each one

Choose OpenHAB Cloud if…

  • Keeps data under your control
  • Enables remote control
OpenHAB Cloud details

Choose FHEM if…

  • Extremely mature
  • Runs on modest hardware
FHEM details

Frequently asked questions

Is OpenHAB Cloud or FHEM better?

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

Are OpenHAB Cloud and FHEM free and open-source?

Yes. OpenHAB Cloud is licensed under EPL-2.0 and FHEM under GPL-2.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.

Can I run OpenHAB Cloud and FHEM with Docker?

OpenHAB Cloud: yes. FHEM: yes.

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