evcc vs Gladys Assistant
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted home automation options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
evcc
Solar-aware electric vehicle charging controller
VS
Gladys Assistant
Privacy-first home automation platform for everyone
| Feature | evcc | Gladys Assistant |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Under-an-hour setup | Under-an-hour setup |
| Health score | 91 · Excellent | 88 · Excellent |
| Category | Home Automation | Home Automation |
| License | MIT | Apache-2.0 |
| Language | Go | JavaScript |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Easy |
| Min. RAM | 256 MB | 512 MB |
| Deployment | docker, binary | docker, bare-metal |
| GitHub stars | ★ 7,283 | ★ 3,201 |
| First released | 2019 | 2017 |
| Replaces | SmartThings | SmartThings, Google Home |
What are evcc and Gladys Assistant?
evcc
evcc is an open-source EV charging controller that optimizes charging around solar production and electricity prices. It targets EV owners with solar or dynamic tariffs. It is deployed via Docker or a binary.
- Solar-optimized EV charging
- Dynamic tariff support
- Many wallbox integrations
- Home Assistant integration
Gladys Assistant
Gladys Assistant is a privacy-first, open-source home automation program that runs locally on your hardware. It controls smart devices, scenes, and schedules through a clean web and mobile interface.
- Runs fully locally
- Device, scene, and schedule control
- Clean web and mobile UI
- Energy monitoring
evcc vs Gladys Assistant: key differences
Evcc is written in Go, while Gladys Assistant is built with JavaScript. Licensing differs — MIT for evcc versus Apache-2.0 for Gladys Assistant. Evcc is the lighter option, starting around 256 MB of RAM against 512 MB for Gladys Assistant. Gladys Assistant is the more established project (first released 2017), while evcc arrived in 2019. Evcc has the considerably larger community, at 7,283 GitHub stars versus 3,201.
Why pick each one
Choose evcc if…
- Maximizes solar self-use
- Wide hardware support
- Lightweight
Watch out for
- Niche use case
- Requires compatible hardware
Choose Gladys Assistant if…
- Strong privacy focus
- Beginner-friendly
Watch out for
- Smaller integration catalog
- Less powerful automations than HA
Frequently asked questions
Is evcc or Gladys Assistant better?
Neither is universally better. evcc has the larger community, while Gladys Assistant is simpler to set up (easy difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.
Are evcc and Gladys Assistant free and open-source?
Yes. evcc is licensed under MIT and Gladys Assistant under Apache-2.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run evcc and Gladys Assistant with Docker?
evcc: yes. Gladys Assistant: yes.
Which is lighter on resources, evcc or Gladys Assistant?
evcc has the smaller minimum footprint at 256 MB of RAM, compared to about 512 MB for Gladys Assistant. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.