evcc vs Home 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
Home Assistant
Open-source home automation that puts privacy first
| Feature | evcc | Home Assistant |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Under-an-hour setup | ≈5-minute setup |
| Health score | 91 · Excellent | 100 · Excellent |
| Category | Home Automation | Home Automation |
| License | MIT | Apache-2.0 |
| Language | Go | Python |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 256 MB | 1,024 MB |
| Deployment | docker, binary | docker, bare-metal, one-click |
| GitHub stars | ★ 7,283 | ★ 91,123 |
| First released | 2019 | 2013 |
| Replaces | SmartThings | SmartThings, Google Home |
What are evcc and Home 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
Home Assistant
Home Assistant is an open-source home automation platform that integrates thousands of smart devices and runs automations locally. It targets anyone wanting private, vendor-neutral smart home control. It is deployed as an OS image, Docker, or supervised install.
- Integrates thousands of devices
- Local-first automations
- Add-on ecosystem
- Powerful dashboards
evcc vs Home Assistant: key differences
Evcc is written in Go, while Home Assistant is built with Python. Licensing differs — MIT for evcc versus Apache-2.0 for Home Assistant. Evcc is the lighter option, starting around 256 MB of RAM against 1,024 MB for Home Assistant. Home Assistant is the more established project (first released 2013), while evcc arrived in 2019. Home Assistant has the considerably larger community, at 91,123 GitHub stars versus 7,283.
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 Home Assistant if…
- Huge device support
- Local control and privacy
- Very active community
Watch out for
- Learning curve for automations
- Occasional breaking updates
Frequently asked questions
Is evcc or Home Assistant better?
Neither is universally better. Home Assistant has the larger community; both share a medium setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.
Are evcc and Home Assistant free and open-source?
Yes. evcc is licensed under MIT and Home Assistant under Apache-2.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run evcc and Home Assistant with Docker?
evcc: yes. Home Assistant: yes.
Which is lighter on resources, evcc or Home Assistant?
evcc has the smaller minimum footprint at 256 MB of RAM, compared to about 1,024 MB for Home Assistant. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.