Gladys Assistant 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.
Home Assistant
Open-source home automation that puts privacy first
| Feature | Gladys Assistant | Home Assistant |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Under-an-hour setup | ≈5-minute setup |
| Health score | 88 · Excellent | 100 · Excellent |
| Category | Home Automation | Home Automation |
| License | Apache-2.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Language | JavaScript | Python |
| Setup difficulty | Easy | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 512 MB | 1,024 MB |
| Deployment | docker, bare-metal | docker, bare-metal, one-click |
| GitHub stars | ★ 3,201 | ★ 91,123 |
| First released | 2017 | 2013 |
| Replaces | SmartThings, Google Home | SmartThings, Google Home |
What are Gladys Assistant and Home Assistant?
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
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
Gladys Assistant vs Home Assistant: key differences
Gladys Assistant is written in JavaScript, while Home Assistant is built with Python. Gladys Assistant is the lighter option, starting around 512 MB of RAM against 1,024 MB for Home Assistant. Home Assistant is the more established project (first released 2013), while Gladys Assistant arrived in 2017. Home Assistant has the considerably larger community, at 91,123 GitHub stars versus 3,201.
Why pick each one
Choose Gladys Assistant if…
- Strong privacy focus
- Beginner-friendly
Watch out for
- Smaller integration catalog
- Less powerful automations than HA
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 Gladys Assistant or Home Assistant better?
Neither is universally better. Home Assistant 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 Gladys Assistant and Home Assistant free and open-source?
Yes. Gladys Assistant is licensed under Apache-2.0 and Home Assistant under Apache-2.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Gladys Assistant and Home Assistant with Docker?
Gladys Assistant: yes. Home Assistant: yes.
Which is lighter on resources, Gladys Assistant or Home Assistant?
Gladys Assistant has the smaller minimum footprint at 512 MB of RAM, compared to about 1,024 MB for Home Assistant. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.