Gladys Assistant vs OpenHAB Cloud
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted home automation options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
| Feature | Gladys Assistant | OpenHAB Cloud |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Under-an-hour setup | Under-an-hour setup |
| Health score | 88 · Excellent | 75 · Good |
| Category | Home Automation | Home Automation |
| License | Apache-2.0 | EPL-2.0 |
| Language | JavaScript | TypeScript |
| Setup difficulty | Easy | Hard |
| Min. RAM | 512 MB | 512 MB |
| Deployment | docker, bare-metal | docker, bare-metal |
| GitHub stars | ★ 3,201 | ★ 306 |
| First released | 2017 | 2014 |
| Replaces | SmartThings, Google Home | SmartThings |
What are Gladys Assistant and OpenHAB Cloud?
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
OpenHAB Cloud
openHAB Cloud is the self-hostable companion service that provides remote access, notifications, and integrations for openHAB installations. It bridges local openHAB instances to external services securely.
- Remote openHAB access
- Push notifications
- IFTTT and voice integrations
- Self-hostable backend
Gladys Assistant vs OpenHAB Cloud: key differences
Gladys Assistant is written in JavaScript, while OpenHAB Cloud is built with TypeScript. Licensing differs — Apache-2.0 for Gladys Assistant versus EPL-2.0 for OpenHAB Cloud. OpenHAB Cloud is the more established project (first released 2014), while Gladys Assistant arrived in 2017. Gladys Assistant has the considerably larger community, at 3,201 GitHub stars versus 306.
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 OpenHAB Cloud if…
- Keeps data under your control
- Enables remote control
Watch out for
- Requires MongoDB
- Setup is involved
Frequently asked questions
Is Gladys Assistant or OpenHAB Cloud better?
Gladys Assistant is the stronger all-round pick: it has both the larger community and the simpler easy setup. Consider OpenHAB Cloud if its specific feature set fits your needs better.
Are Gladys Assistant and OpenHAB Cloud free and open-source?
Yes. Gladys Assistant is licensed under Apache-2.0 and OpenHAB Cloud under EPL-2.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Gladys Assistant and OpenHAB Cloud with Docker?
Gladys Assistant: yes. OpenHAB Cloud: yes.