HACS vs ThingsBoard
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?
HACS
Community store for custom Home Assistant integrations and themes
VS
ThingsBoard
Open-source IoT platform for device management and data
| Feature | HACS | ThingsBoard |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Home Automation | Home Automation |
| License | MIT | Apache-2.0 |
| Language | Python | Java |
| Setup difficulty | Easy | Hard |
| Min. RAM | 64 MB | 2,048 MB |
| Deployment | source | docker, kubernetes, bare-metal |
| GitHub stars | ★ 7,603 | ★ 22,200 |
| First released | 2019 | 2017 |
| Replaces | SmartThings community add-ons | AWS IoT, Azure IoT |
Why pick each one
Choose HACS if…
- Released under the MIT license
- Easy to set up — beginner-friendly
- Mature project with 7.6k GitHub stars
- Written in Python
Frequently asked questions
Is HACS or ThingsBoard better?
Neither is universally better. ThingsBoard has the larger community, while HACS is simpler to set up (easy difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.
Are HACS and ThingsBoard free and open-source?
Yes. HACS is licensed under MIT and ThingsBoard under Apache-2.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run HACS and ThingsBoard with Docker?
HACS: check the project docs for container support. ThingsBoard: yes.