SHSelfHostIndex

Home Assistant Operating System vs Home Assistant Companion

A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted home automation options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.

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HO Home Assistant Operating System Embedded operating system optimized for Home Assistant VS HO Home Assistant Companion Self-hosted backend pairing for Home Assistant mobile apps
FeatureHome Assistant Operating SystemHome Assistant Companion
CategoryHome AutomationHome Automation
LicenseApache-2.0Apache-2.0
LanguagePythonKotlin
Setup difficultyEasyEasy
Min. RAM1,024 MB64 MB
Deploymentone-click, bare-metalsource
GitHub stars★ 7,390★ 3,788
First released20192020
ReplacesSmartThings, HubitatGoogle Home app

Why pick each one

Choose Home Assistant Operating System if…

  • Easiest full-featured HA install
  • Managed add-ons
Home Assistant Operating System details

Choose Home Assistant Companion if…

  • Turns phones into sensors
  • Tight HA integration
Home Assistant Companion details

Frequently asked questions

Is Home Assistant Operating System or Home Assistant Companion better?

Neither is universally better. Home Assistant Operating System has the larger community; both share a easy setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.

Are Home Assistant Operating System and Home Assistant Companion free and open-source?

Yes. Home Assistant Operating System is licensed under Apache-2.0 and Home Assistant Companion under Apache-2.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.

Can I run Home Assistant Operating System and Home Assistant Companion with Docker?

Home Assistant Operating System: check the project docs for container support. Home Assistant Companion: check the project docs for container support.

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