SHSelfHostIndex

Home Assistant Operating System vs openHAB

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?
HO Home Assistant Operating System Embedded operating system optimized for Home Assistant VS OP openHAB Vendor-neutral open-source home automation
FeatureHome Assistant Operating SystemopenHAB
CategoryHome AutomationHome Automation
LicenseApache-2.0EPL-2.0
LanguagePythonJava
Setup difficultyEasyHard
Min. RAM1,024 MB1,024 MB
Deploymentone-click, bare-metaldocker, bare-metal
GitHub stars★ 7,390★ 1,134
First released20192010
ReplacesSmartThings, HubitatSmartThings, Google Home

Why pick each one

Choose Home Assistant Operating System if…

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

Choose openHAB if…

  • Very flexible
  • Vendor neutral
  • Mature project
openHAB details

Frequently asked questions

Is Home Assistant Operating System or openHAB better?

Home Assistant Operating System is the stronger all-round pick: it has both the larger community and the simpler easy setup. Consider openHAB if its specific feature set fits your needs better.

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

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

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

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

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