SHSelfHostIndex

Home Assistant Operating System vs Z-Wave JS UI

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 Z- Z-Wave JS UI Full-featured Z-Wave control panel and MQTT gateway
FeatureHome Assistant Operating SystemZ-Wave JS UI
CategoryHome AutomationHome Automation
LicenseApache-2.0MIT
LanguagePythonVue
Setup difficultyEasyMedium
Min. RAM1,024 MB256 MB
Deploymentone-click, bare-metaldocker, bare-metal
GitHub stars★ 7,390★ 1,234
First released20192018
ReplacesSmartThings, HubitatSmartThings

Why pick each one

Choose Home Assistant Operating System if…

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

Choose Z-Wave JS UI if…

  • Excellent Z-Wave support
  • Integrates with Home Assistant
Z-Wave JS UI details

Frequently asked questions

Is Home Assistant Operating System or Z-Wave JS UI better?

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

Are Home Assistant Operating System and Z-Wave JS UI free and open-source?

Yes. Home Assistant Operating System is licensed under Apache-2.0 and Z-Wave JS UI under MIT. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.

Can I run Home Assistant Operating System and Z-Wave JS UI with Docker?

Home Assistant Operating System: check the project docs for container support. Z-Wave JS UI: yes.

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