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Home Assistant Operating System 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.

Not the right match-up?
HO Home Assistant Operating System Embedded operating system optimized for Home Assistant VS OP OpenHAB Cloud Companion cloud service for remote openHAB access
FeatureHome Assistant Operating SystemOpenHAB Cloud
Deploy effort≈5-minute setupUnder-an-hour setup
Health score91 · Excellent75 · Good
CategoryHome AutomationHome Automation
LicenseApache-2.0EPL-2.0
LanguagePythonTypeScript
Setup difficultyEasyHard
Min. RAM1,024 MB512 MB
Deploymentone-click, bare-metaldocker, bare-metal
GitHub stars★ 7,492★ 306
First released20192014
ReplacesSmartThings, HubitatSmartThings

What are Home Assistant Operating System and OpenHAB Cloud?

Home Assistant Operating System

Home Assistant Operating System is a minimal embedded OS designed to run the Home Assistant smart home platform with add-on support. It manages updates and add-ons through the Supervisor.

  • Purpose-built OS for HA
  • Add-on store via Supervisor
  • Automatic updates
  • Runs on Pi and x86

Read the full Home Assistant Operating System guide →

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

Home Assistant Operating System vs OpenHAB Cloud: key differences

Home Assistant Operating System is written in Python, while OpenHAB Cloud is built with TypeScript. Licensing differs — Apache-2.0 for Home Assistant Operating System versus EPL-2.0 for OpenHAB Cloud. OpenHAB Cloud is the lighter option, starting around 512 MB of RAM against 1,024 MB for Home Assistant Operating System. OpenHAB Cloud is the more established project (first released 2014), while Home Assistant Operating System arrived in 2019. Home Assistant Operating System has the considerably larger community, at 7,492 GitHub stars versus 306. OpenHAB Cloud lists first-class Docker deployment; Home Assistant Operating System does not.

Why pick each one

Choose Home Assistant Operating System if…

  • Easiest full-featured HA install
  • Managed add-ons

Watch out for

  • Takes over the whole device
  • Less general-purpose
Home Assistant Operating System details

Choose OpenHAB Cloud if…

  • Keeps data under your control
  • Enables remote control

Watch out for

  • Requires MongoDB
  • Setup is involved
OpenHAB Cloud details

Frequently asked questions

Is Home Assistant Operating System or OpenHAB Cloud better?

Home Assistant Operating System 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 Home Assistant Operating System and OpenHAB Cloud free and open-source?

Yes. Home Assistant Operating System 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 Home Assistant Operating System and OpenHAB Cloud with Docker?

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

Which is lighter on resources, Home Assistant Operating System or OpenHAB Cloud?

OpenHAB Cloud has the smaller minimum footprint at 512 MB of RAM, compared to about 1,024 MB for Home Assistant Operating System. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.

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