Home Assistant vs ioBroker
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted home automation options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
Home Assistant
Open-source home automation that puts privacy first
VS
ioBroker
Integration platform for the Internet of Things
| Feature | Home Assistant | ioBroker |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | ≈5-minute setup | Under-an-hour setup |
| Health score | 100 · Excellent | 84 · Excellent |
| Category | Home Automation | Home Automation |
| License | Apache-2.0 | MIT |
| Language | Python | Shell |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 1,024 MB | 1,024 MB |
| Deployment | docker, bare-metal, one-click | docker, bare-metal |
| GitHub stars | ★ 91,123 | ★ 1,377 |
| First released | 2013 | 2014 |
| Replaces | SmartThings, Google Home | SmartThings, Hubitat |
What are Home Assistant and ioBroker?
Home Assistant
Home Assistant is an open-source home automation platform that integrates thousands of smart devices and runs automations locally. It targets anyone wanting private, vendor-neutral smart home control. It is deployed as an OS image, Docker, or supervised install.
- Integrates thousands of devices
- Local-first automations
- Add-on ecosystem
- Powerful dashboards
ioBroker
ioBroker is an open-source IoT integration platform that connects and automates devices across many protocols and vendors. It uses adapters to bring smart home systems together under one logic engine.
- Hundreds of adapters
- JavaScript automation engine
- Multi-protocol device support
- Flexible visualization
Home Assistant vs ioBroker: key differences
Home Assistant is written in Python, while ioBroker is built with Shell. Licensing differs — Apache-2.0 for Home Assistant versus MIT for ioBroker. Home Assistant has the considerably larger community, at 91,123 GitHub stars versus 1,377.
Why pick each one
Choose Home Assistant if…
- Huge device support
- Local control and privacy
- Very active community
Watch out for
- Learning curve for automations
- Occasional breaking updates
Choose ioBroker if…
- Extremely flexible
- Huge adapter ecosystem
Watch out for
- Steep learning curve
- Setup can be complex
Frequently asked questions
Is Home Assistant or ioBroker better?
Neither is universally better. Home Assistant has the larger community; both share a medium setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.
Are Home Assistant and ioBroker free and open-source?
Yes. Home Assistant is licensed under Apache-2.0 and ioBroker under MIT. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Home Assistant and ioBroker with Docker?
Home Assistant: yes. ioBroker: yes.