Bubble Card vs Mosquitto
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?
Bubble Card
Minimalist mobile-first card pack for Home Assistant
VS
Mosquitto
Lightweight MQTT message broker
| Feature | Bubble Card | Mosquitto |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Home Automation | Home Automation |
| License | MIT | EPL-2.0 |
| Language | JavaScript | C |
| Setup difficulty | Easy | Easy |
| Min. RAM | 64 MB | 64 MB |
| Deployment | bare-metal | docker, bare-metal |
| GitHub stars | ★ 4,481 | ★ 11,101 |
| First released | 2023 | 2009 |
| Replaces | SmartThings app | SmartThings |
Why pick each one
Choose Bubble Card if…
- Released under the MIT license
- Easy to set up — beginner-friendly
- Active community (4.5k GitHub stars)
- Written in JavaScript
Choose Mosquitto if…
- Extremely lightweight
- Rock-solid reliability
- Ubiquitous in smart homes
Frequently asked questions
Is Bubble Card or Mosquitto better?
Neither is universally better. Mosquitto has the larger community; both share a easy setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.
Are Bubble Card and Mosquitto free and open-source?
Yes. Bubble Card is licensed under MIT and Mosquitto under EPL-2.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Bubble Card and Mosquitto with Docker?
Bubble Card: check the project docs for container support. Mosquitto: yes.