SHSelfHostIndex

Home Assistant Companion vs Zigbee2MQTT

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 Companion Self-hosted backend pairing for Home Assistant mobile apps VS ZI Zigbee2MQTT Bridge Zigbee devices to MQTT without vendor hubs
FeatureHome Assistant CompanionZigbee2MQTT
CategoryHome AutomationHome Automation
LicenseApache-2.0GPL-3.0
LanguageKotlinTypeScript
Setup difficultyEasyMedium
Min. RAM64 MB256 MB
Deploymentsourcedocker, bare-metal
GitHub stars★ 3,788★ 15,477
First released20202018
ReplacesGoogle Home appSmartThings

Why pick each one

Choose Home Assistant Companion if…

  • Turns phones into sensors
  • Tight HA integration
Home Assistant Companion details

Choose Zigbee2MQTT if…

  • Frees devices from vendor hubs
  • Wide device support
  • Local control
Zigbee2MQTT details

Frequently asked questions

Is Home Assistant Companion or Zigbee2MQTT better?

Neither is universally better. Zigbee2MQTT has the larger community, while Home Assistant Companion is simpler to set up (easy difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.

Are Home Assistant Companion and Zigbee2MQTT free and open-source?

Yes. Home Assistant Companion is licensed under Apache-2.0 and Zigbee2MQTT under GPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.

Can I run Home Assistant Companion and Zigbee2MQTT with Docker?

Home Assistant Companion: check the project docs for container support. Zigbee2MQTT: yes.

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