SHSelfHostIndex

Home Assistant Supervisor vs SmartApp Bridge

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 Supervisor Manages the Home Assistant add-on ecosystem VS SM SmartApp Bridge Self-hosted automation engine for IoT devices
FeatureHome Assistant SupervisorSmartApp Bridge
CategoryHome AutomationHome Automation
LicenseApache-2.0Apache-2.0
LanguagePythonJava
Setup difficultyMediumMedium
Min. RAM512 MB512 MB
Deploymentdocker, bare-metaldocker, bare-metal
GitHub stars★ 2,200★ 2,061
First released20172014
ReplacesSmartThingsSmartThings

Why pick each one

Choose Home Assistant Supervisor if…

  • Enables one-click add-ons
  • Simplifies maintenance
Home Assistant Supervisor details

Choose SmartApp Bridge if…

  • Released under the Apache-2.0 license
  • First-class Docker support for quick deployment
  • Active community (2.1k GitHub stars)
  • Written in Java
SmartApp Bridge details

Frequently asked questions

Is Home Assistant Supervisor or SmartApp Bridge better?

Neither is universally better. Home Assistant Supervisor has the larger community; both share a medium setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.

Are Home Assistant Supervisor and SmartApp Bridge free and open-source?

Yes. Home Assistant Supervisor is licensed under Apache-2.0 and SmartApp Bridge under Apache-2.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.

Can I run Home Assistant Supervisor and SmartApp Bridge with Docker?

Home Assistant Supervisor: yes. SmartApp Bridge: yes.

Related comparisons