SHSelfHostIndex

Home Assistant Supervisor vs Zwave-JS Server

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 ZW Zwave-JS Server Small server wrapping the Z-Wave JS driver over WebSocket
FeatureHome Assistant SupervisorZwave-JS Server
CategoryHome AutomationHome Automation
LicenseApache-2.0Apache-2.0
LanguagePythonTypeScript
Setup difficultyMediumMedium
Min. RAM512 MB128 MB
Deploymentdocker, bare-metaldocker, binary
GitHub stars★ 2,200★ 162
First released20172021
ReplacesSmartThingsSmartThings

Why pick each one

Choose Home Assistant Supervisor if…

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

Choose Zwave-JS Server if…

  • Decouples driver from clients
  • Reliable
Zwave-JS Server details

Frequently asked questions

Is Home Assistant Supervisor or Zwave-JS Server 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 Zwave-JS Server free and open-source?

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

Can I run Home Assistant Supervisor and Zwave-JS Server with Docker?

Home Assistant Supervisor: yes. Zwave-JS Server: yes.

Related comparisons