Homebridge vs card-mod
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?
Homebridge
Bring non-HomeKit smart devices into Apple Home
VS
card-mod
Apply custom CSS styles to Home Assistant Lovelace cards
| Feature | Homebridge | card-mod |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Home Automation | Home Automation |
| License | Apache-2.0 | MIT |
| Language | TypeScript | TypeScript |
| Setup difficulty | Easy | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 256 MB | 32 MB |
| Deployment | docker, bare-metal, binary | source |
| GitHub stars | ★ 25,444 | ★ 1,773 |
| First released | 2014 | 2019 |
| Replaces | Apple HomeKit hubs | proprietary dashboard theming tools |
Why pick each one
Choose card-mod if…
- Released under the MIT license
- Active community (1.8k GitHub stars)
- Written in TypeScript
- Tiny footprint — runs in 32 MB RAM
Frequently asked questions
Is Homebridge or card-mod better?
Homebridge is the stronger all-round pick: it has both the larger community and the simpler easy setup. Consider card-mod if its specific feature set fits your needs better.
Are Homebridge and card-mod free and open-source?
Yes. Homebridge is licensed under Apache-2.0 and card-mod under MIT. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Homebridge and card-mod with Docker?
Homebridge: yes. card-mod: check the project docs for container support.