card-mod 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?
card-mod
Apply custom CSS styles to Home Assistant Lovelace cards
VS
Zigbee2MQTT
Bridge Zigbee devices to MQTT without vendor hubs
| Feature | card-mod | Zigbee2MQTT |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Home Automation | Home Automation |
| License | MIT | GPL-3.0 |
| Language | TypeScript | TypeScript |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 32 MB | 256 MB |
| Deployment | source | docker, bare-metal |
| GitHub stars | ★ 1,773 | ★ 15,477 |
| First released | 2019 | 2018 |
| Replaces | proprietary dashboard theming tools | SmartThings |
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
Choose Zigbee2MQTT if…
- Frees devices from vendor hubs
- Wide device support
- Local control
Frequently asked questions
Is card-mod or Zigbee2MQTT better?
Neither is universally better. Zigbee2MQTT has the larger community; both share a medium setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.
Are card-mod and Zigbee2MQTT free and open-source?
Yes. card-mod is licensed under MIT and Zigbee2MQTT under GPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run card-mod and Zigbee2MQTT with Docker?
card-mod: check the project docs for container support. Zigbee2MQTT: yes.