SHSelfHostIndex

Node-RED Dashboard 2.0 vs ThingsBoard

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?
NO Node-RED Dashboard 2.0 Modern data-driven dashboard for Node-RED flows VS TH ThingsBoard Open-source IoT platform for device management and data
FeatureNode-RED Dashboard 2.0ThingsBoard
CategoryHome AutomationHome Automation
LicenseApache-2.0Apache-2.0
LanguageHTMLJava
Setup difficultyEasyHard
Min. RAM256 MB2,048 MB
Deploymentdocker, bare-metaldocker, kubernetes, bare-metal
GitHub stars★ 351★ 22,200
First released20232017
ReplacesHome Assistant LovelaceAWS IoT, Azure IoT

Why pick each one

Choose Node-RED Dashboard 2.0 if…

  • Released under the Apache-2.0 license
  • Easy to set up — beginner-friendly
  • First-class Docker support for quick deployment
  • Written in HTML
Node-RED Dashboard 2.0 details

Choose ThingsBoard if…

  • Powerful IoT platform
  • Highly customizable dashboards
ThingsBoard details

Frequently asked questions

Is Node-RED Dashboard 2.0 or ThingsBoard better?

Neither is universally better. ThingsBoard has the larger community, while Node-RED Dashboard 2.0 is simpler to set up (easy difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.

Are Node-RED Dashboard 2.0 and ThingsBoard free and open-source?

Yes. Node-RED Dashboard 2.0 is licensed under Apache-2.0 and ThingsBoard under Apache-2.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.

Can I run Node-RED Dashboard 2.0 and ThingsBoard with Docker?

Node-RED Dashboard 2.0: yes. ThingsBoard: yes.

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