Rhasspy 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?
Rhasspy
Offline, private voice assistant for home automation
VS
ThingsBoard
Open-source IoT platform for device management and data
| Feature | Rhasspy | ThingsBoard |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Home Automation | Home Automation |
| License | MIT | Apache-2.0 |
| Language | Shell | Java |
| Setup difficulty | Hard | Hard |
| Min. RAM | 1,024 MB | 2,048 MB |
| Deployment | docker, bare-metal | docker, kubernetes, bare-metal |
| GitHub stars | ★ 2,752 | ★ 22,200 |
| First released | 2019 | 2017 |
| Replaces | Amazon Alexa, Google Assistant | AWS IoT, Azure IoT |
Why pick each one
Frequently asked questions
Is Rhasspy or ThingsBoard better?
Neither is universally better. ThingsBoard has the larger community; both share a hard setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.
Are Rhasspy and ThingsBoard free and open-source?
Yes. Rhasspy is licensed under MIT and ThingsBoard under Apache-2.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Rhasspy and ThingsBoard with Docker?
Rhasspy: yes. ThingsBoard: yes.