SmartIR 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?
SmartIR
Climate, TV, and fan control via IR controllers
VS
ThingsBoard
Open-source IoT platform for device management and data
| Feature | SmartIR | ThingsBoard |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Home Automation | Home Automation |
| License | MIT | Apache-2.0 |
| Language | Python | Java |
| Setup difficulty | Easy | Hard |
| Min. RAM | 64 MB | 2,048 MB |
| Deployment | source | docker, kubernetes, bare-metal |
| GitHub stars | ★ 236 | ★ 22,200 |
| First released | 2018 | 2017 |
| Replaces | Sensibo | AWS IoT, Azure IoT |
Why pick each one
Frequently asked questions
Is SmartIR or ThingsBoard better?
Neither is universally better. ThingsBoard has the larger community, while SmartIR is simpler to set up (easy difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.
Are SmartIR and ThingsBoard free and open-source?
Yes. SmartIR is licensed under MIT and ThingsBoard under Apache-2.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run SmartIR and ThingsBoard with Docker?
SmartIR: check the project docs for container support. ThingsBoard: yes.