The best Smart Home
Every option ranked — open-source, self-hostable, and commercial — by our transparent Sovereignty Score, with honest trade-offs so you choose what fits you, not us.
Break out of closed smart-home ecosystems — run automation locally on hardware you own.
L5Applications — layer 5 of the AI stack- 1
Home Assistant
Top pickOpen sourceLocal-first home automation on hardware you own.
Free / open-source (runs on your own hardware) · in our Proprietary Smart-Home Hubs comparison →
What is Home Assistant? →95sovereignty - 2
openHAB
Open sourceVendor-neutral, local home automation from the Eclipse Foundation.
Free / open-source · in our Proprietary Smart-Home Hubs comparison →
What is openHAB? →88sovereignty - 3
Hubitat Elevation
CommercialA local-processing hub for people who don't want to tinker.
One-time hardware purchase; no required subscription · in our Proprietary Smart-Home Hubs comparison →
What is Hubitat Elevation? →70sovereignty
Run these yourself
What each one actually needs — real RAM, honest running cost, and the setup time nobody quotes.
- Self-hosting Home Assistant 4 GB once you add add-ons and a database
- Self-hosting openHAB 2 GB — the JVM is the floor
- Self-hosting Hubitat Elevation Nothing to provision; the hub is the whole system. You only need a browser on your phone or laptop to reach the hub's local web interface
Replacing a specific tool?
Head-to-head comparisons for each popular smart home product.
Straight head-to-heads
Two smart home tools, side by side — verified facts and a plain verdict.