Home Assistant vs openHAB
Both are alternatives to Proprietary Smart-Home Hubs. Here's how they stack up — verified facts, no spin.
Also searched as openHAB vs Home Assistant — same comparison, one verdict.
Home Assistant
TOP PICKLocal-first home automation on hardware you own.
Home Assistant is the open-source home-automation platform that runs entirely on your own device — a Raspberry Pi, a mini-PC, or the purpose-built Home Assistant Green/Yellow. It integrates thousands of devices locally, so your home keeps working with the internet down and nothing phones home unless you allow it.
openHAB
Vendor-neutral, local home automation from the Eclipse Foundation.
openHAB is a Java-based, open-source automation platform that runs locally and integrates a wide range of technologies behind a vendor-neutral abstraction, so your rules aren't tied to any one manufacturer's cloud.
Side by side
| Home Assistant | openHAB | |
|---|---|---|
| Sovereignty Score | 95 | 88 |
| Open source | Yes | Yes |
| Self-hostable | Yes | Yes |
| Local-first | Yes | Yes |
| License | Apache-2.0 | EPL-2.0 |
| Pricing | Free / open-source (runs on your own hardware) | Free / open-source |
Home Assistant is Macrostack's recommended Proprietary Smart-Home Hubs alternative, so it's our pick here.
Home Assistant
Strengths
- +Local control — works offline
- +Integrates thousands of devices and brands
- +Huge, active community
Trade-offs
- −Initial setup takes some tinkering
- −You maintain your own hardware
openHAB
Strengths
- +Runs locally, vendor-neutral
- +Very broad protocol support
- +Backed by the Eclipse Foundation
Trade-offs
- −Rule syntax has a learning curve
- −Smaller community than Home Assistant
More Proprietary Smart-Home Hubs head-to-heads
Related alternative guides
Facts verified 2026-07-04. Licenses and pricing change — spotted something out of date? That's a correction we want.