Home Assistant
Smart HomeA smart home hub that runs on your own hardware and controls devices locally, with automations and a web dashboard.
Open-source alternative to:
What the free edition leaves out
Scroll sideways to view all columns →The official pages do not say enough about the free edition to give a verdict. “Not confirmed” means the official pages we read did not say, so we do not guess.
| Feature | Free edition | Details | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| SSO / SAML | Not confirmed | The authentication providers page lists a built-in provider, trusted networks and a command-line provider. SSO and SAML are not mentioned. | Source ↗ |
| Role-based access control | Not confirmed | No official page states whether the free edition includes this. | – |
| Audit logs | Not confirmed | No official page states whether the free edition includes this. | – |
| Multi-user / teams | Not confirmed | The authentication page refers to a separate user configuration page for adding people and managing users. | Source ↗ |
| Backups and restore | Free | The common tasks page describes encrypted backups with automatic scheduling and restore, for every installation type. | Source ↗ |
| API access | Free | The developer docs say Home Assistant provides a REST API on the same port as the web frontend, using long-lived access tokens. | Source ↗ |
| Support SLA | Not confirmed | The Cloud page describes an optional subscription for remote access and voice assistant integrations; it does not describe support or an SLA. | Source ↗ |
Best for
People who want local control of their smart home devices and are happy to run a small server or a ready-made hub.
Why choose it over SmartThings
The core is Apache-2.0 licensed and runs on your own hardware, so your smart home keeps working when the internet is down. The project says it works fully without its optional Cloud subscription. Backups and a REST API are documented for self-hosted installs.
Where it falls short
Remote access from outside your network and the Alexa and Google Assistant integrations are offered through the optional Cloud subscription. The project describes the container install as aimed at people comfortable with the command line, and that install does not include apps. You run updates and backups yourself.
Open-source alternative to
- SmartThings — Home Assistant controls and automates smart home devices, which overlaps with SmartThings.
Python
Docker
jsonwebtoken
Sentry
Prometheus
SQLAlchemy
Pydantic
Ollama
NumPy
Pytest
MinIO
Prettier
Renovate
GitHub Actions
pnpm
