head to head · open source
android vs button-card
android has 3,903 GitHub stars, 1,067 forks, 458 open issues and last shipped yesterday. button-card has 2,501 stars, 280 forks, 31 open issues and last shipped 11 days ago. android leads on adoption by 56% (3,903 vs 2,501 stars). android is written in Kotlin under Apache-2.0; button-card is written in TypeScript under MIT. android has attracted 27% as many forks as stars, button-card 11%. android was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 2 topic tags (home-assistant, home-automation), so they are genuine substitutes rather than adjacent tools.
Two open source projects, one decision. Both are free and self-hostable — the differences are community size, license terms, language stack and release pace.
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Side by side
| android | button-card | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 3.9K | ★ 2.5K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | MIT |
| Written in | Kotlin | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-09-19 | 2026-09-09 |
| Forks | ⑂ 1.1K | ⑂ 280 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick android if
- You weight community size — 3.9K stars and counting
- You want the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Kotlin
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick button-card if
- You want the button-card feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You evaluated both and button-card fits your workflow better
About android
The Home Assistant Companion for Android is the official Android application for Home Assistant, an open source home automation platform. It is written in Kotlin, released under the Apache 2.0 license, and distributed as an open source app for Android devices. The project sits inside the Home Assistant ecosystem and connects a mobile client to a user's Home Assistant instance.
read the full android overview →
About button-card
button card is a custom Lovelace card for Home Assistant. It presents entities as configurable buttons and supports many options for appearance, actions, and state display. It lives in the Home Assistant ecosystem, specifically the Lovelace UI, and is distributed as a community custom card with stable and development releases.
read the full button-card overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is android or button-card more popular?
android has 3,903 GitHub stars and button-card has 2,501. android has the larger community by that measure.
Are android and button-card free?
Both are open source. android is licensed under Apache-2.0 and button-card under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between android and button-card?
android is written in Kotlin and button-card in TypeScript. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, android or button-card?
Choose android if you want the larger community (3,903 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose button-card if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.