head to head · open source
espectre vs SonoffLAN
espectre has 9,819 GitHub stars, 742 forks, 13 open issues and last shipped 3 days ago. SonoffLAN has 3,354 stars, 480 forks, 184 open issues and last shipped 11 days ago. espectre leads on adoption by 193% (9,819 vs 3,354 stars). espectre is written in Python under GPL-3.0; SonoffLAN is written in Python under MIT. espectre has attracted 8% as many forks as stars, SonoffLAN 14%. espectre was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (home-assistant), 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
| espectre | SonoffLAN | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 9.8K | ★ 3.4K |
| License | GPL-3.0 | MIT |
| Written in | Python | Python |
| Last push | 2026-11-12 | 2026-11-04 |
| Forks | ⑂ 742 | ⑂ 480 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick espectre if
- You weight community size — 9.8K stars and counting
- You want the GPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Python
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick SonoffLAN if
- You want the SonoffLAN feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches Python
- You evaluated both and SonoffLAN fits your workflow better
About espectre
ESPectre Turn an ESP32 into a private, local Wi Fi motion sensor. When someone moves through a room, they change the way Wi Fi signals travel through it. ESPectre reads those changes and reports motion in real time. No camera, no microphone, no wearable, and no dedicated radar hardware: just a supported ESP32 and the Wi Fi network already in the room. ESPectre is an open source platform that brings together ready to flash firmware, an embeddable C++ SDK, a MicroPython implementation, browser tools, a host CLI, an open dataset, open model weights, and the research workflow used to build and validate the…
read the full espectre overview →
About SonoffLAN
Control Sonoff Devices from Home Assistant Home Assistant custom component for control Sonoff devices with eWeLink (original) firmware over LAN and/or Cloud. [!CAUTION] Starting in 2026 power, current, and voltage sensors will no longer be updated via the cloud connection. These updates placed a heavy load on the eWeLink cloud. As a result, they were blocked by the cloud. Table of Contents Installation Configuration Posting new issues Configuration UI Mode Debug page Homes Configuration YAML Custom device class Custom devices Custom sensors Force update Preventing DB size growth Sonoff Pow Sonoff TH Sonoff RF…
read the full SonoffLAN overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is espectre or SonoffLAN more popular?
espectre has 9,819 GitHub stars and SonoffLAN has 3,354. espectre has the larger community by that measure.
Are espectre and SonoffLAN free?
Both are open source. espectre is licensed under GPL-3.0 and SonoffLAN under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between espectre and SonoffLAN?
espectre is written in Python and SonoffLAN in Python. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, espectre or SonoffLAN?
Choose espectre if you want the larger community (9,819 stars) or its GPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose SonoffLAN if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.