head to head · open source
espectre vs spook
espectre has 9,728 GitHub stars, 739 forks, 13 open issues and last shipped yesterday. spook has 1,761 stars, 108 forks, 29 open issues and last shipped yesterday. espectre leads on adoption by 452% (9,728 vs 1,761 stars). espectre is written in Python under GPL-3.0; spook is written in Python under MIT. espectre has attracted 8% as many forks as stars, spook 6%. spook 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 | spook | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 9.7K | ★ 1.8K |
| License | GPL-3.0 | MIT |
| Written in | Python | Python |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-11-02 |
| Forks | ⑂ 739 | ⑂ 108 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick espectre if
- You weight community size — 9.7K 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 spook if
- You want the spook feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches Python
- You evaluated both and spook 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 spook
Spook 👻 Your homie. [![GitHub Release][releases shield]][releases] ![Project Stage][project stage shield] [![License][license shield]](LICENSE.md) ![Project Maintenance][maintenance shield] [![Coverage][codecov shield]][codecov] [![OpenSSF Scorecard][scorecard shield]][scorecard] About Hi! I'm Spook 👻 and I'm a custom integration for use with Home Assistant. I will extend your Home Assistant instance with a huge set of scary powerful tools. 🛠️ Learn all about me in the extensive documentation ⚠️ Just to be very clear... Spook is not affiliated with, endorsed, recommended, or supported by the Home Assistant…
read the full spook overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is espectre or spook more popular?
espectre has 9,728 GitHub stars and spook has 1,761. espectre has the larger community by that measure.
Are espectre and spook free?
Both are open source. espectre is licensed under GPL-3.0 and spook under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between espectre and spook?
espectre is written in Python and spook 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 spook?
Choose espectre if you want the larger community (9,728 stars) or its GPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose spook if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.