head to head · open source
espectre vs touchkio
espectre has 9,670 GitHub stars, 733 forks, 13 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. touchkio has 1,679 stars, 90 forks, 10 open issues and last shipped 1 months ago. espectre leads on adoption by 476% (9,670 vs 1,679 stars). espectre is written in Python under GPL-3.0; touchkio is written in JavaScript under MIT. espectre has attracted 8% as many forks as stars, touchkio 5%. 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 | touchkio | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 9.7K | ★ 1.7K |
| License | GPL-3.0 | MIT |
| Written in | Python | JavaScript |
| Last push | 2026-10-21 | 2026-09-17 |
| Forks | ⑂ 733 | ⑂ 90 |
| 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 touchkio if
- You want the touchkio feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches JavaScript
- You evaluated both and touchkio 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 touchkio
TouchKio TouchKio is a Node.js application that utilizes Electron to create a kiosk mode window specifically designed for a Home Assistant dashboard. This tool is packaged as a .deb file, making it easy to launch the kiosk application on any Debian based Linux hardware (e.g. Raspberry Pi ) equipped with a DSI or HDMI Touch Display. Additional releases for other Linux systems are available as .zip file. This implementation addresses common issues encountered when using the built in browser running in fullscreen mode on a Linux device with Touch Display. Moreover, the device running the kiosk application also…
read the full touchkio overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is espectre or touchkio more popular?
espectre has 9,670 GitHub stars and touchkio has 1,679. espectre has the larger community by that measure.
Are espectre and touchkio free?
Both are open source. espectre is licensed under GPL-3.0 and touchkio under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between espectre and touchkio?
espectre is written in Python and touchkio in JavaScript. 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 touchkio?
Choose espectre if you want the larger community (9,670 stars) or its GPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose touchkio if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.