head to head · open source
espectre vs vacuum-card
espectre has 9,681 GitHub stars, 736 forks, 13 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. vacuum-card has 1,262 stars, 634 forks, 23 open issues and last shipped 10 days ago. espectre leads on adoption by 667% (9,681 vs 1,262 stars). espectre is written in Python under GPL-3.0; vacuum-card is written in TypeScript under MIT. espectre has attracted 8% as many forks as stars, vacuum-card 50%. 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.
← all 20902 open source comparisons
Side by side
| espectre | vacuum-card | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 9.7K | ★ 1.3K |
| License | GPL-3.0 | MIT |
| Written in | Python | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-10-24 | 2026-10-16 |
| Forks | ⑂ 736 | ⑂ 634 |
| 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 vacuum-card if
- You want the vacuum-card feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You evaluated both and vacuum-card 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 vacuum-card
Vacuum Card [![npm version][npm image]][npm url] [![hacs][hacs image]][hacs url] [![GitHub Sponsors][gh sponsors image]][gh sponsors url] [![Patreon][patreon image]][patreon url] [![Buy Me A Coffee][buymeacoffee image]][buymeacoffee url] [![Twitter][twitter image]][twitter url] Vacuum cleaner card for [Home Assistant][home assistant] Lovelace UI By default, Home Assistant does not provide any card for controlling vacuum cleaners. This card displays the state and allows to control your robot. ![Preview of vacuum card][preview image] Installing 💡 Tip: If you like this project, consider giving me a tip for the…
read the full vacuum-card overview →
More in Miscellaneous
Related comparisons
More Internet of Things (IoT) projects
Compare either of these against the rest of the Internet of Things (IoT) field.
Frequently asked questions
Is espectre or vacuum-card more popular?
espectre has 9,681 GitHub stars and vacuum-card has 1,262. espectre has the larger community by that measure.
Are espectre and vacuum-card free?
Both are open source. espectre is licensed under GPL-3.0 and vacuum-card under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between espectre and vacuum-card?
espectre is written in Python and vacuum-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, espectre or vacuum-card?
Choose espectre if you want the larger community (9,681 stars) or its GPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose vacuum-card if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.