head to head · open source
Home Assistant vs waterfox
Home Assistant has 90,654 GitHub stars, 38,685 forks, 3,527 open issues and last shipped yesterday. waterfox has 6,291 stars, 431 forks, 332 open issues and last shipped 3 days ago. Home Assistant leads on adoption by 1,341% (90,654 vs 6,291 stars). Home Assistant is written in Python under Apache-2.0; waterfox is written in JavaScript under a custom or non-standard licence. Home Assistant has attracted 43% as many forks as stars, waterfox 7%. Home Assistant was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee.
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
| Home Assistant | waterfox | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 91K | ★ 6.3K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | Custom / other |
| Written in | Python | JavaScript |
| Last push | 2026-09-17 | 2026-09-15 |
| Forks | ⑂ 39K | ⑂ 431 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick Home Assistant if
- You weight community size — 91K stars and counting
- You want the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Python
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick waterfox if
- You want the waterfox feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Custom / other license terms
- Your stack matches JavaScript
- You evaluated both and waterfox fits your workflow better
About Home Assistant
Home Assistant is an open source home automation platform that runs locally on devices such as Raspberry Pi or a personal server. It enables users to control and automate smart home devices—including lights, thermostats, locks, and sensors—without relying on cloud services. Built in Python with an asyncio event loop, it emphasizes local processing and data sovereignty, ensuring all device data remains under the user’s control.
read the full Home Assistant overview →
About waterfox
Waterfox is an open source web browser built on Mozilla Firefox, with source code maintained in this repository. The project describes itself as a customisable browser based on the Mozilla Firefox codebase, and the tree contains both the upstream Mozilla platform code and the Waterfox specific product layer that sits on top of it. It lives in the JavaScript and Gecko browser ecosystem, sharing the rendering engine, build system and testing tooling that Mozilla maintains for Firefox. The browser is distributed to end users through the project's own website, while the source distribution here targets people who wan…
read the full waterfox overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Home Assistant or waterfox more popular?
Home Assistant has 90,654 GitHub stars and waterfox has 6,291. Home Assistant has the larger community by that measure.
Are Home Assistant and waterfox free?
Both are open source. Home Assistant is licensed under Apache-2.0, and waterfox has no licence declared in this registry. Both are free to self-host.
What is the difference between Home Assistant and waterfox?
Home Assistant is written in Python and waterfox 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, Home Assistant or waterfox?
Choose Home Assistant if you want the larger community (90,654 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose waterfox if its feature set, stack or Custom / other licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.