head to head · open source
n8n vs homie-esp8266
n8n has 205,086 GitHub stars, 60,753 forks, 1,143 open issues and last shipped today. homie-esp8266 has 1,374 stars, 305 forks, 89 open issues and last shipped 7 months ago. n8n leads on adoption by 14,826% (205,086 vs 1,374 stars). n8n is written in TypeScript under a custom or non-standard licence; homie-esp8266 is written in HTML under MIT. n8n has attracted 30% as many forks as stars, homie-esp8266 22%. n8n 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.
← all 8884 open source comparisons
Side by side
| n8n | homie-esp8266 | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 205K | ★ 1.4K |
| License | Custom / other | MIT |
| Written in | TypeScript | HTML |
| Last push | 2026-09-18 | 2026-03-06 |
| Forks | ⑂ 61K | ⑂ 305 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick n8n if
- You weight community size — 205K stars and counting
- You want the Custom / other license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick homie-esp8266 if
- You want the homie-esp8266 feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches HTML
- You evaluated both and homie-esp8266 fits your workflow better
About n8n
n8n is a visual workflow automation platform built in TypeScript that combines a drag and drop editor with custom code execution. It lives in the integration and automation ecosystem, positioned as an open alternative to proprietary services like Zapier. Users design multi step workflows—called “n8n flows”—that connect apps, services, and custom logic to automate repetitive tasks.
About homie-esp8266
Homie for ESP8266 / ESP32 An Arduino for ESP8266 / ESP32 implementation of Homie, an MQTT convention for the IoT. This branch of Homie for ESP8266 implements Homie 3.0.1 and adds support for ESP32. Download The Git repository contains the development version of Homie for ESP8266. Stable releases are available on the releases page. Using with PlatformIO PlatformIO is an open source ecosystem for IoT development with cross platform build system, library manager and full support for Espressif ESP8266 development. It works on the popular host OS: Mac OS X, Windows, Linux 32/64, Linux ARM (like Raspberry Pi, BeagleBon…
read the full homie-esp8266 overview →
More in Productivity & Utilities
Related comparisons
More Automation projects
Compare either of these against the rest of the Automation field.
Frequently asked questions
Is n8n or homie-esp8266 more popular?
n8n has 205,086 GitHub stars and homie-esp8266 has 1,374. n8n has the larger community by that measure.
Are n8n and homie-esp8266 free?
Both are open source. n8n has no licence declared in this registry, and homie-esp8266 is licensed under MIT. Both are free to self-host.
What is the difference between n8n and homie-esp8266?
n8n is written in TypeScript and homie-esp8266 in HTML. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, n8n or homie-esp8266?
Choose n8n if you want the larger community (205,086 stars) or its Custom / other licence terms. Choose homie-esp8266 if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.