head to head · open source
operating-system vs custom-brand-icons
operating-system has 7,618 GitHub stars, 1,329 forks, 95 open issues and last shipped yesterday. custom-brand-icons has 1,122 stars, 167 forks, 8 open issues and last shipped yesterday. operating-system leads on adoption by 579% (7,618 vs 1,122 stars). operating-system is written in Python under Apache-2.0; custom-brand-icons is written in JavaScript under MIT. operating-system has attracted 17% as many forks as stars, custom-brand-icons 15%. operating-system 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
| operating-system | custom-brand-icons | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 7.6K | ★ 1.1K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | MIT |
| Written in | Python | JavaScript |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-11-02 |
| Forks | ⑂ 1.3K | ⑂ 167 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick operating-system if
- You weight community size — 7.6K 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 custom-brand-icons if
- You want the custom-brand-icons feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches JavaScript
- You evaluated both and custom-brand-icons fits your workflow better
About operating-system
Home Assistant Operating System Home Assistant Operating System (formerly HassOS) is a Linux based operating system optimized to host Home Assistant and its Apps. Home Assistant Operating System uses Docker as its container engine. By default it deploys the Home Assistant Supervisor as a container. Home Assistant Supervisor in turn uses the Docker container engine to control Home Assistant Core and Apps in separate containers. Home Assistant Operating System is not based on a regular Linux distribution like Ubuntu. It is built using Buildroot and it is optimized to run Home Assistant. It targets single board…
read the full operating-system overview →
About custom-brand-icons
[![MIT License][mit shield]][mit license] [mit license]: [mit shield]: Custom brand icons Custom brand icons use the prefix phu: Append Name (of the icon) after phu: Example: phu:eggs Example: phu:chicken 🇮🇹 Special Note for Italian Users Are you monitoring your energy costs in Home Assistant? Check out my latest project: Card Bolletta . It’s a custom card specifically designed for the Italian energy market. It helps you estimate your monthly bill in real time, including taxes (IVA), system charges (Oneri di sistema), and excise duties (Accise). Key features: Support for F1, F2, F3 price brackets. Real time…
read the full custom-brand-icons overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is operating-system or custom-brand-icons more popular?
operating-system has 7,618 GitHub stars and custom-brand-icons has 1,122. operating-system has the larger community by that measure.
Are operating-system and custom-brand-icons free?
Both are open source. operating-system is licensed under Apache-2.0 and custom-brand-icons under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between operating-system and custom-brand-icons?
operating-system is written in Python and custom-brand-icons 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, operating-system or custom-brand-icons?
Choose operating-system if you want the larger community (7,618 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose custom-brand-icons if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.