head to head · open source
espectre vs operating-system
espectre has 9,778 GitHub stars, 743 forks, 13 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. operating-system has 7,634 stars, 1,335 forks, 95 open issues and last shipped 3 days ago. espectre leads on adoption by 28% (9,778 vs 7,634 stars). espectre is written in Python under GPL-3.0; operating-system is written in Python under Apache-2.0. espectre has attracted 8% as many forks as stars, operating-system 17%. 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 | operating-system | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 9.8K | ★ 7.6K |
| License | GPL-3.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | Python | Python |
| Last push | 2026-11-07 | 2026-11-06 |
| Forks | ⑂ 743 | ⑂ 1.3K |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick espectre if
- You weight community size — 9.8K 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 operating-system if
- You want the operating-system feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Python
- You evaluated both and operating-system 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 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 →
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Frequently asked questions
Is espectre or operating-system more popular?
espectre has 9,778 GitHub stars and operating-system has 7,634. espectre has the larger community by that measure.
Are espectre and operating-system free?
Both are open source. espectre is licensed under GPL-3.0 and operating-system under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between espectre and operating-system?
espectre is written in Python and operating-system in Python. 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 operating-system?
Choose espectre if you want the larger community (9,778 stars) or its GPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose operating-system if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.