head to head · open source
Home Assistant vs operating-system
Home Assistant has 91,123 GitHub stars, 38,747 forks, 3,527 open issues and last shipped yesterday. operating-system has 7,492 stars, 1,293 forks, 95 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. Home Assistant leads on adoption by 1,116% (91,123 vs 7,492 stars). Home Assistant is written in Python under Apache-2.0; operating-system is written in Python under Apache-2.0. Home Assistant has attracted 43% as many forks as stars, operating-system 17%. Home Assistant was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 2 topic tags (hacktoberfest, iot), 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
| Home Assistant | operating-system | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 91K | ★ 7.5K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | Python | Python |
| Last push | 2026-09-24 | 2026-09-23 |
| Forks | ⑂ 39K | ⑂ 1.3K |
| 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 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 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 operating-system
The Home Assistant Operating System is a Linux based operating system built specifically to host Home Assistant and its Apps, intended for people running Home Assistant on a single board computer such as a Raspberry Pi or ODROID, or on an x86 64 machine with UEFI firmware.
read the full operating-system overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Home Assistant or operating-system more popular?
Home Assistant has 91,123 GitHub stars and operating-system has 7,492. Home Assistant has the larger community by that measure.
Are Home Assistant and operating-system free?
Both are open source. Home Assistant is licensed under Apache-2.0 and operating-system under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Home Assistant and operating-system?
Home Assistant 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, Home Assistant or operating-system?
Choose Home Assistant if you want the larger community (91,123 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose operating-system if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.