head to head · open source
operating-system vs home-assistant-glow
operating-system has 7,491 GitHub stars, 1,293 forks, 95 open issues and last shipped yesterday. home-assistant-glow has 1,269 stars, 182 forks, 12 open issues and last shipped 4 days ago. operating-system leads on adoption by 490% (7,491 vs 1,269 stars). operating-system is written in Python under Apache-2.0; home-assistant-glow is written in various languages under MIT. operating-system has attracted 17% as many forks as stars, home-assistant-glow 14%. operating-system was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 3 topic tags (hacktoberfest, home-assistant, 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
| operating-system | home-assistant-glow | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 7.5K | ★ 1.3K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | MIT |
| Written in | Python | — |
| Last push | 2026-09-24 | 2026-09-21 |
| Forks | ⑂ 1.3K | ⑂ 182 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick operating-system if
- You weight community size — 7.5K 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 home-assistant-glow if
- You want the home-assistant-glow feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- You evaluated both and home-assistant-glow fits your workflow better
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 →
About home-assistant-glow
Home Assistant Glow is an open source firmware and hardware project that reads the pulse LED on an electricity meter and sends those measurements to Home Assistant, built for home automation users whose meter has no P1 port and who are willing to assemble a small ESP based sensor themselves.
read the full home-assistant-glow overview →
More in Miscellaneous
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Frequently asked questions
Is operating-system or home-assistant-glow more popular?
operating-system has 7,491 GitHub stars and home-assistant-glow has 1,269. operating-system has the larger community by that measure.
Are operating-system and home-assistant-glow free?
Both are open source. operating-system is licensed under Apache-2.0 and home-assistant-glow under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between operating-system and home-assistant-glow?
operating-system is written in Python and home-assistant-glow in various languages. 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 home-assistant-glow?
Choose operating-system if you want the larger community (7,491 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose home-assistant-glow if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.