Open-source Tuya Smart alternatives

Home Assistant is open-source home automation software built around local control and privacy. It runs on hardware you own, such as a Raspberry Pi or a small home server, and brings smart lights, sensors, switches, thermostats and other devices together in one place. The core is written in Python and released under the Apache-2.0 license.

The documentation is organized around automations and dashboards, voice control, grouping devices by area, tracking energy use and templating, with configuration through the interface or YAML files. The project lists more than 1,500 integrations, and it can be controlled through assistants such as Alexa and Google Assistant. Companion hardware, including Home Assistant Green and the Voice Preview Edition, makes first-time setup simpler.

Home Assistant is a project of the Open Home Foundation, a non-profit that states the project cannot be sold or acquired. It suits tinkerers and DIY enthusiasts who want a home automation hub that does not depend on a single vendor's cloud, as well as people who want to unify devices from many brands under one dashboard.

Tasmota is open-source firmware for devices built on ESP8266 and ESP32 chips, such as many smart plugs, switches and sensors from Sonoff and Tuya. You flash it onto compatible hardware to replace the vendor's firmware, which gives you local control rather than dependence on a manufacturer's cloud.

Configuration happens through a web interface, and updates can be delivered over the air. Automation is available through timers and rules, and the device can be controlled locally over MQTT, HTTP, serial or KNX. It talks to your own MQTT broker or a cloud one over TLS, including AWS IoT Core and Azure IoT Hub, or can run standalone with no server at all. Integrations include Home Assistant, Domoticz, openHAB and Node-RED. The code is written in C for PlatformIO and covers the ESP32 family, such as ESP32-S2, S3, C3, C5, C6 and P4.

Tasmota is licensed under GPL-3.0 and has extensive online documentation. It is a favorite of smart-home enthusiasts who want inexpensive devices that work offline and can be fully customized. Because it is firmware, it needs compatible hardware and some willingness to flash devices, so it suits hobbyists and installers more than casual users.

ESPHome is a system for creating custom smart home devices from inexpensive microcontrollers such as the ESP32, ESP8266, BK72xx and RP2040 chips. Instead of writing firmware by hand, you describe the device in a simple configuration file, and ESPHome generates and builds the firmware for sensors, switches, displays and similar hardware.

A visual Device Builder lets beginners set up devices without a command line, while experienced users can edit YAML directly. Devices can be updated wirelessly over WiFi, choose from hundreds of modular components, and run under local control on your own network without the cloud. They integrate with Home Assistant out of the box and can also report over MQTT. PlatformIO is used under the hood.

The project is written in C++ and Python, and its code is covered by licenses listed in the repository. The site offers documentation, a component list, a device list, a blog and an ESPHome Starter Kit for people who want to start building without soldering. Releases follow a year and month version scheme.

Gladys Assistant is an open-source home assistant that puts privacy first: it runs on a machine in your home and keeps your smart home data local. It has been developed since 2015 and is written in JavaScript on Node.js. The code is released under the Apache-2.0 license.

It is aimed at home automation and IoT setups, where you connect devices and build automations around them from one place. A local instance can be started quickly with Docker or Docker Compose, and the project provides step-by-step installation guides for a mini-PC, a NAS, or a Raspberry Pi, which makes it practical to run on small, always-on hardware.

Gladys is developed by a community that welcomes code, documentation, translations, and feature ideas, and the repository includes guides for contributors. It suits people who want to control a smart home without sending data to a cloud service, and who are comfortable running a small server at home.

openHAB Core contains the core bundles of the openHAB runtime, an open-source platform for home automation and the Internet of Things. The README is explicit that Core is not a product by itself but a framework for building solutions on top of it. The repository is mainly an artifact repository of OSGi bundles that the main openHAB distribution picks up and that can be used within smart home products.

Building it uses Maven and a Java SE Development Kit 21. The README walks through checking out the source, setting Maven options, and running a clean install with the spotless formatter, with quicker variants that skip tests or checks for faster local builds. The code is Java and licensed under EPL-2.0.

People who want to run openHAB at home normally install the main distribution instead of building Core. The repository itself is aimed at developers and contributors, and it points to contribution guidelines. Topics mention home automation, the Internet of Things and Java.