What is Gladys Assistant used for?

Gladys Assistant is a privacy-focused open-source smart home assistant that runs on your own hardware, such as a Raspberry Pi, mini-PC, or NAS, to automate home devices. It is a good fit for private smart home control on a Raspberry Pi and replacing cloud-based home hubs.

Is Gladys Assistant open source?

Yes. Gladys Assistant is open source under the Apache-2.0 licence. Its source code is on GitHub at GladysAssistant/Gladys and is written mainly in JavaScript.

Is Gladys Assistant free?

Yes. Gladys Assistant is open source, so the software itself is free to use. Paid plans are also available, starting at €6.99 per month.

Can I self-host Gladys Assistant?

Yes. Gladys Assistant can be self-hosted on your own server or infrastructure.

What is Gladys Assistant an alternative to?

Gladys Assistant is an open-source alternative to Apple Home, Google Home, Amazon Alexa and SmartThings. Other open-source alternatives to Apple Home include Home Assistant, openHAB and Home Assistant OS.

Is Gladys Assistant actively maintained?

Yes. The most recent commit to Gladys Assistant was on 2 October 2026, and the latest release is v5.1.3, published on 28 September 2026. The project has 3.2k stars on GitHub.

Gladys Assistant: open-source alternative to Apple Home

About Gladys Assistant

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.

Key features

Runs locally with a privacy-first design
Docker and Docker Compose installation
Works on Raspberry Pi, mini-PCs, and NAS devices
Home automation and IoT device control
Built on Node.js with community contributions

Good fit for

→Private smart home control on a Raspberry Pi
→Replacing cloud-based home hubs

Built with: JavaScript; Node.js
Tags: home-automation; smart-home; iot; raspberry-pi; privacy; self-hosted; nodejs; docker

Gladys Assistant: questions and answers

What is Gladys Assistant used for?: Gladys Assistant is a privacy-focused open-source smart home assistant that runs on your own hardware, such as a Raspberry Pi, mini-PC, or NAS, to automate home devices. It is a good fit for private smart home control on a Raspberry Pi and replacing cloud-based home hubs.
Is Gladys Assistant open source?: Yes. Gladys Assistant is open source under the Apache-2.0 licence. Its source code is on GitHub at GladysAssistant/Gladys and is written mainly in JavaScript.
Is Gladys Assistant free?: Yes. Gladys Assistant is open source, so the software itself is free to use. Paid plans are also available, starting at €6.99 per month.
Can I self-host Gladys Assistant?: Yes. Gladys Assistant can be self-hosted on your own server or infrastructure.
What is Gladys Assistant an alternative to?: Gladys Assistant is an open-source alternative to Apple Home, Google Home, Amazon Alexa and SmartThings. Other open-source alternatives to Apple Home include Home Assistant, openHAB and Home Assistant OS.
Is Gladys Assistant actively maintained?: Yes. The most recent commit to Gladys Assistant was on 2 October 2026, and the latest release is v5.1.3, published on 28 September 2026. The project has 3.2k stars on GitHub.