Comparisons
A Home Assistant alternative: a local smart home system with professional installation
The same local control — without the hands-on maintenance.
A short, honest comparison of the three roads to a smart home: cloud ecosystems, do-it-yourself platforms and a local system installed for you.
In short
Home Assistant is a powerful DIY platform with a huge community, but it asks you to build, configure in YAML and maintain it yourself. HoumeOS is the Home Assistant alternative for households that want the same local-first control — a server inside your LAN, no cloud — with a finished kiosk interface, visual rules and a professional installation carried with responsibility and a warranty.
The three roads to a smart home
The first is the vendor cloud ecosystem: easy to start, but every device lives in its own app and the logic runs through somebody else's server. The second is the DIY platform — free and flexible, but the project, the upkeep and the repairs are yours. The third is a finished local platform with an installer: the server sits in your network and the system carries accountability to the end client.
What Home Assistant does well
Control stays with you, the community is enormous, almost no device cannot be connected and you pay no licence. If you enjoy building things, the maintenance is yours to own and the system is for yourself — Home Assistant is an honest answer. People look for an alternative when the time and the upkeep are the problem, not the philosophy.
What HoumeOS adds
The same local control, but as a product: thirteen kiosk screens, visual rules with no code, energy management with a day and night tariff, profiles with roles and PIN codes, and a journal kept by the server. Installation runs through professional installers — with a site survey, a demonstration and a warranty — not through topics in a YAML file.
- One interface for energy, climate, lighting, security and scenes
- Rules and history execute and live locally — they work with the internet down
- Accountability to the client: the system is maintained, not inherited
Honest about integrations
DIY platforms ship thousands of ready integrations; HoumeOS is a younger project and lists the status of every transport openly: Matter pairs for real, the MQTT contract is ready, Modbus, KNX and ONVIF wait for their drivers. If you depend on an exotic device today, a truthful assessment is an advantage, not a shame — check the table before you order.
When we are not the alternative
For enthusiasts who want to tune every corner themselves and enjoy the process, Home Assistant remains the right choice. HoumeOS is for households and sites that buy an outcome: a working system, taken on and maintained by professionals.
The comparison by criteria
Cloud ecosystems are simple but depend on the internet and lock your devices in. DIY platforms are flexible but need hands-on tinkering and come without support. HoumeOS combines local-first control with a professional installation.
| Criterion | HoumeOS | Cloud ecosystems | DIY (Home Assistant) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Works fully without internet | Yes | No | Partly |
| Your data stays local, with you | Yes | No | Yes |
| One interface for every brand | Yes | Partly | Yes |
| No lock-in to a manufacturer | Yes | No | Yes |
| Energy management | Yes | Partly | Partly |
| Ready for the non-technical user | Yes | Yes | No |
| Professional installation and support | Yes | Partly | No |
| Warranty and accountability to the client | Yes | Yes | No |
| Step-by-step device pairing from a local panel (Matter) | Yes | No | Partly |
| Server-side protective actions for water, gas, smoke and frost | Yes | Partly | Partly |
| Server-born alerts with audit log and on-screen acknowledgement | Yes | Partly | Yes |
| Day/night tariff costs with a bill forecast | Yes | Partly | No |
| Thousands of ready community integrations | No | Partly | Yes |
| Free open-source software | No | No | Yes |
A summary of typical characteristics for customer orientation; individual products may vary with the equipment and the software version. The last two rows favour the DIY camp — and we say so plainly.
What works today and what is coming
We do not present upcoming work as available. This list matches the roadmap.
Works today
- A local server in the LAN: rules, history and rights — no cloud account
- A kiosk interface with thirteen screens on a tablet, wall panel or phone
- The energy screen with the battery → boiler → export priority and costs in money
- Real Matter pairing, visual rules and emergency scenarios
Coming soon
- The real MQTT broker and the first drivers for Modbus, KNX and ONVIF
- Notifications to the phone — email, push and webhook channels
Later
- A radio layer of our own in the platform
- Voice assistant and a floor plan of the home
Frequently asked questions
What is a Home Assistant alternative?
Software or a platform that delivers the same thing — local control of the home without a cloud — in a different way. HoumeOS is the commercial alternative: a local server, a finished kiosk interface, visual rules and a professional installation with a warranty. You pay for the taken-on responsibility and for the time the DIY maintenance would have consumed.
Can I migrate from Home Assistant to HoumeOS?
Yes, step by step. Devices that already speak MQTT or are reachable locally join the shared HoumeOS model; the rest pair through the panel or wait for their driver — the status per transport is written openly in the table on the Integrations page. The transition is planned during a site survey together with your installer, without tearing your system down overnight.
Which smart home systems work without a cloud?
Both local ones: Home Assistant and HoumeOS run their logic on a server in your home and keep working when the internet drops. Cloud ecosystems — Google Home, Alexa, Tuya — lean on remote servers and lose much of their automation without a connection. The difference between the two local camps is support: in one you carry it, in the other the installer does.
Home Assistant is free — why pay for HoumeOS?
Because with free software you pay in time: choosing hubs, YAML, updates, broken integrations. HoumeOS has no published price — the offer is measured to the site because it includes equipment, protocols and scenarios. What is paid for is accountability: the system is installed, tested and maintained by professionals.
Does HoumeOS support as many devices as Home Assistant?
Not yet, and we say it plainly. The community platform has thousands of ready integrations; HoumeOS is a younger project with a listed status: Matter works, the MQTT contract is ready, Modbus, KNX and ONVIF wait for their drivers. If you rely on an exotic device, check the table before deciding — or commission the driver together with our partners.
We show the system on a live screen
The demo starts from your question: which devices, which protocols, which scenarios.