openHAB
openHAB is a Java-based open-source home automation platform that integrates and combines a vast range of different smart home systems and technologies into one single solution.
Cost / License
- Free
- Open Source
Application type
EUPlatforms
- Mac
- Windows
- Linux
- Online
- Android
- iPhone
- Android Tablet
- iPad
- Self-Hosted
- Apple Watch
- F-Droid
- Kodi
- Cloudron
Features
Properties
- Privacy focused
Integrations
Alexa- HomeKit
Google Home
IFTTT- Nest
Features
- Support for Multiple protocols
- Support for multiple vendors
- Support for KNX
- Home Automation
- Modular System
- MQTT
- Support for ZigBee
- Z-Wave
- Java based
- Ad-free
- Philips Hue
- Broadlink
- Community-based
- Smart Home
- Extensible by Plugins/Extensions
- Chromecast Support
- Support for Xiaomi MiHome
Tags
- Java
- connected-home
- asterisk
- smart-devices
- VDR
- Cryptocurrency
openHAB News & Activities
Recent News
Recent activities
- Natterjack565 updated openHAB
- holakoyad liked openHAB
- theveridisquo reviewed openHAB
If there were a competition for the slowest, most frustrating piece of home automation software, OpenHAB would win without contest. Written in Java, it feels like dragging a ball and chain through quicksand. The loading times are beyond ridiculous—minutes feel like hours, and every simple task is met with endless waiting. The interface is clunky, outdated, and painfully unintuitive, making even basic configuration a dreadful chore. Instead of simplifying smart home management, OpenHAB turns it...
- tantrizio reviewed openHAB
After using openHAB for a considerable amount of time, I feel compelled to share my honest feedback — especially for those who are evaluating it against alternatives like Home Assistant. Here's the harsh truth: openHAB has serious issues in terms of performance, stability, and overall architectural design.
🐌 Startup Time: Ridiculous One of the most frustrating aspects of openHAB is the absurdly slow startup time. On a decent system, it takes around 40 minutes to fully boot and become usable...
- braky updated openHAB
- braky added Support for Docker as a feature to openHAB
- braky liked openHAB
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What is openHAB?
openHAB is a Java-based open-source home automation platform that integrates and combines a vast range of different smart home systems and technologies into one single solution. On top of the unified abstraction layer all connected devices are available for the overarching automation rule engines and different user interfaces.
SUPPORTED PRODUCTS
Over 200 specific add-ons provide support for brands, devices, technologies and communication protocols. Examples are Z-Wave, Philips Hue, Amazon Echo, Chromecast and Sonos. Discover all available add-ons and supported devices and/or functions at: http://docs.openhab.org/addons/bindings.html
• Home Automation Solutions: Z-Wave, EnOcean, Netatmo, Homematic, Insteon, ... • Lighting: Philips Hue, Ikea Trådfri, LIFX, Lutron, Milight, ... • Heating: Max!, Nest, Vitotronic, Heatmiser, ... • Home Entertainment: Samsung TV, LG TV, Sonos, Pioneer AVR, Squeezebox, Kodi, Plex, ... • Security: ZoneMinder, DSC, ... • Open Protocols: HTTP, TCP/UDP, MQTT, Serial, ... • Special UseCases: Minecraft, Tesla Car, Weather Services, ... • ...
OPEN SOURCE COMMUNITY
The openHAB open source initiative strongly supports its vibrant community. The forum with over 13,000 registered users is a place to find guidance, help and inspiration. Join the openHAB community forum over at https://community.openhab.org
OPENHAB FOUNDATION
The openHAB Foundation e.V. is a nonprofit organization with the mission to educate the public about the possibilities and benefits of free and open smart home solutions. Learn about the mission and the services of the foundation under http://www.openhabfoundation.org
openHAB information
Developed by
openHAB Foundation e.V. Licensing
Open Source and Free product.Rating
Average rating of 4.3Alternatives
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- Updated
- 4.67 avg rating
Comments and Reviews
I had my fair share of endeavors with closed and open home automation solutions and this one really hit it off. openHAB is an amazingly flexible center for your smart home, regardless if you are playing around with ESP8266's or driving a whole KNX installation. It's open source and the almost 200 add-ons can talk to nearly everything out there, from Z-Wave over Alexa and IFTTT, your Tesla car and up to whatever you get onto MQTT. One warning though: "With great power comes great responsibility" ;) openHAB is not a point and shoot adventure. Setting up your SmartHome takes a few minutes but it's totally worth it! Happy Hacking ;)
[Edited by thdietrich86, July 11]
[Edited by thdietrich86, July 11]
If there were a competition for the slowest, most frustrating piece of home automation software, OpenHAB would win without contest. Written in Java, it feels like dragging a ball and chain through quicksand. The loading times are beyond ridiculous—minutes feel like hours, and every simple task is met with endless waiting. The interface is clunky, outdated, and painfully unintuitive, making even basic configuration a dreadful chore. Instead of simplifying smart home management, OpenHAB turns it into a tedious exercise in patience. Unless you enjoy staring at loading screens and fighting with sluggish performance, avoid this software at all costs.
After using openHAB for a considerable amount of time, I feel compelled to share my honest feedback — especially for those who are evaluating it against alternatives like Home Assistant. Here's the harsh truth: openHAB has serious issues in terms of performance, stability, and overall architectural design.
🐌 Startup Time: Ridiculous One of the most frustrating aspects of openHAB is the absurdly slow startup time. On a decent system, it takes around 40 minutes to fully boot and become usable after a restart. In comparison, Home Assistant starts in about 4 minutes flat. That alone makes openHAB practically unusable in real-world scenarios where uptime and quick recovery are critical.
⚙️ Java Under the Hood = Sluggish Overhead Being based on Java and the OSGi module system, openHAB suffers from all the typical Java pain points: bloated memory usage, high startup time due to class loading and dependency resolution, and generally sluggish performance. You can feel it — every action, every rule, every update feels heavier than it should be.
🧠 Rules Engine: Painfully Limited The rule engine is, frankly, a joke. It’s either overly simplistic or overly complicated depending on which version or DSL you use. It's poorly documented, unintuitive, and often buggy. You end up spending more time debugging and reloading rules than actually automating anything.
📱 Mobile App: Severely Limited The official mobile app feels like an afterthought. It's functional in the most basic sense, but completely lacks polish, responsiveness, and features compared to modern alternatives. It doesn't inspire confidence or a sense of control over your smart home.
🏚️ Architecture: A Mess The overall architecture of openHAB is overly complex and fragile. It's heavily reliant on OSGi, which introduces modularity on paper but in practice creates dependency hell and makes the system brittle and hard to extend. Debugging or contributing to openHAB is a painful experience. The barrier to entry for developers is way too high for a project that's supposed to empower home automation enthusiasts.
🤖 Final Thoughts openHAB might have a long history and a passionate community, but the project feels stuck in the past — a relic of the "Java enterprise" era. In contrast, Home Assistant has a faster development cycle, modern Python-based architecture, rich integrations, and a way more user-friendly ecosystem.
If you're just starting out with home automation or want something that works, I cannot recommend openHAB. It's slow, frustrating, and feels like you're constantly fighting against the system instead of building with it.
openHAB allows me to write powerful automation easily. It supports defining the automation using a simple web interface, or by writing code in JavaScript, JRuby, Groovy, Java, a special DSL language, or Blockly. There is a third party Python option as well.
Im using openHAB for 8 years in my home. It's stable, ease to use and allows all of my automation needs. I can recommend to new users in home automation for stability. Updates are not so often as in Home Assistant so stability is higher in OpenHAB from my experience.
A very stable open-source, privacy-friendly Home Automation platform that supports a large number of devices and manufacturers and provided many languages, e.g. JS, Ruby, for automation.
I love openHAB because of it‘s wide variety of supported devices and manufacturers, the high number of different automation engines (JavaScript, Blockly, UI, Python etc.) and the stability and performance. The UI is one of the most adjustable UIs I’ve seen so far, with some web frontend development knowledge you can build most things you think of.