Privacy-first home automation with impressive momentum
I've been using Gladys Assistant since 2018 and contributing to it on GitHub, so take this as the review of a long-time user and contributor.
WHAT I LIKE
• 100% local and privacy-first: everything runs on your own machine (Docker, Raspberry Pi, mini-PC), no mandatory cloud account.
• Clean, simple UI: far more approachable than most open-source alternatives. Non-technical family members can actually use it.
• Energy monitoring with real cost tracking: on my multi-building property with ~25 kWp of solar and battery storage, Gladys is what I use to track actual electricity costs. Version 5.2 just added energy contracts for every country and a real thermostat with weekly schedules.
• DuckDB-based history: fast, lightweight storage for years of sensor data.
• Gladys Plus: an optional subscription that adds secure remote access and automatic backups, among other features. It's also what funds the project, so it's a great way to support it.
WHAT USED TO HOLD IT BACK, AND WHY THAT'S NO LONGER REALLY TRUE
• A smaller integration catalog than Home Assistant. It took 6 years to build 36 integrations into the core. Then external integrations arrived in August: one-click install from a built-in store, each running in its own sandboxed container. In just 10 weeks, 21 community developers published 100 of them, and the catalog passed 140 a few days later, growing by roughly 10 a day. Philips Hue, Sonos, Shelly, Tuya, Roborock, SolarEdge, Z-Wave JS, Proxmox… most popular HA integrations are now covered. I've published several myself.
• Development relying on a single maintainer. This was a fair criticism until very recently. The project now has two additional maintainers, cicoub13 and bertrandda, who are running the releases: version 5.1.4 was the first ever not published by the founder. The project is clearly moving toward a classic multi-maintainer open-source model, with code reviews and regular releases.
BOTTOM LINE
If you want a self-hosted smart home that's easy to live with day to day and doesn't send your life to the cloud, Gladys is one of the best options out there. Its pace right now is remarkable. Upvoted!
