# ESPHome vs PaddleOCR

> Two self-hosted projects, compared on the numbers selfhost.directory tracks live: score, popularity, release cadence and setup effort.

| | ESPHome | PaddleOCR |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 78/100 | 85/100 ✓ |
| Rank in category | #4 of 104 in Home Automation | #1 of 4 in OCR |
| GitHub stars | 11 982 | 91 943 ✓ |
| Stars, last 30 days | +260 | +502 ✓ |
| Stable releases, 12 months | 46 ✓ | 7 |
| Latest release | 2026.10.1 · 27 Oct 2026 ✓ | v3.7.0 · 11 Jun 2026 |
| Setup | Moderate ✓ | Moderate |
| Official Docker image | Yes ✓ | No |
| License | Other | Apache-2.0 |
| Main language | C | Python |

## Which one should you pick?

PaddleOCR scores 85/100 against 78/100 for ESPHome, so it is the safer default.

ESPHome ships more often: 46 stable releases in the past year, against 7 for PaddleOCR.

## Details

- [ESPHome](https://selfhost.directory/project/esphome) (markdown: https://selfhost.directory/project/esphome.md)
- [PaddleOCR](https://selfhost.directory/project/paddleocr) (markdown: https://selfhost.directory/project/paddleocr.md)

---
Source: https://selfhost.directory/compare/esphome-vs-paddleocr