# ESPHome vs plain-app

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

| | ESPHome | plain-app |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 78/100 ✓ | 69/100 |
| Rank in category | #4 of 104 in Home Automation | #3 of 11 in File Transfer & Sync |
| GitHub stars | 11 977 ✓ | 7 083 |
| Stars, last 30 days | +255 | +323 ✓ |
| Stable releases, 12 months | 46 ✓ | 34 |
| Latest release | 2026.10.1 · 27 Oct 2026 ✓ | v3.3.25 · 11 Sept 2026 |
| Setup | Moderate | Easy ✓ |
| Official Docker image | Yes ✓ | No |
| License | Other | AGPL-3.0 |
| Main language | C | Kotlin |

## Which one should you pick?

ESPHome scores 78/100 against 69/100 for plain-app, so it is the safer default.

ESPHome ships more often: 46 stable releases in the past year, against 34 for plain-app.

If you want the quickest setup, plain-app is easier to run; ESPHome needs more configuration.

## Details

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

---
Source: https://selfhost.directory/compare/esphome-vs-plain-app