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Node REDvsOpenFan Controller

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

Node REDOpenFan Controller
Score81/10050/100
Rank in category#1 of 26 in Automation#63 of 104 in Home Automation
GitHub stars23 790321
Stars, last 30 days+108—
Stable releases, 12 months213
Latest release4.1.17 · 21 Oct 20262026-10-09 · 9 Oct 2026
SetupEasyModerate
Official Docker imageYesYes
LicenseApache-2.0GPL-3.0
Main languageJavaScriptCSS

Which one should you pick?

Node RED scores 81/100 against 50/100 for OpenFan Controller, so it is the safer default.

Node RED ships more often: 21 stable releases in the past year, against 3 for OpenFan Controller.

If you want the quickest setup, Node RED is easier to run; OpenFan Controller needs more configuration.

Node RED is growing faster right now (+108 stars in 30 days).

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