Why openHAB

Setup, Configuration and Use Beginners
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For a school project I need to research multiple smart home systems.
Why do I need to use openHAB instead of other systems?

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Pros:

  1. Free of cost
  2. Freedom from insecure cloud services if desired.
  3. flexible
  4. powerful
  5. can be run on a low power computer such as a Raspberry Pi
  6. No vendor lock in.

Cons:

  1. steep learning curve
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No steeper than any other computer language. But it’s not a plug in and use system for sure. But it’s so much more powerful and useful than any of the plug in and use systems.

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You don’t. Use any system you want.

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Maybe this comparison can help you a little bit: https://ubidots.com/blog/open-source-home-automation/

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  • Because a lot of systems try to ‘lock you in’ to their brands and ecosystems. You can not buy the best value X device in one category and get it to work perfectly with a device from Y company that is also the best value device.

  • Your data does not get sold by Openhab.

  • Openhab is far less likely to get discontinued compared to X brands cloud service getting turned off and bricking the device you paid good money for. It can still happen in Openhab but if your careful about the devices (see no vendor lock in reasons) you can purchase devices that minimize this as an issue. So the net result is that there is a Vendor lock in with Openhab ,to a list of supported devices that play nice with offline local control.

As for why Openhab over all the countless other FOSS software packages? Openhab has probably been around the longest and stood the test of time and has support for a lot of brands. Its free to use not $5 a month and it is probably the most flexible system around which means it has the learning curve.

Good luck with your school project.