Software Alternatives, Accelerators & Startups

openHAB VS HourStack

Compare openHAB VS HourStack and see what are their differences

Note: These products don't have any matching categories. If you think this is a mistake, please edit the details of one of the products and suggest appropriate categories.

openHAB logo openHAB

"empowering the smart home" - vendor and technology agnostic open source home automation

HourStack logo HourStack

The simple, visual solution to effective time management.
  • openHAB Landing page
    Landing page //
    2021-09-26
  • HourStack Landing page
    Landing page //
    2021-04-05

HourStack is a transparent, easy-to-use time management tool customized to your team's current workflow. The all-in-one visual calendar helps you see, plan, and track your team's time across tasks and projects in a complete view. Easily schedule tasks, accurately track time, pull actionable reports, and customize your workspace and permissions.

Use HourStack on its own to track and schedule time, or enhance the experience via integrations. By integrating HourStack, you can continue to use the software you love โ€”Asana, Trello, Todoist, Google Calendar, and moreโ€” and get simple and flexible time tracking functionality across them all in a centralized view. No technical skills needed, no complicated integrations, and no more duplication of entries.

Take a tour of all of the features and get a free 14-day trial at HourStack.com(no credit card required).

openHAB

Pricing URL
-
$ Details
Platforms
-

HourStack

$ Details
paid Free Trial $9.0 / Monthly (When billed annually)
Platforms
Browser iOS

openHAB features and specs

  • Flexibility
    openHAB supports a wide range of devices and technologies, making it highly flexible for various smart home configurations.
  • Customization
    The platform allows for extensive customization, enabling users to tailor their smart home automation rules and settings as per their specific needs.
  • Community Support
    Backed by a strong community, users can benefit from shared knowledge, tutorials, and community-contributed add-ons.
  • Cross-Platform Compatibility
    openHAB runs on multiple platforms including Windows, macOS, Linux, and Raspberry Pi, offering versatility in deployment.
  • Open Source
    Being open-source, it provides transparency and freedom, allowing users to inspect, modify, and enhance the code base.
  • Security
    Focus on privacy and security, where data can be stored locally without necessarily depending on cloud services, providing more control over personal data.

Possible disadvantages of openHAB

  • Steep Learning Curve
    openHAB can be complex to set up and configure, especially for users who are not technically inclined.
  • Documentation
    Although improving, the official documentation can sometimes be lacking or hard to navigate, requiring users to invest time to find the information they need.
  • Maintenance
    Since openHAB is highly customizable, it may require regular maintenance and troubleshooting, particularly after updates or when integrating new devices.
  • Hardware Dependency
    Effectiveness can depend on the hardware used; certain devices may require additional gateways or controllers to function properly with openHAB.
  • User Interface
    While functional, openHABโ€™s out-of-the-box user interface may not be as polished or intuitive as some commercial alternatives.

HourStack features and specs

  • Scheduling
    Set and Shift Schedules to Optimize Workflow
  • Time Tracking
    Accurately Track Time Across Tasks and Projects
  • Reporting
    Understand Time Utilization and Improve Efficiencies
  • Integrations
    Designed to Integrate Seamlessly with Your Favorite Tools
  • Teams
    Customize Your Team's Settings and Permissions
  • Workspaces
    Manage Multiple Workspaces

Analysis of openHAB

Overall verdict

  • openHAB is generally considered a good choice for tech-savvy users who are comfortable with a bit of a learning curve to achieve a highly customized and integrated smart home system. However, it might not be the best fit for users seeking a more straightforward or plug-and-play solution.

Why this product is good

  • openHAB is an open-source home automation platform that integrates a wide range of smart home devices and technologies. It is highly flexible and customizable, thanks to its modular architecture and the active community that supports and develops various add-ons. openHAB works on multiple operating systems, providing a consistent experience across different environments. It also emphasizes privacy and security, allowing users to self-host their setups.

Recommended for

  • Tech enthusiasts who enjoy tinkering with and custom-building home automation systems
  • Users who prioritize a high degree of privacy and control over their smart home setup by self-hosting
  • Individuals looking to integrate a wide range of devices and services from different manufacturers into one platform

openHAB videos

Home Automation and Security with openHAB / Home Assistant / Smartthings

More videos:

  • Review - Live with BK-Hobby - Comparing Home Assistant and OpenHAB
  • Demo - openHAB 2 HABpanel UI Demo | Quick How to get started guide

HourStack videos

HourStack: Improving Your Workflow

More videos:

  • Review - HourStack: Standard Integrations

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to openHAB and HourStack)
Home
100 100%
0% 0
Time Tracking
0 0%
100% 100
Data Dashboard
100 100%
0% 0
Time Management
0 0%
100% 100

User comments

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Reviews

These are some of the external sources and on-site user reviews we've used to compare openHAB and HourStack

openHAB Reviews

10 n8n.io Alternatives
openHAB is a technology and vendor agnostic open-source automation software for your home that brings various efficient features. This home automation software is written entirely in Java and deployed on-premises and connects to services and devices from more than one vendor. Actions including switching on lights, turning appliances on and off, and more are triggered by...
9 Best home assistant apps for Android & iOS
The openHAB application supports devices from different brands and manufacturers, such as Amazon or Sonos, Chromecast, and Philips. In total, there are more than 2 hundred settings that are designed to support communication between devices.
List of Open Source Home Automation Software
But it also supports cloud in case the user wishes to avail of their services, giving the user more choice and freedom. OpenHAB supports Amazon Alexa, Apple HomeKit, Google Assistant, and IFTTT. OpenHAB is your getaway ticket from manufacturer-specific apps that cause a lot of frustration. It comes with plugin-ready architecture, which helps the developers add new services...
Source: linuxhint.com
16 Open Source Home Automation Platforms To Use In 2020
We can't start this list without mentioning openHAB, one of the strongest players in the open source community. With almost half a million posts on their forums and 33,000 members, openHAB is constantly improving upon its initial offering. The platform can integrate with over 1500 devices from the likes of Sony, Pioneer, LG, Samsung, and much more. openHAB is free-to-use...
Source: ubidots.com
OpenHab vs Home Assistant vs Domoticz โ€“ Letโ€™s get down to Business
OpenHab2 was released in 2017 with the idea of reaching a less technical audience. The new release includes Paper UI, a new web UI that allows you to do a lot of the configurations without having to edit files. In principle this is great, but there is a caveat. Paper UI still doesnยดt support all the features in OpenHab so you still have to go and do some of the...

HourStack Reviews

49 Best Timesheet Alternatives - Features, pros & cons, pricing | Remote Tools
By integrating HourStack, you can continue to use the software you love รขย€ย”Asana, Todoist, Google Calendar, and more รขย€ย” and get simple and flexible time tracking functionality across them all in a centralized view. No technical skills needed, no complicated integrations, and no more duplication Pricing When to use HourStack Relevance to remote workers Remote workers use...

Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, HourStack should be more popular than openHAB. It has been mentiond 4 times since March 2021. We are tracking product recommendations and mentions on various public social media platforms and blogs. They can help you identify which product is more popular and what people think of it.

openHAB mentions (1)

  • Welcome to the 21st century, us. Donโ€™t know how we did it before this ๐Ÿ˜‚
    You can start on a general home automation like openhab.org. Source: almost 4 years ago

HourStack mentions (4)

  • Show HN: General Task, a free task manager for builders (beta)
    This is a solid take on task management. We've got some similar features in https://hourstack.com with dragging and dropping tasks from other platforms into a calendar (team or personal). However, our focus is on tracking time against those tasks once scheduled and then reporting, invoicing, etc. Against the work completed. So different end goals. Best of luck to you as it looks like you've got a great start. - Source: Hacker News / over 3 years ago
  • Search fo a day Planer with one importan funktion.
    I would take a look at Plan (free), Hourstack (paid) or Sunsama (paid). Source: over 4 years ago
  • Ask HN: How do you track your billable working hours?
    The team and I are building HourStack - https://hourstack.com. We are focused on scheduling and tracking time at the task level, which works well with billable hours. We also integrate with task, event, and issue platforms so you can drag existing tasks onto your calendar to schedule and track time against them. This can be quite nice when working with clients across different platforms like Asana, Trello, and... - Source: Hacker News / almost 5 years ago
  • Be happier with your time by tracking how you spend it...
    Calendars - newdaynew.me or hourstack.com- calendar tracking is useful, but does make things rigid and remove some flexibility or freedom to how you spend you day - like putting in your calendar 3 hours of X when you may not be in the best mood to do that. Source: about 5 years ago

What are some alternatives?

When comparing openHAB and HourStack, you can also consider the following products

ioBroker - flexible and modular application for the IoT and Smarthome

Toggl - Toggl is an online time tracking tool. It features 1-click time tracking and helps you see where your time goes. Free and paid versions are available.

Home-Assistant.io - Home Assistant is an open-source home automation platform running on Python 3.

Harvest - Simple time tracking, fast online invoicing, and powerful reporting software. Simplify employee timesheets and billing. Get started for free.

Google Home - Set up, manage, and control your Chromecast, Chromecast Audio and Google Home devices.

Hours - Boosting productivity through live, virtual co-working.