Replace / Google Home
Best free Google Home alternatives (open source, self-hosted) 2026
The best open-source alternative to Google Home is Home Assistant (or Open Voice OS) with openWakeWord, self-hosted on Railway. A voice assistant on hardware you run. Home Assistant Assist is Apache-2.0; Open Voice OS is Apache-2.0 — Amazon Alexa and Google Home without the vendor speaker cloud.
Estimated save $1,200 a year.
Open the stackStart on Railway
How Google Home compares
| Google Home | Home Assistant Assist / Open Voice OS | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing model | Hosted subscription | Open-source or fair-code license; you pay the host |
| Hosting | Vendor cloud | Self-hosted on Railway or any VPS |
| Rough monthly cost | Public list price not verified this run | Hosting only — no SaaS seat meter in this repo |
- Home Assistant
Apache-2.0 automations box; Assist is the local voice layer
- Open Voice OS
Apache-2.0 Mycroft-shaped voice runtime (ovos-core)
- openWakeWord
Apache-2.0 wake-word detection library
- Wyoming openWakeWord
Apache-2.0 Wyoming protocol server for openWakeWord
FAQ
- What is the best free open-source Google Home alternative?
- The best open-source alternative to Google Home is Home Assistant (or Open Voice OS) with openWakeWord, self-hosted on Railway. A voice assistant on hardware you run. Home Assistant Assist is Apache-2.0; Open Voice OS is Apache-2.0 — Amazon Alexa and Google Home without the vendor speaker cloud.
- Is it free?
- The Home Assistant Assist / Open Voice OS licenses are open source or fair-code. You still pay hosting (Railway or any VPS) and any APIs the stack calls. There is no Google Home seat or task bill on this path.
- Can I migrate from Google Home?
- Yes. Start with the workflows or data you actually use, then cut over. The Home Assistant Assist / Open Voice OS stack page has the agent prompt and the cost table; most teams rebuild the slice that matters and leave old Google Home links until they expire.
- How do I deploy it?
- Open the Home Assistant Assist / Open Voice OS stack, copy the agent prompt, and deploy on Railway (one service, PORT, and a volume when the app needs disk). A LAN box is the honest path. USB mics, wake-word, and mDNS do not belong on a random container. No one-click template in this repo yet — Start on Railway. Cameras stay on /stacks/frigate-nvr.
- What does this replace?
- Amazon Alexa / Google Home. The published small-team estimate on this stack is $1,200 a year.
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