# Zigbee2MQTT

16 Hacker News commenters recommended Zigbee2MQTT and 2 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 6 of 13 months. It meets the Hacker Approved badge rule.

**Verdict:** People recommend it as an open-source bridge that connects many Zigbee devices to MQTT and Home Assistant, often more reliably than alternatives. One critic notes it can use several hundred MB of RAM.

## Why people recommend it

- Open source and locally controlled (4 comments): "I've been using NodeRED + zigbee2mqtt/zwavejs for my locally controlled home automation to great effect." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50227136)) "they're genuinely great projects and something that wouldn't really be possible without open source" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45835466)) "open hard- and software is a must for the longevity of (internet of) things that cost" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48275746))
- Works well with Home Assistant (4 comments): "use conventional Zigbee with an open-source coordinator like Zigbee2MQTT and Home Assistant" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46019734)) "have worked very well with ZB2MQTT and Home Assistant out of the box" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45837004)) "use zigbee2mqtt with Home Assistant and be happy" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46013022))
- Supports many devices from many vendors (3 comments): "hundreds of Zigbee devices w/ zigbee2mqtt in a network" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49182912)) "multi-vendor orchestrated by Zigbee2MQTT" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49180800)) "You never needed a bucket of hubs with things like zigbee2mqtt" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45835311))
- Reliable compared with ZHA (2 comments): "choose zigbee2mqtt rather than ZHA, it's more reliable overall" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47405781)) "found HA + MoT to be strictly worse than Z2M" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49179307))

## What people warn about

- Unclear whether it worked (1 comments): "it often isn't clear if that worked, if it'll work later, and so on" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49972447))
- High memory use (1 comments): "Zigbee2MQTT apparently wants several hundred MB of RAM." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49986226))

## Alternatives hackers recommend

- [Home Assistant](https://hackerapproved.com/p/home-assistant.md): 298 recommend
- [Apple HomeView](https://hackerapproved.com/p/apple-homeview.md): 95 recommend
- [Homebridge](https://hackerapproved.com/p/homebridge.md): 13 recommend
- [Home Assistant Green](https://hackerapproved.com/p/home-assistant-green.md): 6 recommend
- [Samsung SmartThings](https://hackerapproved.com/p/smartthings.md): 5 recommend

## Cite as

Hacker Approved, "Zigbee2MQTT", https://hackerapproved.com/p/zigbee2mqtt/ (counts from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026).