Opportunities › Open-source smart home AI assistants › Proposed app
Hearthwise
Private home assistant that runs on your own hardware, no cloud account
- Score
- 51
- confidence 53
- Evidence
- 6
- items on the page
- Rivals
- 4
- named in sources
- First version
- 60 d
- estimate
- Type
- Mobile app
- PWA: installs on iPhone and Android
- Market since
- 2013
- Mature market · AI estimate
ScreensConcept
Mobile app: Users check device status, ask for actions, and review logs on the go around their home; the phone app is the primary interface for daily interaction with a local assistant. Sample screens on a phone, in the proposed brand. Their numbers are sample data.
Setup
14 found
- Living room lightsReady
- Hall thermostatReady
- Kitchen plugNeeds code
- Door sensorReady
- Garage cameraSkipped
About this appAI proposal
Hearthwise is a home assistant you talk or type to. It runs on a small box in your home, such as a Raspberry Pi. Requests, routines and device data stay on your network. No vendor account, no per-device licence.
It is made for homeowners and renters who want to self-host but not spend weekends wiring scripts together. Guided setup finds your devices, suggests routines in plain language, and shows what each automation will do before it runs.
Unlike the big voice assistants, it does not depend on a company's cloud. Unlike a hand-built open-source setup, it has guided setup, readable automations and a clear log of every action it took.
- Tagline
- A home assistant that stays in your home.
- Voice
- calmplaintrustworthy
- Why this name
- A hearth is the warm centre of a home, and 'wise' points to the assistant. Two plain words joined, easy to say.
In the first version
Members say which features they would use. It tells PWAS what people want; it changes no score.
Runs on local hardware
The language model and rules run on your own low-cost box. Basic control keeps working when the internet is down.
No member yet
Guided device discovery
Scans your network, lists lights, plugs, sensors and thermostats it can reach, and walks you through connecting each.
No member yet
Plain-language routines
Type 'turn off everything when we leave' and get a routine you can read, edit and test before switching on.
No member yet
Action log with reasons
Every action shows what triggered it and why, so you can trust the assistant and fix mistakes fast.
No member yet
Brand identityAI proposal
Check the name against trademark registers before using it.
Palette
#F6F1E7Warm Linen · surface#2B2118Ink Brown · text#B5502FHearth Clay · primary#2F5D50Pine · accent#E3B95AStraw · data highlight
Typography
Aa
Hearthwise
ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ 0123456789
A home assistant that stays in your home.
PricingAI proposal
The material gives no competitor prices. These tiers are a starting point to test, following the monetization idea of a free core, paid add-ons and an optional hosted version.
Self-hosted
Free
- Core assistant on your own box
- Device discovery and routines
- Action log and local backups
Plus
$5 a month
- Advanced automations and extra integrations
- Encrypted off-site backup you control
- Priority fixes
Hosted
$12 a month
- We run it for non-technical households
- Guided onboarding
- Everything in Plus
Would you pay Plus · $5 a month?
Your answer tells PWAS which prices people accept. It changes no score.
No answers yet.
What it could be worthEstimate
What a software business making this much sells for today, from real deals. Pick a monthly revenue.
If it makes
Worth about
$194,000
Sale range $132,000 to $263,000
$120,000 a year in revenue
From 87 software businesses listed and sold on Empire Flippers in the last year, revenue vetted by the broker: they sell for about 19× their monthly revenue, most between 13× and 26×.
Measured on profit, the middle deal is 32× monthly net profit: about 2.7 years of profit.
An estimate, not an offer or financial advice. A real price depends on profit, growth, churn, how much of the work is the owner's, and the buyer.
How it would growAI proposal
How the product would reach new customers through its own use, and how the first ones would be found. A plan to test, not a result.
- Built-in loop
- No loop in the product. Hearthwise runs inside private homes, so use does not reach new people by itself. Growth comes from the open-source community, guides, forum posts and word of mouth among self-hosters.
- Do they become customers?
- Test whether self-hosters upgrade from the free core to Plus, and whether non-technical households pay for Hosted. Exposure through forums does not prove either.
- First customers
- Technical homeowners who already run a Raspberry Pi at home, are wary of Alexa or Google Home, and find Home Assistant setup tiring.
- Where to reach them
- Self-hosting forums: Share a build log and setup guide in privacy and self-hosting communities, and ask for beta testers.
- GitHub community: Publish the open core and invite forks, issues and add-on ideas from developers.
- Short demo videos: Show a full setup on a Pi with no internet, ending with the zero data sent out screen.
- First milestone
- Fifty working installs and ten people paying for Plus within three months.
Why people already pay for this
- VerifiedGitHub repository gained 653 stars in 1131 days
- Public claimCommercial smart home assistants dominate the market but users seek alternatives that are locally-hosted and vendor-independent.
- AI inferenceThe project has gained significant developer interest and adoption, evidenced by 653 GitHub stars.
- AI inferenceThe project is stable and mature with no open issues, indicating active maintenance and a production-ready codebase.
- AI inference
Tech stack
Every proposal builds on the same PWA base, installable from the browser on any phone or computer. Dashed boxes are what this app adds.
- AppNext.js and TypeScript
- PWAManifest and service worker
- UITailwind CSS
- Data and authSupabase Postgres
- PaymentsStripe
- EmailResend
- HostingVercel
- This app · Local runtimeSmall-model runner on a Raspberry Pi-class boxThe assistant must run at home, so a hub app with a local model and device drivers is needed beyond the web stack.
- This app · Device protocolsOpen smart home protocol librariesDiscovery and control of lights, plugs and sensors need protocol support such as MQTT, Zigbee or Matter bridges.
RisksAI inference
- TechnicalSmall local models may misread commands or be slow on a Raspberry Pi, and wrong actions at home (locks, heating) erode trust. Needs confirmations and tests on real hardware.
- CommercialHome Assistant is free, established and says it has over 2.7 million households. Users may see little reason to pay for a layer on top of it.
- PlatformDevice makers change or close local interfaces, so integrations can break and need steady upkeep.
- CommercialThe open-source repository in the evidence has 653 stars. Demand to pay is unproven, and a free open core may leave few paying buyers.
- RegulatoryA hosted version handles home data and camera or lock access, so it brings privacy law duties and liability if it is misused.
Everything marked AI proposal or AI inference was written by a model from the evidence on the opportunity page. The proposed name must be checked against trademark registers before it is used.