2025 Annual Activity Report: Factsheet

Headline figures

• CHF 8.84M total revenue: Generated through commercial licensing partnerships and independent donations.
• 2.28M+ active households: Home Assistant installations grew 28% year-over-year globally.
• 52 salaried staff: Over 60% of total revenue is invested directly into human resources, engineering continuity, and operational security.
• 250+ governed open source projects: Standards, drivers, and platforms protected from corporate buy-outs.

Inaugural annual report: Building an open source alternative to Big Tech

Following its launch in 2024, the Open Home Foundation has released its inaugural annual report, documenting its first full year operating as an independent Swiss non-profit stiftung. The report outlines how the foundation established its core operational structure, and is investing in people to help fulfill its mission to build a smart home ecosystem with privacy, choice, and sustainability at its heart.

Engineering milestones & ecosystem wins

The foundation expanded its software portfolio, hardware references, and core open standards to accelerate interoperability across the smart home landscape:

• High-profile project stewardship: Accepted full ownership and governance of major community projects, including Music Assistant, HACS, Z-Wave JS, matter.js, and microWake Word.
• Sendspin audio protocol: Initiated development of this open source, multi-room audio standard designed to offer a local-control alternative to closed systems like Apple AirPlay and Google Cast.
• Official Matter certification: Earned official Connectivity Standards Alliance Matter certification for Home Assistant and the Open Home Foundation Matter Server.
• Open hardware reference designs: Co-developed and released the Home Assistant Connect ZWA-2 (Z-Wave) and ZBT-2 (Zigbee/Thread) USB adapters with commercial partner Nabu Casa.
• Smart home device database: Initiated the development of a community-driven "Wiki" of smart home devices to help consumers make privacy-friendly purchases.

Community engagement & industry advocacy

Beyond software development, the foundation deepened ties with its community, established core advocacy bodies, and funded external open-source infrastructure:

• Global Community Day: Hosted the inaugural event with 82 local, community-led meetups and more than 1,600 registered attendees worldwide.
• Policy & Principles Working Group: Established an independent internal watchdog answering to the Board, and published the landmark position paper "Privacy in the Smart Home."
• Open source infrastructure grants: Awarded €24,000 in direct grants (€8,000 each) to foundational open source infrastructure projects: aio-libs, Alpine Linux, and Buildroot.
• Open Community Syncs: Initiated major internal project planning sessions to the public, giving volunteers and users a direct line into development roadmap discussions.

2026 strategic priorities

Looking ahead, the foundation is directing its operational momentum and financial surplus toward community infrastructure and transparent co-development:

• Dedicated Community Department: Expanding a formal internal team to deepen integration, recognition, and support for volunteer contributors and non-technical users.
• Building in the Open: Focusing on transparent co-development practices between salaried staff, volunteer developers, and general consumers, with a roadmap that is available to all.
• Surplus reserve allocation: Directing financial surplus from 2025 into a dedicated reserve fund for 2026 community initiatives, events, and open source grants.