But over time, I found myself chafing at the limits.
Tasmota, for all its strength, is kind of like a Swiss Army knife. It is not always the most efficient or most effective for your needs. You either need to use its limited syntax, or rely on external systems.
So, recently I’ve been migrating a lot of my lights and plugs over to ESPHome. a platform I was already using for sensors.
Why I’m Moving to ESPHome
ESPHome is more modular and streamlined than Tasmota. You don’t flash a generic firmware – you compile a custom one. The configuration of the device is set in YAML, a text format, you define exactly what the device needs. What sensors or relays are connected, how buttons behave, what actions they trigger, and more.
- Want a web interface? That’s a component.
- Need to calculate sunrise and sunset for dawn/dusk functionality?
- Need to sync to an NTP time server for that dawn/dusk?
- Want two ESPHome devices to talk to each other independently?
- Track bluetooth devices?
- Communicate over a VPN?
There are components for all of these. I was able to fine-tune the behavior of each smart switch and plug, beyond what I could do in Tasmota. I installed dawn to dusk programs on external lights. I tied a light into a remote motion sensor, also running ESPHome to activate a hallway light. I even built countdown switches that automatically turn off after a set period of time.
Local Control
One of the major advantages of Home Assistant is local control. Both Tasmota and ESPHome allow for some logic on device, but with Tasmota that logic is very limited. You don’t have to rely on Home Assistant or Node Red to create automations.
That said, not all logic belongs on-device. I don’t use ESPHome for high-level automation or multi-device coordination. That’s where Home Assistant or even Node Red still shines. But for device-specific behaviors—like button presses, countdown timers, or dusk/dawn triggers – having that logic on the device itself makes the whole system more resilient. No lag, no missed automations if those systems are offline.
Final Thoughts
Switching from Tasmota to ESPHome takes time. There’s a learning curve to create the configuration files. But once you get the hang of it, the freedom to define exactly how your smart devices behave is game changing.
If you are looking for something to install on your first switch, Tasmota is still a great place to start. But if you reach the limits of what you can do with it, it might be time to switch over to ESPHome. Some things take effort, but by with that effort you can build a smart home where every piece is smart on your terms.
