OpenHAB is a much older project built on Java(?) IIRC. As a user of both I MUCH prefer HomeAssistant. Integrations seem to be updated and added much more frequently, and are often based on other open source project rather than native functionality being added to the home automation platform itself.

I looked at OpenHAB when I was looking to move off HomeAssistant. Much more dated project, more raw, and requires even more babysitting than HomeAssistant.

I've used both, and moved from OpenHAB to HomeAssistant around 4 years back. Both required some upkeep from time to time, but HomeAssistant lowered my maintenance and debugging time. The OSGi architecture used in OpenHAB felt pretty clunky running on a small Raspberry PI or similar system compared to HomeAssistant. OpenHAB always felt like overkill for my simple use case of a small home containing few sensors and lights.

i had the same question, I just recently installed HomeAssistant and found it quite good (and I was able to relatively quickly make changes both to configuration & code for addons).

https://smarthome.university/your-smart-home-platform-home-a...

seems to be a bit dated (as there is now an android app) but gives a high level overview.

HA offers paid only web access, through Nabu Casa. Openhab sez theirs us free - haven't checked if it's like 100% free

This is not true. You can easily forward a port on your router and point to your local HA installation, including free LetsEncrypt certificates.

If you choose to pay for Nabu Casa, you support the project on the one hand and on the other hand you get a HTTPS remote URL using their remote access tunnel.

HA remote access is not paid only, it works fine if you make it accessible from your local network. You can also do Google/Alexa integration on your own, there are instructions in the documentation.

The paid service handles SSL and dynamic hostnames for you without having to expose stuff on your network. It also provides the cloud endpoint that Google and Alexa require. They in no way stop or impede you from doing any of that yourself, however.

My pwrsonal setup is using cloudflare's tunnel so it doesn't even need port forwarding. And then I did alexa myself since I have an aws account anyway for some free tier stuff.

You can still access HA directly through a browser, of course. And if you set up a VPN (ala PiVPN or something similar), you can access it anywhere, as well.