Comparison
The best Home Assistant dashboards in 2026
Last updated June 3, 2026
There are four serious answers to "how do I make my Home Assistant dashboard better" in 2026: stay on the built-in Sections view, assemble a custom look with Mushroom or Bubble Card from HACS, or install a dedicated dashboard app like GlassHome.
Full disclosure: GlassHome is my product, I'm the one building it. This guide still aims to be fair, because the honest answer depends on how much building you want to do, who uses your dashboard, and where it hangs. Each option below includes what it is genuinely good at and where it falls short.
At a glance
| Option | Best for | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Sections (built-in) | Staying built-in, zero install, full openness | Free |
| Mushroom | Assembling your own modern look from great parts | Free (HACS) |
| Bubble Card | Mobile-first pop-up interactions | Free (HACS) |
| GlassHome | A finished look, wall tablets, the whole family | Free tier $0; PRO $19.99 one-time (early bird) |
Home Assistant Sections (the built-in default)
Since 2024.3, Home Assistant's Sections view gives you a real drag-and-drop grid with a visual editor, and the Areas dashboard can auto-generate a clean starting point from your rooms. No YAML required anymore.
- Strengths: built in (nothing to install), free, fully open-source, deep configuration power, works with everything in HA, huge community.
- Weaknesses: looks utilitarian even when tidy; a genuinely beautiful result still means hunting, installing, and theming HACS cards; not designed for wall tablets, kiosks, per-user views, or guests.
- Best for: tinkerers, people happy to assemble their own look, anyone who wants free + open + built-in.
Mushroom (HACS card collection)
Mushroom is the most popular way to modernize Lovelace: a free, well-maintained collection of clean minimalist cards for lights, climate, media, people, and more.
- Strengths: beautiful cards, very popular, actively maintained, themeable, large community.
- Weaknesses: it is a card set, not a dashboard product. You still place cards, build layouts, theme, and keep it consistent yourself; no wall, kiosk, or household model.
- Best for: users who enjoy crafting their own dashboard and want better-looking building blocks.
Bubble Card (HACS card collection)
Bubble Card brings sleek pop-up and header cards with expandable button stacks, and it shines on phones.
- Strengths: polished mobile-first interactions, clean look, popular.
- Weaknesses: same assemble-it-yourself model as Mushroom with a narrower scope; it is an interaction pattern, not a full dashboard system.
- Best for: phone-first users who want modern pop-up controls inside their existing dashboard.
GlassHome (dedicated dashboard app)
GlassHome is a separate app that connects to Home Assistant and replaces the assembly work with a finished product: one designed visual language, drag-and-drop layouts, room-by-room navigation, kiosk pairing for wall tablets, per-user themes and guest scopes, and a widget registry with an SDK and CLI. Everything runs on your network; nothing is routed through our servers.
- Strengths: looks finished out of the box, wall-tablet and family features, widget store instead of HACS hunting, 30-second connect, local-first.
- Weaknesses: a separate app to install; the dashboard app is closed-source (the SDK, CLI, UI library, and widget collection are open); still in beta; smaller community than HA core.
- Best for: people who want HA to look bought rather than built, families, wall tablets. Free tier for local use; PRO is a one-time $19.99 early bird ($39.99 after launch).
Also worth knowing
Dwains Dashboard (HACS) auto-generates a full themed dashboard from your areas and entities. It is the closest community option to a finished product, with the trade-off that you adapt to its opinionated structure rather than design your own.
Button Card (HACS) is a near-infinitely templatable card for YAML and JavaScript enthusiasts. If you love templating, it is for you; it is the opposite of no-config.
Tileboard and other JSON-configured wall panels still work but are aging and config-file driven; most kiosk builders have moved on.
How to choose
These options also combine. GlassHome runs alongside the native dashboard, so a common setup is GlassHome for the household and wall tablet, and a handcrafted Sections or Mushroom dashboard for the person who runs HA.
- Want zero install and full openness: stay on Sections.
- Enjoy the craft and want better parts: Mushroom (plus Bubble Card on phones).
- Want an auto-generated full dashboard and accept its structure: Dwains.
- Want a finished, designed product for the wall and the family: GlassHome.
FAQ
Do I need anything beyond the default dashboard?
Not necessarily. Sections is genuinely good now. You need something else when you want a more designed look, wall-tablet or kiosk behavior, or per-person views.
Can I combine these options?
Yes. Mushroom and Bubble Card live inside the native dashboard, and GlassHome runs alongside it on its own port. Nothing replaces anything.
Does GlassHome replace Home Assistant?
No. Home Assistant stays the engine. GlassHome is a dashboard that connects to it, and your existing dashboards keep working.
Is GlassHome free?
There is a permanent free tier for local use. PRO is a one-time $19.99 early bird ($39.99 after launch), not a subscription.
See it for yourself
Free, runs on your network, no account needed.
Prefer to read first? Browse the docs.