---
title: "The best Home Assistant dashboards in 2026, compared"
description: "Start with Sections, Home Assistant's built-in dashboard: free, with no YAML needed. For a cleaner look, add Mushroom or Bubble Card from the Marketplace. For a kitchen or hallway screen that mixes photos, family lists and controls, try Magic Frame. On iPhone and iPad, native apps such as HA Dash and Vulpo draw native screens."
canonical: "https://vulpo.app/guides/best-home-assistant-dashboards"
url: "https://vulpo.app/guides/best-home-assistant-dashboards.md"
last-updated: "2026-11-05"
version: "1.4"
---

# The best Home Assistant dashboards in 2026, compared

> Start with Sections, Home Assistant's built-in dashboard: free, with no YAML needed. For a cleaner look, add Mushroom or Bubble Card from the Marketplace. For a kitchen or hallway screen that mixes photos, family lists and controls, try Magic Frame. On iPhone and iPad, native apps such as HA Dash and Vulpo draw native screens.

## How this comparison works

This guide compares seven Home Assistant dashboards and mentions one more, as of November 2026. They run from the dashboard built into Home Assistant, through card collections that restyle it, to apps that replace it on a wall screen or an Apple device. Every one of them had a release in the last 12 months. Each gets the same treatment: what it is, where it runs, what it costs, its strengths, its trade-offs and who it suits. The facts come from each project's own repository, website, documentation or App Store listing, all linked under Sources, and prices are US prices. Vulpo is made by the publisher of this site.

## How to choose

Two questions narrow it down: how much of the dashboard you want to build yourself, and which screens it has to run on. The options also combine: the card collections sit inside Home Assistant's own dashboard, and the apps run beside it.

- Build nothing extra: Sections comes with Home Assistant, and you arrange its cards by dragging them, without YAML.
- Restyle Home Assistant's own dashboard: Mushroom gives it tidy cards with a visual editor, and Bubble Card builds a phone-first layout around pop-ups.
- A home display, not only controls: Magic Frame mixes a photo frame, family lists and a calendar with Home Assistant tiles, on any screen with a browser.
- In a browser or the official app: Sections, Mushroom and Bubble Card run wherever Home Assistant's dashboards do.
- On a wall tablet: Magic Frame runs in any tablet's browser. On an iPad, HA Dash shows the dashboards you already have in kiosk mode, and HomePad is built for an iPad that stays on, with Apple Home or Home Assistant.
- On iPhone and iPad: HA Dash draws the dashboards you already have as native screens, for free; Vulpo builds its own native dashboards, with a native Mac app and an Apple Watch app.

## Sections, the built-in dashboard

Sections is the layout Home Assistant has used for new dashboards since version 2024.11. Cards sit in sections on a grid, and you move sections and cards by dragging them; the basics need no YAML. Each section can have its own background, theme and visibility conditions, and Home Assistant 2026.11 added automatic sections that follow your devices and copying sections between dashboards. Sections runs wherever Home Assistant's dashboards do, in a browser and in the official Home Assistant apps. It comes with Home Assistant at no cost, and the frontend that draws it is open source under Apache-2.0.

- Strengths: Free and already installed, edited by dragging, and it takes the community's custom cards, the two below included.
- Trade-offs: A section's own theme has to be written in YAML first, and a section's background leaves its cards' colours alone, which can take theme changes to fix.
- Best for: Everyone, as the place to start, and anyone who wants to lay out a dashboard without installing anything.

## Mushroom

Mushroom is a collection of cards for Home Assistant's own dashboards. Every card and option has a visual editor, so it needs no YAML, and it brings icon and colour pickers, light and dark themes and translations, with no other cards required. It runs wherever those dashboards do. You install it from the Marketplace, which Home Assistant 2026.11 built in (HACS before that), or by hand as a dashboard resource. Mushroom is free and open source under Apache-2.0, its maker accepts donations, and its latest release came out in September 2026.

- Strengths: A clean, consistent look for Home Assistant's own dashboard, set up in a visual editor with no YAML.
- Trade-offs: Its README says it isn't built for deep customisation and points to other projects for that, and its themes live in a separate repository.
- Best for: People who want Home Assistant's own dashboard to look cleaner without writing YAML.

## Bubble Card

Bubble Card is a minimalist card collection for Home Assistant's dashboards, built around pop-ups. It has cards for buttons with sliders, media players, covers, climate, calendars and a horizontal row of buttons, and a built-in Module Store with over 100 community modules for other looks; styles change through CSS variables. You install it from the Marketplace (HACS before 2026.11) or by hand, and it needs Home Assistant 2023.9 or newer. Bubble Card is free and open source under the MIT licence, with more advanced templates on its maker's Patreon, and its latest release came out in October 2026.

- Strengths: Pop-ups that open from a link, a button bar or a change of state, and a module store for extra looks.
- Trade-offs: More layout rules to learn: the horizontal buttons stack has to be the last card in a view and can't sit inside a stack, and pop-up blur needs a background opacity below 100.
- Best for: Phone-first dashboards built around pop-ups, for people who enjoy tweaking.

## Magic Frame

Magic Frame is a self-hosted home display that is part photo frame, part family board and part Home Assistant dashboard. Wallpapers rotate from Immich or WebDAV, the board holds a shopping list, to-dos, a calendar and the weather, and Home Assistant tiles show live entities, scene buttons and camera pop-ups. You arrange its 20 built-in widgets, or modules of your own, on a 24-column grid with drag and drop, each display gets its own view, and every screen follows a change within a second. It runs in Docker on a Raspberry Pi, a NAS or another computer, or as a Home Assistant app (add-on), shows on any screen with a browser and needs no cloud account. Magic Frame is free for personal, household and other noncommercial use under the PolyForm Noncommercial licence, which is not an open-source licence, and its latest release came out in October 2026.

- Strengths: Photos, family lists and Home Assistant controls on one screen, a drag-and-drop editor, a view of its own for each display, and no cloud account.
- Trade-offs: Its PolyForm Noncommercial licence rules out commercial use, such as selling it or offering it as a service, without a separate licence, and is not open source; photo wallpapers come only from Immich or WebDAV on your own network; and it is another app to install and update beside Home Assistant.
- Best for: A kitchen or hallway display that mixes photos, family lists and a few controls.

## HA Dash

HA Dash is a free app for iPhone and iPad that draws the dashboards you already have in Home Assistant as native screens instead of a web page. It handles the sections, masonry, panel and sidebar layouts, updates live, and has themes, a demo mode and a kiosk mode that wakes on touch and can be controlled remotely. It needs iOS 15 or newer and runs on Macs with Apple silicon as an iPad app, which the App Store marks as not verified for macOS; the project also keeps a build you install yourself for older iPads such as the iPad 2. HA Dash is open source under Apache-2.0, and its latest version came out in October 2026.

- Strengths: Keeps the dashboards you already built and draws them natively, runs on old iPads, and is free and open source.
- Trade-offs: It needs at least one Lovelace dashboard on your server, custom cards it doesn't support show as a basic view or a placeholder, and remote commands only work while the app is open.
- Best for: iPhone and iPad users who want the dashboards they already have drawn natively, wall-mounted and older iPads included.

## HomePad

HomePad turns a wall-mounted or tabletop iPad into an always-on control centre for Apple Home or Home Assistant, and it adapts to iPhone. You pick one of the two when you first open it and can switch in its settings. Its main dashboard mixes your accessories with widgets such as weather, clocks, calendar, reminders, commute times and web pages, each placed and sized as you like. Room views, up to four camera feeds at once, a doorbell feed that pops up, Apple Music, Spotify and internet radio, a photo frame mode and support for several homes come with it. Home Assistant support arrived in version 4.0 in August 2026; the app reaches it on your network or through your own remote address, with no HomePad account or server in between. HomePad needs iOS or iPadOS 17.6 or newer and costs $8.99 once, with no subscription. It also runs on Vision Pro and, as an iPad app, on Macs with Apple silicon, which the App Store marks as not verified for macOS. No source code is public, and its latest version came out in November 2026.

- Strengths: Built for an iPad that stays on, works with Apple Home or Home Assistant, a camera grid with a doorbell pop-up, no account, and a one-time price.
- Trade-offs: Paid up front and closed source, one source at a time rather than Apple Home and Home Assistant together, and its Home Assistant side is newer than its Apple Home side, added in August 2026.
- Best for: A wall or kitchen iPad in a home run on Apple Home or on Home Assistant.

## Vulpo

Vulpo is a native Home Assistant app for iPhone, iPad, Mac and Apple Watch that draws every screen in SwiftUI, the Mac included. Instead of showing Home Assistant's dashboards, it builds its own in the app from more than 40 card types, without YAML, and iCloud keeps them in step on your devices. Around them come a native automation editor, widgets, Control Center controls and an Apple Watch app that works without the iPhone over Wi-Fi or LTE. It needs iOS 26 or newer, and macOS 26 on the Mac. The core app is free with no time limit; Vulpo Pro costs $4.99 a month, $29.99 a year or $59.99 once and adds Live Activities, unlimited widgets (the free version has two), Vulpo Labs and Lumen, a 3D view of your home linked to your devices. Vulpo is closed source, and its latest version came out in October 2026.

- Strengths: Native screens on iPhone and iPad, a native Mac app and an Apple Watch app that works on its own in the free version, dashboards built without YAML, widgets, and Lumen with Vulpo Pro.
- Trade-offs: Apple devices only, iOS 26 or newer, closed source, no custom Lovelace cards and none of your existing Lovelace dashboards, no wall-panel or kiosk mode, one server at a time, and Live Activities, Lumen and unlimited widgets need Vulpo Pro.
- Best for: People with an iPhone, iPad, Mac or Apple Watch who want native dashboards built in the app rather than in Home Assistant.

## Also worth knowing

One more self-hosted dashboard had a release in the last 12 months and fills a narrower role.

- Tunet: An open-source React dashboard for Home Assistant under GPL-3.0, with a drag-and-drop masonry layout, cards for lights, climate, media, covers, vacuums and alarms, energy-price and EV cards, and layouts that sync between devices through profiles on the server. It runs in a browser and installs as a Home Assistant app (add-on) or with Docker Compose. No price is stated, and its latest release came out in November 2026.

## At a glance

Prices are US prices as of November 2026. Not stated means the option's own pages don't say. Each option's section above has the detail.

| Option | Type | Runs on | Ready-made look | Wall tablet | Custom cards | Open source | Price |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Sections | Built in | Browser, official apps | Partly: default dashboard | Partly: browser or app | Yes | Yes, Apache-2.0 | Free |
| Mushroom | Card collection | Home Assistant dashboards | Partly: cards you arrange | Partly: browser or app | Yes | Yes, Apache-2.0 | Free |
| Bubble Card | Card collection | Home Assistant dashboards | Partly: cards and modules | Partly: browser or app | Yes | Yes, MIT | Free |
| Magic Frame | Self-hosted display | Any browser | Partly: built-in widgets | Yes: any browser | Not stated | No: PolyForm Noncommercial | Free, noncommercial use |
| HA Dash | Native app | iPhone, iPad (iOS 15+) | No: your dashboards | Yes: kiosk mode | Partly: basic view | Yes, Apache-2.0 | Free |
| HomePad | Native app | iPad, iPhone (iOS 17.6+) | Partly: room views | Yes: always-on iPad | Not stated | No | $8.99 once |
| Vulpo | Native app | iPhone, iPad, Mac, Watch | Partly: cards you arrange | No | No | No | Free, optional Pro |
| Tunet | Self-hosted web app | Browser | Partly: cards you arrange | Partly: in a browser | Not stated | Yes, GPL-3.0 | Not stated |

Side by side with Vulpo: [Vulpo vs the Home Assistant app](https://vulpo.app/compare/home-assistant-companion), [Vulpo vs HomePad](https://vulpo.app/compare/homepad).

## What is the best Home Assistant dashboard?

It depends on the screen and on how much you want to build. Sections, the built-in dashboard, is the place to start, and Mushroom or Bubble Card make it look cleaner. Magic Frame, HA Dash and HomePad suit a wall screen, and on iPhone and iPad, native apps such as HA Dash and Vulpo draw native screens.

## Do I need anything beyond the default dashboard?

No. Sections is free, built in and edited by dragging cards, without YAML. Add a card collection, an app or both when you want a different look, a wall tablet or native screens on your phone.

## Can I mix these?

Yes. Mushroom and Bubble Card are cards inside Home Assistant's own dashboards, so both can sit on the same dashboard. Magic Frame and the native apps run beside Home Assistant's dashboards, so a wall tablet can run one of them while your phone runs another.

## Do custom cards work in native apps?

Mostly not. HA Dash shows a custom card it doesn't support as a basic view labelled with the card type, or as a placeholder, and Vulpo draws its own cards and shows none of Home Assistant's. HomePad's pages don't say. Cards from the Marketplace run wherever Home Assistant's own dashboards do, in a browser and in the official Home Assistant apps.

## Which of these are free?

Sections, Mushroom, Bubble Card and HA Dash cost nothing, Tunet states no price, and Vulpo's core app is free with Vulpo Pro optional. Magic Frame is free for noncommercial use only. HomePad costs $8.99 once.

## Sources

- [Home Assistant: Dashboards](https://www.home-assistant.io/dashboards/)
- [Home Assistant: Sections view](https://www.home-assistant.io/dashboards/sections/)
- [Home Assistant 2024.11 release notes](https://www.home-assistant.io/blog/2024/11/06/release-202411/)
- [Home Assistant 2026.2 release notes](https://www.home-assistant.io/blog/2026/02/04/release-20262/)
- [Home Assistant 2026.11 release notes](https://www.home-assistant.io/blog/2026/11/04/release-202611/)
- [Home Assistant frontend licence (GitHub)](https://github.com/home-assistant/frontend/blob/dev/LICENSE.md)
- [Mushroom (GitHub)](https://github.com/piitaya/lovelace-mushroom)
- [Mushroom licence](https://github.com/piitaya/lovelace-mushroom/blob/main/LICENSE)
- [Mushroom releases (GitHub)](https://github.com/piitaya/lovelace-mushroom/releases)
- [Bubble Card (GitHub)](https://github.com/Clooos/Bubble-Card)
- [Bubble Card licence](https://github.com/Clooos/Bubble-Card/blob/main/LICENSE)
- [Bubble Card releases (GitHub)](https://github.com/Clooos/Bubble-Card/releases)
- [Magic Frame (GitHub)](https://github.com/jeremiaa/magic-frame)
- [Magic Frame website](https://magicframe.dev/)
- [Magic Frame licence](https://github.com/jeremiaa/magic-frame/blob/main/LICENSE.md)
- [Magic Frame releases (GitHub)](https://github.com/jeremiaa/magic-frame/releases)
- [HA Dash on the App Store](https://apps.apple.com/us/app/ha-dash/id6759347912)
- [HA Dash source (GitHub)](https://github.com/ha-dashboard/ios-app)
- [HA Dash licence](https://github.com/ha-dashboard/ios-app/blob/main/LICENSE)
- [HA Dash website](https://ha-dashboard.github.io/ios-app/)
- [HA Dash releases (GitHub)](https://github.com/ha-dashboard/ios-app/releases)
- [HomePad on the App Store](https://apps.apple.com/app/id6749515480)
- [HomePad website](https://homepad.luminae.be/)
- [Tunet (GitHub)](https://github.com/oyvhov/Tunet)
- [Tunet licence](https://github.com/oyvhov/Tunet/blob/main/LICENSE)
- [Tunet releases (GitHub)](https://github.com/oyvhov/Tunet/releases)

Vulpo 1.4. Last updated 2026-11-05. Source: https://vulpo.app/guides/best-home-assistant-dashboards

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