FTW vs OpenEMS

FTW connects supported solar equipment, batteries, and car chargers from different brands for home energy use. Its Energyplan weighs charging needs, electricity prices and tariffs, solar and household forecasts, battery state, and efficiency to plan energy use. FTW Core checks proposed plans and commands against site and equipment limits, with a local fallback if the planner is unavailable. The beta indicates whether controlled devices are following FTW, waiting, limited, or need attention, using device readings and separate meter confirmation where available. Lua drivers connect supported meters, inverters, and batteries, although supported models, firmware, and verified functions vary. OCPP 1.6J and 2.0.1 chargers can connect to FTW's built-in server without a Lua driver, subject to their supported functions. FTW also lists API and Home Assistant connections for observation or automation. It runs on a user's own host, with Linux and Docker installation paths and Raspberry Pi or Linux deployment described. FTW is an early 0.x beta; active control requires a working site meter and confirmed main fuse rating.

OpenEMS is a free, modular open-source platform for monitoring, controlling, and integrating energy storage, renewable sources, and related devices and services. Its stack combines OpenEMS Edge for on-site device communication and control, OpenEMS UI for browser and smartphone access, and OpenEMS Backend for connecting Edge systems over the internet for aggregation, monitoring, and control. The architecture supports fast PLC-like control and reusable device-independent algorithms. Integrations cover batteries, solar and battery inverters, EV chargers, meters, tariffs, and data services, using interfaces such as MQTT, Modbus/TCP, Modbus/RTU, InfluxDB, M-Bus, 1-Wire, JSON/REST, and JSON/Websocket. Edge and Backend use Eclipse Public License 2.0; UI uses GNU Affero General Public License 3. Production deployment guidance covers Debian, Ubuntu, or Docker, and Java 21 is required. Source is available online and on GitHub, with monthly releases described. The getting-started setup is intended for testing, not production.