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Home Assistant is renaming Home Assistant Cloud to Home Assistant Link, a change its founder says better reflects the platform’s local-first approach and avoids suggesting that Home Assistant itself runs in the cloud. The paid service’s core features and pricing remain the same. The announcement also comes as the project plans easier onboarding, a new hub and other changes aimed at attracting less technical users.
Home Assistant is renaming its optional Home Assistant Cloud service to Home Assistant Link, founder Paulus Schoutsen told The Verge ahead of the announcement. The service’s main features and prices are staying in place; the new name is meant to make clearer that Home Assistant runs locally and that remote access is an optional add-on.
Schoutsen said the rebrand is mostly symbolic, with back-end improvements intended to increase speed and reliability. Link provides a way to reach a Home Assistant setup from outside the home network and supports internet-dependent options including Alexa and Google voice control, speech-to-text, text-to-speech and encrypted backups. The service costs $6.50 a month or $65 a year.
Home Assistant’s core smart-home control runs on local hardware, according to the report. Without a remote-access method, users cannot control their setup once they leave their home network. Link is not required: users can use other methods to reach their systems or reproduce the service’s functions themselves.
Link is operated by Nabu Casa, Home Assistant’s commercial partner. Schoutsen said traffic is encrypted and the service cannot access users’ data. The subscription also funds development: 60 percent of profit goes to the Open Home Foundation, the nonprofit that runs Home Assistant, the report said.
A Paid Link, Not Cloud-Based Control
The new name addresses a mismatch between Home Assistant’s local-control message and a service label that some newcomers took to mean the platform itself depended on remote servers. The distinction matters for buyers concerned that a product could lose features if a manufacturer shuts down its service, or that connected devices may send information to outside companies.
Schoutsen’s stated position is not that all online services are harmful. He acknowledged that features such as speech processing, backups and AI can work better online. His objection is to smart-home products that require a company’s cloud for basic functions, leaving users dependent on that company’s continued support. Link offers remote access while Home Assistant’s basic operation remains local, according to the report.
The announcement is also part of a push to make Home Assistant easier to adopt. Schoutsen estimated that the platform is installed in 2.7 million homes, but said its reach remains far below that of major consumer smart-home platforms. Easier setup could bring in users who want local control but find Home Assistant’s many options difficult to configure.
Home Assistant compatible smart home hub
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The Drive to Simplify Home Assistant
Home Assistant is an open-source smart-home platform that gives users a wide range of ways to connect and automate devices. That flexibility has helped it serve people whose needs exceed the simpler offerings from companies such as Google, Amazon and Apple, Schoutsen told The Verge. It also creates a steep learning curve: the number of available integrations and configuration choices can overwhelm newcomers.
The Link name change sits alongside plans to reduce that barrier without removing advanced options. The team is working on simpler dashboards and more intuitive setup, and plans to integrate the HACS community store—where users find community-built integrations—into Home Assistant. Schoutsen said the team wants to make initial setup feel more like configuring a Philips Hue hub.
The report also describes plans for a more user-friendly hub intended as a successor to Home Assistant Green, with a launch targeted for next year. Separately, Nabu Casa is developing a “No Device Left Behind” program to help connect older or analog equipment. The material provided does not give further details about how that program will work.
“Big tech ruined the cloud, so we’re out.”
— Paulus Schoutsen, Home Assistant founder, speaking to The Verge
Details Still Awaiting Release
The report does not provide a precise date for the Link rollout or technical details of the back-end changes. It also does not clarify whether existing subscribers need to take any action, or whether the service’s terms, privacy documentation or other account details will change with the rebrand.
Several broader plans remain at different stages. The new hub is targeted for next year, while HACS integration is described as planned for the following month; the source does not specify calendar dates. Details about the “No Device Left Behind” program, including supported devices and availability, are also not provided. Schoutsen’s statements about Link’s data access and privacy are attributed claims; the report does not include an independent technical audit.
Upcoming Tools and Onboarding Changes
Home Assistant’s next reported steps include integrating HACS into the platform, improving dashboards and setup, and developing a more user-friendly hub for release next year. Nabu Casa is also working on its legacy-device program and a database intended to help shoppers identify products that are not fully cloud-dependent.
For current users, the immediate reported change is the service’s new name, with its main offer and pricing unchanged. The report does not state whether subscribers will see any changes to their accounts or when the back-end improvements will be completed.
Key Questions
What is Home Assistant Link?
Home Assistant Link is the new name for Home Assistant Cloud, an optional paid service that lets users access their Home Assistant setup remotely and use features that depend on an internet connection.
Does Home Assistant now require the cloud?
No. The report says Home Assistant runs on local hardware and that Link is optional. Without remote access or another method, users cannot control their setup from outside their home network.
How much does Home Assistant Link cost?
The reported price is $6.50 per month or $65 per year. The source says the rebrand leaves the service’s main features and pricing in place.
Why is Home Assistant changing the name?
Founder Paulus Schoutsen said the name caused some new users to think Home Assistant itself ran in the cloud. The rename is intended to distinguish the optional remote-access service from the platform’s local operation.
What changes are planned for new users?
The team is working on simpler dashboards and setup, and plans to add the HACS community store within Home Assistant. A more user-friendly hub is targeted for next year, but the report gives no exact release date.
Source: rss
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