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Home Assistant is changing the name of its optional Home Assistant Cloud subscription to Home Assistant Link. The service’s features and pricing remain the same, while the project continues work to make its locally run smart home platform easier to set up and use.
Home Assistant is renaming its optional subscription service Home Assistant Cloud to Home Assistant Link, founder Paulus Schoutsen told The Verge ahead of the announcement. The change is mostly in name: the service’s features and prices are staying the same, while Home Assistant says the new branding should make clearer that its smart home platform runs locally rather than in the cloud.
Link will continue to provide remote access to a user’s Home Assistant system, along with optional internet-dependent features such as Alexa and Google voice assistant integration, speech-to-text, text-to-speech and encrypted backups. The subscription costs $6.50 a month or $65 a year. Schoutsen said the change will also include back-end improvements intended to improve speed and reliability.
Home Assistant runs on local hardware and can control smart home devices locally. Without a remote-access setup, users cannot reach their system from outside their home network. Link is one way to add that access, but the subscription is not required: the report says users can use other methods to reproduce its functions.
The service is operated by Nabu Casa, Home Assistant’s commercial partner. Schoutsen told The Verge that Link traffic is encrypted and that the service cannot access users’ data. He said 60 percent of its profit goes to the Open Home Foundation, the nonprofit that runs Home Assistant. These privacy and funding details were described by Schoutsen in the interview.
Local Control Meets Easier Setup
The name change speaks to a broader distinction for smart home buyers: a product may connect to the internet without requiring its basic functions to depend on a company’s servers. Home Assistant’s approach is to keep control local where possible and make online services optional. That matters when a manufacturer ends server support or changes how a product handles data; cloud-dependent devices can lose features, or stop working, when the service disappears.
At the same time, Home Assistant is trying to reach beyond technically confident users. Schoutsen estimated that it is installed in 2.7 million homes, but acknowledged that it remains much smaller than mainstream platforms such as Alexa, Google Home, Samsung SmartThings and Apple Home. Making setup and everyday use simpler could help the platform grow without removing its extensive customization options.
Home Assistant local control device
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Why Home Assistant Is Changing Names
Home Assistant has long promoted local control and criticized smart home products that rely on proprietary cloud services. The old name created a mismatch: the platform runs on local hardware, but its optional remote-access subscription was called Home Assistant Cloud. Schoutsen told The Verge that some prospective users took the name to mean the whole system ran in the cloud.
Schoutsen pointed to companies discontinuing support for connected products as a reason to avoid cloud dependence. He cited Nest ending cloud support for older thermostats and Weber discontinuing servers for its June Oven. Those examples reflect his argument for products that continue to work locally; the report does not establish that every cloud-connected product will fail when a service changes.
The renaming is part of a larger effort to reduce the platform’s learning curve. The team is working on simpler dashboards and setup, and plans to integrate the HACS community store into Home Assistant in the month after the announcement so users can find and install community integrations more easily. Schoutsen also discussed a successor to the Home Assistant Green hub, planned for the following year, with a simpler setup process.
“Big tech ruined the cloud, so we’re out.”
— Paulus Schoutsen, Home Assistant founder, speaking to The Verge
What the Rename Does Not Change
The announcement does not describe a major change to what subscribers can do: Link keeps Cloud’s existing features and pricing, with back-end improvements described as part of the update. The report does not specify when those improvements will be fully available or give performance measurements.
Schoutsen’s statements about data access, encryption and the service’s profit distribution are attributed to him; the report does not provide an independent technical audit or further operational detail. The plans for a successor hub and easier onboarding are also forward-looking, with no specific launch date given beyond the following year. The available report does not provide further details on the “No Device Left Behind” program mentioned among Home Assistant’s future efforts.
Upcoming Changes for New Users
Home Assistant’s next stated steps are to bring HACS into the platform in the month after the announcement and to keep working on clearer dashboards and simpler setup. Schoutsen said the team plans to release a successor to the Home Assistant Green hub the following year, designed to make installation more approachable. Specific launch dates and product details were not provided.
The broader test will be whether these changes make Home Assistant easier to adopt without reducing its flexibility. Link’s renaming does not remove the need for online access when users want remote control or internet-dependent features; it presents those functions as optional additions to a system designed to run locally.
Key Questions
What is Home Assistant Link?
Home Assistant Link is the new name for Home Assistant Cloud, an optional subscription that provides remote access and internet-dependent features for a Home Assistant system.
Has the service’s price changed?
No price change was announced. The report lists the cost as $6.50 per month or $65 per year.
Does Home Assistant require Link?
No. Home Assistant runs on local hardware, and Link is optional. The report says users can set up other methods to provide the functions Link offers.
What features does Link provide?
Link provides remote access to a Home Assistant system and can support features such as Alexa and Google voice control, text-to-speech, speech-to-text and encrypted backups.
What other changes is Home Assistant planning?
The team plans to make setup and dashboards easier, integrate the HACS community store in the month after the announcement, and release a simpler successor to the Home Assistant Green hub the following year. Exact dates and product specifications have not been announced in the report.
Source: rss
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