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Home Assistant is renaming Home Assistant Cloud to Home Assistant Link, a mostly symbolic change that leaves the service’s features and optional status intact. Founder Paulus Schoutsen says the platform is also working to make setup easier, integrate its community store and develop a more user-friendly hub, while keeping smart-home control local where possible.
Home Assistant is renaming its optional Home Assistant Cloud service to Home Assistant Link, a change founder Paulus Schoutsen described as a response to the cloud’s reputation and confusion among new users. The service will retain its existing features, while the announcement comes as the open-source smart-home platform works to simplify setup and reach more households.
The name change is mostly symbolic, according to The Verge’s report. Link will continue to provide remote access to a Home Assistant installation, along with internet-dependent options such as voice control through Alexa and Google, speech processing and encrypted backups. The report says the service will also receive back-end improvements aimed at speed and reliability.
Home Assistant itself runs on local hardware and controls devices locally. Remote access is useful when a user is away from home, but the service is not required: users can access similar capabilities through other methods. Link is offered for $6.50 a month or $65 a year, with the report saying 60 percent of its profit goes to the Open Home Foundation, the nonprofit that runs Home Assistant.
Schoutsen told The Verge that Link is operated by Nabu Casa, Home Assistant’s commercial partner, and that its traffic is encrypted. He said the service cannot access users’ data. The platform’s broader product plans include simpler dashboards and setup, integrating the HACS community store into Home Assistant next month, and developing a more user-friendly hub for next year.
Local Control Meets Easier Setup
The announcement highlights Home Assistant’s attempt to balance local control and privacy with the convenience of remote access. Link’s new name may make clearer that Home Assistant does not run entirely in the cloud, but it does not remove the need for internet-connected services when users want access from outside their home or features such as voice processing.
The accessibility work could matter as much as the rebrand. Home Assistant offers broad customization, but that flexibility can make the platform difficult to configure. Schoutsen told The Verge that the goal is to lower the barrier for beginners without removing advanced options. If the team succeeds, it could make local-first smart-home control more approachable to people who currently use mainstream platforms.
Schoutsen said Home Assistant is installed in an estimated 2.7 million homes. That is a figure he provided, not an independently verified count in the report. The platform remains smaller than Amazon Alexa, Google Home, Samsung SmartThings and Apple Home, according to the article, so easier onboarding is central to its effort to grow.
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Why Home Assistant Rejects Cloud Dependence
Home Assistant has long argued for smart-home products that keep working locally, rather than relying on a manufacturer’s servers. Schoutsen pointed to cases in which products or services lost cloud support, including Nest ending support for early thermostats and Weber shutting down servers for the June Oven. He said cloud dependence can leave customers with devices whose functions are reduced or lost when a company ends service.
His criticism is not that every cloud feature is harmful. Schoutsen acknowledged that speech-to-text, backups and AI can work better online. His objection is to making basic product operation dependent on a company’s cloud. He advocates local control by default, open standards such as Matter, Zigbee, Z-Wave, MQTT and ESPHome, and giving users control over their data.
Home Assistant Cloud has been optional throughout, and the report says Link remains optional. That creates a distinction between the platform’s stance against cloud-dependent devices and its paid service: Link uses internet infrastructure for particular features, but it is not required for local smart-home control.
“Big tech ruined the cloud, so we’re out.”
— Paulus Schoutsen, Home Assistant founder, speaking to The Verge
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Details Still Awaiting Confirmation
The report does not give a specific launch date for the Link name or the planned back-end improvements. It says HACS integration is expected next month and a successor to the Home Assistant Green hub is planned for next year, but provides no exact dates, specifications or pricing for that hardware.
It is also not clear from the report how the proposed “No Device Left Behind” program will work in practice. Schoutsen described development of devices intended to connect existing analog or legacy technology, but the available details do not establish which products will be supported, when devices will be available or what they will cost. The report also does not independently verify the service’s data-access claims or the estimate of installations.
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Upcoming Changes for New Users
Home Assistant’s stated next steps are to integrate HACS, the community store for integrations, into the platform next month and to develop a more user-friendly hub for next year. The team is also working on clearer dashboards and a more intuitive setup process. Exact release dates and product details have not been provided in the cited report.
Schoutsen encouraged people who have not tried Home Assistant recently to revisit it as the changes roll out. The central test will be whether the platform can simplify onboarding while preserving the local control and customization that distinguish it from more limited smart-home services.
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Key Questions
What is Home Assistant Link?
Home Assistant Link is the new name for Home Assistant Cloud, a paid optional service for remote access and other internet-dependent features. The report says its existing feature set will remain largely the same.
Does Home Assistant require the cloud?
No. Home Assistant runs on local hardware and can control a smart home locally. Link provides remote access and added online features, but the service is optional.
How much does Home Assistant Link cost?
The report lists the price as $6.50 per month or $65 per year.
What changes are planned to make Home Assistant easier to use?
The team is working on simpler dashboards and setup, plans to integrate the HACS community store next month, and is developing a more user-friendly hub for next year. The report gives no exact hub launch date or price.
What does Home Assistant mean by local control?
Local control means a Home Assistant installation can operate smart-home devices on the home network without depending on a manufacturer’s cloud for basic functions. Some features, including remote access and speech processing, still use internet services.
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