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Home Assistant is renaming its paid Home Assistant Cloud service to Home Assistant Link. The remote-access features and optional subscription remain, while the name change accompanies a broader effort to simplify the platform without giving up local control.
The change is mostly symbolic: Link retains Cloud’s existing features, with back-end improvements intended to increase speed and reliability. Home Assistant itself runs on local hardware and can control devices within the home without an internet connection. Remote access from outside the home requires Link or another method.
Link costs $6.50 a month or $65 a year. Subscribers can reach their Home Assistant setup remotely and opt into features that rely on internet services, including Alexa and Google voice control, text-to-speech, speech-to-text, and encrypted backups. The service is optional; users can arrange similar functions by other means.
Schoutsen said Link is operated by Nabu Casa, Home Assistant’s commercial partner, and that traffic is encrypted. He told The Verge the service cannot access users’ data. According to the report, 60 percent of Link’s profit goes to the Open Home Foundation, the nonprofit that runs Home Assistant, helping fund platform development.
A Paid Link to Local Control
The rename addresses a mismatch between Home Assistant’s local-first approach and a service whose former name could suggest that the platform itself runs in the cloud. It also keeps remote access available for users who want it without making that access a requirement for controlling devices at home.
Schoutsen argues that cloud-dependent products can stop working when a company discontinues a service, and that consumers may not know when devices send data online. Those are his concerns and examples, rather than findings established by the name change. The wider issue for smart-home buyers is whether core functions continue to work when a vendor’s servers or internet connection are unavailable.
Link also gives Home Assistant a revenue source while the project tries to reach users who find its extensive configuration options difficult. The service’s continued optional status means the announcement does not require existing users to subscribe or change how their local installations work.
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From Cloud Criticism to Link
Home Assistant has long promoted smart-home control that runs on local hardware and supported open technologies such as Matter, Zigbee, Z-Wave, MQTT, and ESPHome. Its optional Cloud service provided remote access and internet-based features, but the name sat uneasily alongside the project’s criticism of products that depend on proprietary servers.
Schoutsen told The Verge that Home Assistant is installed in an estimated 2.7 million homes. That figure is his estimate as reported by The Verge; it is not a direct comparison with the user counts of Amazon Alexa, Google Home, Samsung SmartThings, or Apple Home. He described those mainstream platforms as easier to start with, while saying Home Assistant offers more flexibility and can feel more complicated.
The team’s broader effort includes simpler dashboards, more intuitive setup, and integrating the HACS community store into Home Assistant. The Verge reported that the HACS integration was planned for the following month. Schoutsen also described work on a more user-friendly successor to the Home Assistant Green hub, expected next year, and a “No Device Left Behind” program intended to connect existing analog or legacy equipment. Further details of that program were not included in the supplied report.
““We are renaming Home Assistant Cloud to Home Assistant Link, because we hate clouds.””
— Paulus Schoutsen, Home Assistant founder, speaking to The Verge
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Details Still to Come
The announcement does not specify the full scope or timing of the planned back-end improvements, nor does the supplied report give a detailed setup process for Link. The service’s features and pricing are described as continuing, but further operational details may follow.
Specifics for the new hub, simpler dashboards, generative AI work, and “No Device Left Behind” program remain limited in the report. Schoutsen’s statements about Link’s data access, encryption, and the project’s device count are attributed claims; the source material does not include an independent technical audit or separate verification of the installation estimate.
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Planned Setup and Hub Changes
Home Assistant’s next reported software milestone is bringing the HACS community store into the platform, which the team said it planned for the following month. The move is intended to make community-built integrations easier to find and configure.
The team also plans to improve onboarding and develop a successor to the Home Assistant Green hub, with Schoutsen describing the new hardware as a next-year project. The report does not provide a launch date or final specifications. Home Assistant’s stated test will be whether new users can get started more easily while retaining the platform’s existing flexibility and local operation.
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Key Questions
What is Home Assistant Link?
Home Assistant Link is the new name for Home Assistant Cloud, an optional paid service for remote access and internet-dependent features.
Does Home Assistant now run in the cloud?
No. The report says Home Assistant runs on local hardware and controls devices locally. Link provides a way to connect to an installation from outside the home and use selected online features.
How much does Link cost?
The reported price is $6.50 per month or $65 per year. The announcement describes the service as optional.
What changes for current Cloud subscribers?
The service is being renamed, and its features are expected to remain the same apart from back-end improvements intended to improve speed and reliability. The report does not describe a required change to users’ local installations.
What other Home Assistant changes are planned?
The team has described simpler setup and dashboards, HACS integration, a more user-friendly hub expected next year, and work on a program for connecting legacy devices. Dates and specifications for several of these plans remain limited.
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