The open-source smart home platform Home Assistant is renaming Home Assistant Cloud to Home Assistant Link in a strategic move to distance itself from big tech cloud services, founder Paulus Schoutsen told The Verge in an interview.
Renaming Home Assistant Cloud to Link
The rebranding decision was announced by Schoutsen, who explained that big tech companies have tarnished the reputation of cloud-based infrastructure. The Verge reported that the name change is primarily symbolic, designed to correct a misconception among new users who mistakenly believed Home Assistant ran entirely in the cloud rather than on local hardware inside individual homes. According to a statement from Carl, Vice President of Commercial at Nabu Casa, the previous naming convention created awkward friction when platform leadership publicly criticized cloud-dependent hardware while offering a paid service containing the word cloud. Big tech ruined the cloud, so we’re out,
Schoutsen stated in an interview ahead of the announcement, noting that the cloud is ruining how people think of the smart home.
Schoutsen pointed to recent examples including Nest shutting off the cloud for early thermostats, smart TVs secretly sending user data to the cloud, and Weber sunsetting the servers for the June Oven, which leaves users with a $1,500 appliance that becomes a dumb oven. The commercial partner Nabu Casa was originally founded in 2018 and created Home Assistant Cloud to make the platform’s development sustainable so that core developers would not burn out working nights and weekends alongside their regular jobs, ensuring the project could stick around for the long haul.
Funding the Open Home Foundation Without Data Harvesting
Home Assistant Link provides secure remote access, encrypted backups, text-to-speech, and integrations with Amazon Alexa and Google voice control for $6.50 a month or $65 a year. Sixty percent of the profits generated from Link subscriptions directly fund the Open Home Foundation, which supports the staff and volunteers developing the open-source platform. Carl, Vice President of Commercial at Nabu Casa, noted that the commercial partner manages and runs Home Assistant Link to help fund all the foundation’s work.
Lowering Barriers to Entry and Simplifying User Experience
Despite being installed in an estimated 2.7 million homes, Home Assistant still trails mainstream ecosystems like Amazon Alexa, Google Home, Samsung SmartThings, and Apple Home due to its steep learning curve. To attract mainstream users without sacrificing advanced functionality, the platform plans to launch a more user-friendly hardware hub next year to succeed the Home Assistant Green.
Platform Urges Manufacturers to Provide Local Control
Alongside AI adoption, the platform continues to advocate for open smart home standards like Matter, Zigbee, Z-Wave, MQTT, and ESPHome, urging manufacturers to provide local control by default rather than locking essential features behind proprietary cloud servers.
Frequently Asked Questions About Home Assistant Link
Do I need to pay for Home Assistant Link to use Home Assistant?
No, Link is completely optional. Home Assistant runs locally on your own hardware, and you can replicate every feature offered by Link using alternative methods without paying a subscription fee.
How much does Home Assistant Link cost?
The service costs $6.50 per month or $65 per year. These funds help finance the Open Home Foundation, supporting software development and platform sustainability.
Does Home Assistant Link store my personal smart home data?
All traffic through Link is encrypted by Nabu Casa, and the commercial partner has no access to user data. The platform is designed to operate locally inside your home network for maximum privacy.
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