Comparison · Hubs & platforms
Home Assistant hardware guide: ZBT-2 and Voice
What to plug into a Home Assistant box, what each accessory actually adds, and when a mini PC beats a $100 starter device.
Our pick: Green plus Connect ZBT-2 is the sensible minimum; add Voice for local control
Nabu Casa
Green
8.7$99
The lowest-friction way to run Home Assistant: preinstalled, low power, and quiet.
Pros
- • Home Assistant OS preinstalled, so setup is minutes not hours
- • About 1.7 W idle, with Gigabit Ethernet
- • Official hardware with a supported update path
Cons
- • No built-in Zigbee or Thread radio
- • No built-in Wi-Fi — it wants an Ethernet drop
- • Limited headroom for cameras or local AI workloads
Nabu Casa
Connect ZBT-2
8.6About $65
The one accessory most Zigbee and Thread households need.
Pros
- • Adds Zigbee and Thread radios by USB
- • Purpose-built for Home Assistant, no driver hunting
- • Firmware management inside Home Assistant
Cons
- • One radio cannot run both protocols at full duty simultaneously
- • You may need a USB extension to avoid interference
Nabu Casa
Voice Preview Edition
8.0About $70
Local voice control with no cloud assistant listening — for people who care about that.
Pros
- • Voice processing stays on your own hardware
- • No big-tech account required for basic control
- • Improves steadily through software updates
Cons
- • Answer quality lags commercial assistants, especially for general questions
- • A local language model or cloud add-on is needed for richer conversation
Various
Mini PC (bring your own hardware)
8.4$150-$400
The step up when you want cameras, local AI, or several add-ons running at once.
Pros
- • Far more CPU and RAM for Frigate, local LLMs, and add-ons
- • Can run Home Assistant OS or a supervised install
- • Better value per unit of compute than small appliance boxes
Cons
- • You manage BIOS, storage, and updates yourself
- • Higher idle power than an appliance
Home Assistant software is free. The money goes into hardware, and the choices are narrower than they look: a box to run it on, a radio or two, and optionally a microphone. Getting this right is mostly about being honest about how much you plan to run.
| Piece | Price | Adds | Skip if |
|---|---|---|---|
| Home Assistant Green | $99 | The server, preinstalled | You already run a home server |
| Connect ZBT-2 | About $65 | Zigbee and Thread radios | All your devices are Wi-Fi or Matter-over-Wi-Fi |
| Voice Preview Edition | About $70 | Local voice control | You are happy with a cloud assistant |
| Mini PC | $150-$400 | Compute for cameras and local AI | You have a handful of devices |
Start with the Green
The Home Assistant Green exists to remove the hardest part of the project: installing the operating system. It arrives with Home Assistant OS preinstalled, draws about 1.7 watts at idle, has Gigabit Ethernet, and updates through the normal supported path. For a home with a few dozen devices it is entirely sufficient, and it will run for years without attention.
Add one radio, and understand the trade
The Green has no Zigbee or Thread radio, so a Connect ZBT-2 is the accessory most households end up buying. It lets you pair Zigbee bulbs and sensors directly — no Hue bridge or vendor hub — and lets Home Assistant act as a Thread border router. The nuance worth knowing: a single stick handling both protocols at full duty is a compromise, and if your Zigbee mesh grows large, a second radio is a better answer than pushing one harder.
Voice, if local control is the point
The Voice Preview Edition is the piece that makes Home Assistant's privacy pitch concrete: commands are processed on your own hardware, with no cloud assistant involved. It handles device control, timers, and simple questions well. For wide-ranging conversational answers, commercial assistants remain a step ahead — and adding a language model, local or cloud, is the usual next move.
When to skip the appliance and buy a mini PC
If you want camera processing, local object detection, or a local language model, a mini PC in the $150 to $400 range gives far more headroom than an appliance box, at the cost of managing storage, BIOS, and updates yourself. The tell is simple: if you are planning add-ons that do video or AI, buy compute. If you want lights and sensors to work forever, buy the Green.
Buy the smallest box that runs what you actually plan to run. Home Assistant scales up more gracefully than your enthusiasm does.
Lab notes, platform round 2026
The verdict
Buy the Green and a Connect ZBT-2 and you have a complete local smart home platform for under $170. Add the Voice Preview Edition if local voice matters, and graduate to a mini PC the day you want cameras or AI. Our smart home hub comparison covers how this stacks up against SmartThings and Hubitat.
Questions we get
What hardware do I need to start with Home Assistant?
A Home Assistant Green at $99 plus a Connect ZBT-2 radio at about $65 covers most homes: the Green runs the software, and the ZBT-2 adds Zigbee and Thread so you can pair battery devices. If your devices are all Wi-Fi or Matter-over-Wi-Fi, you can start with the Green alone and add radios later.
What does the Home Assistant Connect ZBT-2 do?
It is a USB radio that adds Zigbee and Thread to your Home Assistant box, neither of which is built into the Green. Zigbee lets you pair bulbs, sensors, and switches directly without a vendor bridge; Thread lets Home Assistant act as a border router for Thread devices. One stick can do both, though running both protocols at heavy duty may call for a second radio.
Is the Home Assistant Voice Preview Edition worth it?
If local voice control matters to you, yes — it is the cheapest way to issue commands without sending audio to a cloud assistant, and the hardware is designed to improve through firmware and software. If you mainly want great general-purpose answers and shopping lists, commercial assistants are still ahead.
Do I have to pay for remote access?
No, but the convenient route is paid. Home Assistant runs entirely free and locally, and remote access can be self-hosted with your own domain and certificates. The optional Nabu Casa cloud service — being renamed Home Assistant Link on December 2, 2026 — costs about $6.50 a month or $65 a year and adds easy remote access, voice assistant integrations, and text-to-speech.