Years ago, as part of this series, I started to discuss why my preferred home automation platform is Home Assistant. The fact that it merges multiple different platforms together into a seamless whole means you don’t have to pick a side, per se. The most popular platform people run Home Assistant on is a Raspberry Pi. I’ve always had issues, much as I love the Pi, with the fact that it uses a microSD card for storing the operating system and data….as those cards would regularly fail on me.

But, despite the process of installation therefore was, insert microSD card into computer, write to it, and then insert in Pi…that was still a higher level than many people were willing to go. So, the Home Assistant team tried a few different iterations of hardware before they got to one meant for someone who just wants to plug and play. The Home Assistant Green. It is $99 MSRP, and you can add a USB dongle to support Zigbee, Z-Wave, or Thread radios. It has built in storage for the operating system, It does not have built-in wifi though, but your home automation hub is probably more reliable wired.

After you plug it in, you can configure it with a web browser or a mobile app. And since it can be easily upgraded with the latest version of Home Assistant, you’ll continue to get new integrations with various platforms and technology on your network.