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Home Assistant is renaming its paid remote-access service Home Assistant Cloud to Home Assistant Link, saying the new name better reflects a platform that runs and controls smart homes locally. The service’s features are largely unchanged, and the company says the move fits its opposition to products that depend on a provider’s cloud to keep working. Home Assistant is also pursuing simpler setup and interfaces to reach more users.
Home Assistant is renaming its paid remote-access service from Home Assistant Cloud to Home Assistant Link, a largely symbolic change intended to clarify that the smart-home platform runs locally rather than in the cloud. Founder Paulus Schoutsen told The Verge the service’s features will remain, with back-end improvements planned for speed and reliability.
The new name addresses a point of confusion for prospective users, Schoutsen said: some assumed the word “Cloud” meant their Home Assistant system itself ran remotely. Instead, Home Assistant runs on local hardware and controls devices on the home network. Without a remote-access option, users generally cannot reach that setup once they leave the network.
For $6.50 per month or $65 per year, Link provides remote access and enables optional internet-dependent features, including Alexa and Google voice-control integration, speech-to-text, text-to-speech and encrypted backups. The service is not required: users can use other methods to reproduce its functions, as they could with Home Assistant Cloud.
Link is operated by Nabu Casa, Home Assistant’s commercial partner. Schoutsen told The Verge that Link traffic is encrypted and that the service does not have access to users’ smart-home data. He said 60 percent of its profit goes to the Open Home Foundation, the nonprofit that runs Home Assistant. Those privacy and funding descriptions are statements from the organization’s founder, not independently detailed in the report.
A Paid Service With a Different Role
The rename draws a distinction between using the internet as an optional connection and making a product dependent on a company’s servers. Home Assistant says its core smart-home control remains local; Link is a paid way to reach a system from outside the home and use selected online features. That matters to people concerned that a connected product could lose functions if its manufacturer ends cloud support.
Schoutsen argues that products should preserve local control and avoid placing basic functions behind a cloud connection. The model also has a practical trade-off: users can keep a local setup, but remote access and some services require an internet connection. Home Assistant Cloud’s revenue supports development, while the platform’s continued growth depends on making its powerful but complex system easier for newcomers.
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Local Control, Easier Setup
Home Assistant has long positioned itself as an alternative to closed smart-home ecosystems and products that rely on manufacturer-operated servers. Schoutsen cited the shutdown of cloud services for older Nest thermostats and the discontinuation of servers for Weber’s June Oven as examples of what can happen when connected devices depend on services that later end. These are examples he raised in the interview; the report does not establish that every cloud-connected product faces the same risk.
Schoutsen estimated that Home Assistant is installed in 2.7 million homes, but said it remains much smaller than platforms such as Amazon Alexa, Google Home, Samsung SmartThings and Apple Home. Its broad range of integrations and customization can also make it harder to learn. The team says it wants to make basic use simpler without removing advanced options.
Plans described to The Verge include simpler dashboards, more intuitive onboarding and a successor to the Home Assistant Green hub designed to be easier to set up. The team also expects to integrate the community-built HACS store into Home Assistant, making third-party integrations easier to find and install. The report said that integration was planned for the following month; it did not confirm its eventual release.
“Big tech ruined the cloud, so we’re out.”
— Paulus Schoutsen, Home Assistant founder, speaking to The Verge
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The Scope of Link’s Changes
The announcement, as described by The Verge, does not set out a full schedule for the back-end improvements or specify how users will experience them. It also does not say whether the price or subscription terms will change; the report gives the current prices as $6.50 monthly or $65 yearly.
Schoutsen’s claims that Link cannot access user data and that its traffic is encrypted are attributed to him. The report does not include an independent technical review or detailed explanation of how the service’s data handling is audited. The planned easier-to-use hub and interface changes were also not accompanied by firm release dates in the material provided.
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Usability Plans Still Ahead
Home Assistant’s next steps are aimed at lowering the learning curve. The team said it was working on simpler dashboards, more intuitive setup and integrating HACS into the main product, with that integration planned for the month after the report. Schoutsen also described a more user-friendly hub planned for the following year, but the report did not provide a launch date or final product details.
Nabu Casa is also developing a “No Device Left Behind” program intended to help users connect existing analog or legacy equipment. The source material does not provide a release schedule or a complete description of the devices involved. For now, the confirmed service change is the new Link name; the broader product plans remain in development.
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Key Questions
Is Home Assistant Cloud shutting down?
No. The announced change is a rename to Home Assistant Link. The report says the service’s features remain, aside from planned back-end improvements.
Does Home Assistant run in the cloud?
Home Assistant runs on local hardware and controls the smart home locally, according to Schoutsen. Link provides a way to access a Home Assistant system remotely and use selected online features.
How much does Home Assistant Link cost?
The report lists the price as $6.50 per month or $65 per year. It does not report a price change as part of the renaming announcement.
Do users have to subscribe to Link?
No. Schoutsen said the service is optional, and users can use other methods to provide remote access or comparable functions.
What changes are planned to make Home Assistant easier?
The team described simpler dashboards, more intuitive setup, a more user-friendly hub and easier access to community integrations. The report gave some expected timing but did not confirm release dates for all of these plans.
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