The Home Assistant Green is the official entry-level dedicated hardware from Nabu Casa, the company behind Home Assistant. Released in late 2023, it's designed to answer one question: "What's the easiest way to get started with Home Assistant?"
The answer they've built is a compact, passively-cooled device that comes pre-loaded with Home Assistant OS. You plug it in, connect Ethernet, open a browser, and you're on the onboarding screen within minutes — no SD cards, no flashing, no Linux knowledge required.
For the community around Home Assistant, which has historically skewed toward technical users happy to tinker with Raspberry Pis and NUCs, this represents a meaningful shift. Nabu Casa is clearly trying to make Home Assistant accessible to a broader mainstream audience — the same people who might otherwise buy a Philips Hue Bridge, SmartThings, or Homebridge on an old Mac Mini.
We've been running one as our primary Home Assistant hub for several months. Here's our honest take.
| Specification | Detail |
|---|---|
| Processor | Amlogic S905X3, quad-core Cortex-A55 @ 1.8 GHz |
| RAM | 4 GB LPDDR4 |
| Storage | 32 GB eMMC (soldered) |
| Operating System | Home Assistant OS (pre-installed) |
| Ethernet | 1× Gigabit Ethernet |
| USB Ports | 2× USB 2.0, 1× USB 3.0 |
| Expansion | USB ports (for Zigbee/Z-Wave dongles) |
| Cooling | Passive (no fan) |
| Power | 12V DC, barrel connector |
| Dimensions | ~112 × 112 × 32 mm |
| Price (MSRP) | ~$99 |
The Amlogic S905X3 processor is a capable ARM SoC commonly found in Android TV boxes. It's a step behind what you'd get in a Raspberry Pi 4 in raw benchmark performance, but for Home Assistant's workload — running automations, polling device states, serving the UI — it's more than adequate. In our testing it handled 80+ devices, Node-RED, Zigbee2MQTT, and the MariaDB add-on comfortably.
The 32 GB eMMC storage is a potential long-term concern for power users who store significant amounts of data (e.g., months of sensor history), but for most home setups it's plenty. Notably, the storage is soldered — you can't swap it out — but you can offload the database to a USB SSD.
This is where the Home Assistant Green genuinely shines. The out-of-box setup experience is the best in the Home Assistant hardware lineup:
http://homeassistant.local:8123 on any browser.That's genuinely it. No OS downloads, no SD card flashing, no SSH sessions. The device ships with a recent version of Home Assistant OS already installed, so you don't even need to wait through the lengthy first-boot update that a fresh Pi installation requires.
For someone new to Home Assistant — perhaps a family member you're setting this up for, or a friend who's been curious but intimidated — the Green completely removes the technical barrier. It feels like a consumer appliance, not a developer kit.
After months of daily use, the Home Assistant Green is rock-solid. We haven't experienced any crashes, unexpected reboots, or instability. The passive cooling keeps it running cool to the touch even under moderate load.
UI loading times are snappy — the dashboard loads in under a second on the local network. Automation execution is near-instant. We had a concern about the processor being underpowered when running multiple add-ons simultaneously, but in practice with Node-RED, Zigbee2MQTT, ESPHome, and the built-in voice assistant running concurrently, the system remained responsive.
The eMMC storage performs noticeably better than a typical SD card — reads and writes are faster, and there's no concern about SD card wear-out over time. This is one area where the Green genuinely outperforms a Pi 4 with a cheap SD card.
The Home Assistant Green isn't without trade-offs:
| Factor | HA Green | Raspberry Pi 4 (4GB) |
|---|---|---|
| Setup Time | ~5 minutes | ~30–60 minutes |
| Technical Skill Required | None | Moderate |
| Price (board only) | ~$99 | ~$55–75 |
| Storage Type | 32GB eMMC (soldered) | SD card (or USB SSD) |
| Expandability | USB ports only | Full GPIO + USB |
| Performance | Good (Amlogic S905X3) | Excellent (Cortex-A72) |
| Community/Docs | Excellent | Excellent |
| Best For | Beginners, gifting, simplicity | Tinkerers, DIY enthusiasts |
Our take: if you want to get started fast and don't care about tinkering, get the Green. If you want maximum flexibility, performance, and the satisfaction of building your own setup, get the Pi 4.
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| ✓ Plug-and-play, zero technical setup | ✗ No built-in wireless radios (need USB dongles) |
| ✓ Pre-installed with Home Assistant OS | ✗ 32GB soldered storage (can't swap) |
| ✓ Fast eMMC storage — no SD card wear | ✗ Slightly less powerful than Pi 4 |
| ✓ Passive cooling — completely silent | ✗ Limited hardware acceleration for AI workloads |
| ✓ Compact, attractive form factor | ✗ Pricier than DIY Pi alternative |
| ✓ Official Nabu Casa product — great support | ✗ No HDMI output |
The Home Assistant Green is the best way to get started with Home Assistant if you value simplicity. At $99, it's not the cheapest option — a Pi 4 with SD card is cheaper — but the plug-and-play experience, reliable eMMC storage, and silent passive cooling make it excellent value for people who don't want the DIY complexity.
If you're buying one for yourself or as a gift for a smart home enthusiast, the Green removes every technical barrier. It's the most approachable HA hardware available, and it's backed by the company that builds the software itself.
Official plug-and-play Home Assistant hardware. Pre-loaded with HA OS, 4GB RAM, 32GB eMMC, silent passive cooling. The easiest way to start your Home Assistant journey — no technical setup required.
View on Amazon →As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases.