Home Assistant Hardware Guide: Green vs Pi 5 vs Mini PC

Home Assistant hardware used to be an easy call: grab a Raspberry Pi and go. In 2026 the answer depends on your budget, your devices and how much you want to run beyond home automation. Memory costs have pushed Raspberry Pi prices up, Home Assistant Yellow is out of production, and low-power Intel mini PCs have become a serious alternative. This guide compares the three main paths and the radio adapters that tie a smart home together.

• Home Assistant Green is the official plug-and-play box at $199 / €179 and draws about 1.7W at idle.
• Home Assistant OS supports the Raspberry Pi 4 and Pi 5 with at least 2GB of RAM.
• Intel N100/N150 mini PCs idle around 6W and leave headroom for extra services.
• Connect ZBT-2 ($49) adds Zigbee or Thread; Connect ZWA-2 ($69) adds Z-Wave.

Quick picks

• Easiest start: Home Assistant Green. Plug in Ethernet and power, then onboard from a browser.
• Tinkerer's choice: Raspberry Pi 5 with NVMe storage, if you already own one or want GPIO access.
• Room to grow: An Intel N150 mini PC for Home Assistant plus cameras, media or virtual machines.
• Heavy lifting: A Ryzen mini PC when you want local camera recording with object detection alongside Proxmox.

What hardware does Home Assistant actually need?

Less than most people expect. Home Assistant's official installation page lists the Raspberry Pi 4 and Pi 5 with at least 2GB of RAM as supported targets for Home Assistant OS. A typical home with lights, sensors, thermostats and a few automations runs comfortably on that class of hardware.

Requirements grow when you add work alongside the core. Camera recording with object detection, local voice processing, a media server or a database for long-term history all want more CPU, memory and storage. Pick hardware for the setup you expect a year from now, not just today.

Storage matters as much as the processor. Home Assistant writes history constantly, and microSD cards are the most common failure point on single-board setups. Our Raspberry Pi storage guide explains why eMMC or NVMe is worth the step up.

Is Home Assistant Green worth $199?

Home Assistant Green is the official appliance from Nabu Casa, the company that funds Home Assistant development. Inside is a Rockchip RK3566 with four Cortex-A55 cores at 1.8GHz, 4GB of LPDDR4X memory and 32GB of eMMC storage. It has Gigabit Ethernet and two USB 2.0 ports; the HDMI port is for diagnostics and the microSD slot is for recovery only. It runs from a 12V/1A supply, draws about 1.7W at idle and 3W under load, and is fanless in a 112 x 112 x 32mm aluminum body.

The price is the catch. Green launched at $99. In January 2026, Nabu Casa explained that component costs had nearly doubled because of memory prices, and the current list price is $199 / €179. Part of each purchase also supports the open-source project.

Green is worth it if you value a supported, silent, low-power box that just works and you plan to stay with Home Assistant and a handful of add-ons. It has no built-in Zigbee or Thread radio, so budget for an adapter. It is not the right pick if you want to run heavy extras on the same machine.

Should I run Home Assistant on a Raspberry Pi 5?

The Raspberry Pi 5 remains a fully supported and flexible option, especially if one is already in a drawer. Its quad-core Cortex-A76 processor is noticeably faster than Green's chip, and the PCIe connector lets you boot from an NVMe SSD for durable storage. Raspberry Pi recommends active cooling and a 5V/5A power supply; our Raspberry Pi power guide covers supplies and UPS options for always-on setups.

The cost advantage has narrowed. Raspberry Pi raised prices on its larger-memory boards in February 2026 because of memory costs, and Tom's Hardware reported a further increase in April. Only the 1GB Pi 5 held at $45. Once you add a case, cooler, official supply and an NVMe drive, a Pi 5 build can cost as much as Green. Check current prices before buying, and choose at least the 4GB model for comfortable headroom.

When does an N100 or N150 mini PC make more sense?

A low-power Intel mini PC is the best value when Home Assistant is only one of several services. ComputingForGeeks' September 2026 roundup lists these typical builds:

• Beelink Mini S12 Pro (Intel N100): 16GB of memory and a 500GB SSD, about 6W at idle, roughly $410 to $440.
• MeLE QuieterDL (Intel N150): fanless, with two 2.5GbE ports for putting smart-home devices on their own network, about 6W at idle, roughly $500 to $540.
• Beelink SER8 (Ryzen 7 8745HS): 32GB of memory, 12 to 15W at idle, roughly $800 to $880, with room for local camera recording plus Proxmox.

An x86 mini PC also runs Home Assistant OS in a virtual machine, which lets you snapshot the whole system before an upgrade. If you are weighing single-board computers against mini PCs more broadly, our Raspberry Pi vs mini PC home server comparison goes deeper on the trade-offs.

Do I need a Zigbee, Thread or Z-Wave adapter?

If you use Wi-Fi-only devices, you might not. But most battery-powered sensors, many smart plugs and a lot of Matter devices use low-power mesh radios, and none of the three hardware paths above includes them by default.

• Home Assistant Connect ZBT-2 ($49 / €45): a Silicon Labs MG24 radio with an ESP32-S3 USB bridge. It supports Zigbee 3.0, Thread and Matter-over-Thread, and works with Zigbee2MQTT. You choose Zigbee or Thread per adapter rather than running both at once. Its serial link is four times faster than the first-generation adapter.
• Home Assistant Connect ZWA-2 ($69 / €59): the official Z-Wave adapter for Z-Wave locks, switches and sensors.

If you want both Zigbee and Thread, plan on two adapters.

Where should I plug in a Zigbee dongle?

Use a USB 2.0 port, or a short USB extension cable to move the adapter away from the computer. USB 3.0 ports can emit interference in the 2.4GHz band, where Zigbee and Thread operate, and that can cause unreliable pairing and dropped devices. This small step solves a surprising share of flaky mesh networks.

HA OS or Container: which install should I choose?

Home Assistant recommends Home Assistant OS for most people. It manages the operating system, one-click updates, backups and the app store for add-ons. The Container install runs Home Assistant in Docker on a system you manage yourself, but it loses add-ons and one-click updates, so you install and update companion services on your own. Choose Container only if you already run a Docker host and prefer to manage it directly.

What happened to Home Assistant Yellow?

Home Assistant Yellow, the kit that paired a Compute Module 4 with a built-in Zigbee and Thread radio, is no longer in production. Nabu Casa says existing units continue to receive software updates, so owners are not stranded. New buyers should look at Green plus a Connect adapter, or one of the Pi and mini PC paths above.

The bottom line

For most new users, Home Assistant Green plus a Connect ZBT-2 is the simplest, lowest-power route, at about $248 before any Z-Wave needs. Tinkerers with a Raspberry Pi 5 on hand should add NVMe storage and use it. Anyone planning cameras, media or several services should skip straight to an N150 mini PC. For more homelab hardware, browse our mini computers coverage.

Sources: Home Assistant Green product page — accessed September 28, 2026; Nabu Casa: Home Assistant Green pricing change — January 8, 2026, updated April 24, 2026; Home Assistant installation guide — accessed September 28, 2026; Home Assistant Connect ZBT-2 — accessed September 28, 2026; Home Assistant blog: Connect ZWA-2 — August 13, 2025; Home Assistant Yellow — accessed September 28, 2026; Raspberry Pi: more memory-driven price rises — February 2, 2026; Tom's Hardware: Raspberry Pi 5 price increase — April 2026; ComputingForGeeks: best mini PC for Home Assistant — September 25, 2026. Mini PC prices are approximate street prices from that roundup.