Home Assistant Cloud becomes Home Assistant Link: what changes for subscribers
Nabu Casa is dropping the word “cloud” from its paid Home Assistant service, saying Big Tech has turned it into a byword for data harvesting and lock-in. The subscription stays the same, but the rename is a good moment to ask whether you need it at all.
By OwnYourStack Admin · Published
Nabu Casa, the company founded by Home Assistant’s creators, announced on 2 October 2026 that Home Assistant Cloud will be renamed Home Assistant Link. The new name will roll out officially with the Home Assistant 2026.12 release on 2 December 2026.
Why rename it?
Nabu Casa’s argument is that “cloud” now stands for the walled gardens, data harvesting and vendor lock-in of the big tech platforms, everything Home Assistant was built to avoid. The old name also confused newcomers, some of whom assumed Home Assistant Cloud was a way of running Home Assistant itself in the cloud. It never was: Home Assistant runs locally on your own hardware, and the paid service only links that local installation to optional online extras. The company has even removed the cloud from its logo.
What changes for subscribers
Nothing, in practice. Nabu Casa says it is the same subscription under a new name and that no action is needed. Revenue continues to fund full-time development of Home Assistant through the Open Home Foundation. In the UK, Nabu Casa lists the service at £6.50 a month or £65 a year, with a 31-day free trial.
What the service actually does
- Remote access to your Home Assistant from anywhere, without opening ports on your router, with end-to-end encryption.
- Voice assistant links with Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant without setting up developer accounts yourself.
- Online speech services for Home Assistant’s own voice assistant, useful on modest hardware.
- Encrypted off-site backups and access to support.
Nabu Casa says it does not sell user data or use it to train AI. Your home keeps working locally without an internet connection; only these online features need one.
Do you need it?
Strictly, no: Home Assistant is free and fully functional without a subscription. If you are comfortable running your own VPN, such as WireGuard on your router or a self-hosted mesh VPN, you can reach your instance remotely without paying anyone, and backups can go to your own NAS or an off-site disk.
The case for paying is convenience and sustainability. Link is the easiest way to get secure remote access and Alexa or Google voice control working, it requires no networking knowledge, and it is the main way the project funds its developers. For many households, £65 a year is a reasonable price for both.
Also announced: Home Assistant Green costs more
In the same announcement, Nabu Casa warned that the price of its Home Assistant Green hub would rise at retailers in the following days, citing increases in component costs that many hardware makers have reported this year. If you were planning to buy one, check the current price before ordering.
