MONEY-HOME

Should I self-host Home Assistant Cloud?

$6.5/mo · Home Assistant Cloud · alternative: Home Assistant

RATING

YES

OUTLOOK

NOT ASSIGNED

RATIONALE

You're already self-hosting Home Assistant — Nabu Casa is a $6.50 relay for remote access and voice. A reverse proxy or Tailscale replaces the relay in an afternoon. Counterpoint worth stating: that subscription is also how HA's development gets funded.

WHAT YOU LOSE

Alexa/Google voice skills without manual token surgery

Funding the project — consider a donation if you drop the sub

WHAT YOU'RE PAYING FOR

remote access to Home Assistant · voice assistant integration · TLS without port-forwarding

Self-Hosting Facts

1 app per panel · Home Assistant Cloud

Assumes 1 seat on 1 always-on box you already run

Amount per month% of sub *

Subscription$6.50

VPS share0.000%

Storage + backup0.000%

Your hours · 10 min @ $203.3351%

Self-hosted all-in3.3351%

Effective markup2.0×

Setup · 15 min measured$5.00 once

Break-even1.6 months

VERDICT

YES

OUTLOOK

NOT ASSIGNED

What's your hour worth? $20/h

* Percent of the subscription price. Your time is priced at the slider's rate — $0/h ("my homelab time is free and I love it") is a legitimate position. Every number is derived from the record, never hand-written. Price source, checked 2026-08-06.

Runs comfortably on a Raspberry Pi.

ALTERNATIVES

Ranked alternatives

Home AssistantOpen source home automation on hardware you own, where the automations, the history and every device credential stay put.

home-assistant/core · ★ 89,844 · 46d

Home Assistant running from the boot-verified compose file — Home Assistant, running from the compose file on this page — screenshot from our verified instance, not marketing material.

EVIDENCE

PROTOCOL

VERIFIED BY

zernonia

REVIEWED

10 AUG 2026

SETUP MEASURED

15 MIN

AI ASSISTANT

CLAUDE-CODE · STATED

FULL TIMED LOG

# Home Assistant Cloud — verdict log

- **Date:** 2026-08-10
- **Verdict:** YES — worth it
- **Protocol:** v1 (2GB reference env, Docker preinstalled, AI assistant: claude-code)

## Why no compose file

- This verdict is decided by economics/capability, not setup effort — the rubric doesn't require a timed install to conclude the subscription should stay (or that the replacement's cost lives elsewhere, e.g. GPUs, egress, or an installer script).

## The call

You're already self-hosting Home Assistant — Nabu Casa is a $6.50 relay for remote access and voice. A reverse proxy or Tailscale replaces the relay in an afternoon. Counterpoint worth stating: that subscription is also how HA's development gets funded.

HISTORY

10 AUG 2026UNRATED → YESInitial verdict: You're already self-hosting Home Assistant — Nabu Casa is a $6.50 relay for remote access and voice.