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No lock-in

The hub is yours.
If you fire us, here's the manual.

Most smart-home companies make leaving expensive on purpose. Cloud accounts, proprietary apps, devices that brick when the subscription stops.

We sell you Home Assistant on hardware you own. The home keeps working with no internet. The day you cancel, your hub doesn't change. We just publish the manual for taking over the parts we used to run.

What you need to set up yourself
  • 1
    Tailscale (free tier) Mesh VPN. Every device that wants access needs the Tailscale app on and connected.
  • 2
    Cloudflare Tunnel Public subdomain via Cloudflare. Requires owning a domain.
  • 3
    Port forward + DDNS Most direct, most exposed. Won't work on CGNAT ISPs.
  • 4
    Your own backups HA syncs to S3, Drive, NAS via free add-ons. Restores are also DIY.

Change your mind? Re-enable Tier 1 anytime. Your subdomain is reserved 12 months.

The four DIY routes

Pick the one that fits.

Each method is run by someone else (Tailscale, Cloudflare, your DDNS provider). We don't sit between you and them — these are the official tools, set up directly on your hub. Times are rough first-install estimates and trade-offs are real, not marketing-friendly.

01

Tailscale

Mesh VPN. Free for personal use.

A peer-to-peer mesh VPN. Your phone and your hub join the same private network. Works through any router, no ports to open.

Every device that wants access — your phone, your partner's phone, a cleaner, a guest — needs the Tailscale app installed and connected. There is no public URL to share, and your phone has to keep Tailscale running in the background to receive notifications from HA.

What you need
A free Tailscale account. The Tailscale add-on installed on Home Assistant (one click in Settings → Add-ons). The Tailscale app on every device.
Time
~30 min for the hub; ~5–10 min per extra device
02

Cloudflare Tunnel

Public URL via Cloudflare's network.

Routes your hub through Cloudflare's network. You get a custom subdomain (e.g. home.yourdomain.com), no ports exposed on your router.

You need to own a domain (~€10/year ongoing). The first DNS setup is fiddly. Some HA features (voice assistants, the Companion app push notifications) need extra config to work over the tunnel.

What you need
A domain name (Porkbun, Cloudflare Registrar, Namecheap). A free Cloudflare account. Cloudflared installed on your hub.
Time
Allow an afternoon — DNS waits and first-tunnel gotchas eat hours
03

Port-forward + DDNS

Most direct. Most exposed. Read first.

Open a port on your router and point a dynamic DNS hostname at your home IP. Won't work if your ISP uses CGNAT (no public IP).

⚠ Read about Home Assistant security and put a reverse-proxy (Caddy or Nginx Proxy Manager) in front. Don't expose HA on the open internet without it.

Router setup varies wildly across ISPs. You're responsible for keeping the reverse-proxy patched and the auth tight. If your ISP rotates you onto CGNAT one day, the whole thing stops working with no warning.

What you need
Router with port-forwarding access. A free DDNS provider (DuckDNS works). A reverse-proxy add-on.
Time
Allow a weekend, more if your router fights you, plus ongoing maintenance
04

Your own backups

Snapshots to a destination you choose.

Home Assistant has built-in snapshots that can sync to S3, Google Drive, Dropbox, Backblaze B2, or a NAS — all via free add-ons.

Restores are DIY too. Nothing alerts you if backups silently stop working — check on them every few months. Cloud destinations stay free at low volumes but eventually have their own pricing.

What you need
A destination (cloud account, NAS share, or external drive) plus the matching add-on.
Time
~30 min for setup + watching the first run finish; automatic after
Or hire someone else

Nabu Casa is also a real path.

If you want managed remote access but not from us, the Home Assistant team itself sells exactly that. Nabu Casa is run by the Home Assistant maintainers. We're saying this because the no-lock-in promise has to be real to mean anything.

  • · Run by the Home Assistant team — about €6.50 / month at their pricing.
  • · 5-minute setup: toggle on inside Home Assistant → Settings → Cloud.
  • · Includes voice assistant integration (Alexa, Google) and remote access through their tunnel.
nabucasa.com →
What stays working without us — or any internet

Your home keeps running.

Even if our servers vanish tomorrow, even if your hub loses its internet connection, the things that matter most still work. They run on the hub itself, on your local network.

  • Sensors and automations

    Lights, AC presets, blinds, leak detection — local network, no cloud.

  • Local dashboard

    Home Assistant app on a phone or tablet on the same Wi-Fi.

  • Smart locks

    Z-Wave, Zigbee and Matter run locally. Door codes still rotate.

  • Cameras

    Local-only mode keeps recording to the hub or a NAS.

  • Voice / button controls

    Local voice (Whisper / Piper) and physical buttons keep working.

Need a hand?

Home Assistant has a friendly 100k-strong community. Start there for setup questions.

community.home-assistant.io →

If you'd rather we run it for you instead.

See pricing →