This is a good question. However, I believe that thinking about Crestron and Home Assistant as mutually exclusive misses a great combination. They really do work well together. Thus, my motivation for creating the integration. Home Assistant’s superpower is being the glue between everything in your home.
Programming complex logic into the Crestron is tedious and painful. The programming tools are antiquated and require Windows (which may or may not be what you already use). However, it is currently hard to find physical user interface elements that can rival what Crestron has to offer (keypads, touchscreens, remotes). Also, that “old school” approach Crestron takes with its products often means that Crestron gear is built like a tank, and works for years and years.
So, my approach to automating my own home is to take full advantage of Home Assistant as the glue between other systems (HVAC, security, irrigation, lighting, custom-built ESPHome components, etc.). HA gives you freedom to choose best of breed/best fit-for-purpose for each of the “other systems”. This is especially true if you can leave the logic/complexity out of the other systems so the complicated stuff is all centralized in HA, where it’s easy to change and reason about.
So my motivation for building the integration was to get all the complicated logic OUT of my Crestron system. I am able to use my Crestron keypads, touchscreens, motorized shades, HDMI matrix switcher, and audio matrix switcher, etc. with the Control System as a bridge between the Crestron gear and Home Assistant. I just build a basic program in the control system that has all the Crestron functions exposed as digital, analog and serial joins. I rarely ever touch the Crestron program anymore, unless I add a new device or want to rearrange a touch panel screen.
I will say, the most likely thing I’ll get rid of first are the touchscreens (unless I can figure out a way to display the Lovelace UI on them). But the I have not found anything that can match the hard-button keypads, RF remotes, motorized shades, HDMI and audio matrix switchers. So those will stick around until I find something better.
I know Crestron gear has the stigma of being outdated and overpriced. I suppose it is for the most part. But, if you have access to the programming tools, you can find some pretty spectacular bargains for used gear on eBay. Combined with the HA integration, it makes for a compelling combo.
Just my $.02
-Nick