I take it none of you are using the HA companion app? I’m pretty sure that requires Google’s help to handle location. 
Actually a secret ■■■■ version exists that does work without google (cloud) features including lack of matter commissioning? 
Fun fact: the minimal ha companion app (without google) is actually bigger - almost double - in size 
I do and I also use ESPHome well knowing that Open Home Foundation can choose to break it.
You only own a device fully if you control all steps yourself.
With ESPhome you are still putting your trust in somebody.
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Like creating your own firmware with ESPHome? 
Like inventing the wheel again? If you make use of any modern devices like phones/tablets/computers you must have plenty of faith because they all contain binary blobs and firmwares you can’t change - let alone things like baseband processors which are proprietary and allow things like tracking you without your main OS (like a clean google free aosp android) knows anything about. 
Unlike for random matter devices all the sources of ESPHome are publicly available (including extensive developer docs) - so you actually don’t need to invent the wheel again but just can check the source code before making use of it 
Maybe a easier analogy to crasp would be buying a car:
fictional matter based car 
- only works if you go online for commissioning
- does contain a remote kill switch
- only basic features like open/close and start/stop work locally
- You might need to use vendor apps/clouds/accounts for other features like heating
- Probably sends data back to some mother ship (google/apple/amazon matter server)
fictional ESPHome based car 
- You get the sources for your car to build your own (customized) firmware
- Your car is not talking to any cloud if you don’t specifically add this function
- No remote kill switch if you didn’t build one into your firmware
Now in the year 2025 most new cars are actually behave like our fictional matter car and probably no new car is available which even remotely allows you to own it to some extend like the fictional esphome car 
Wow. The future is already here:
When there is a loss of satellite connectivity, the VTS interprets it as a potential theft attempt and immobilises the engine.
“The Porsche Vehicle Tracking System is designed to seamlessly operate in a covert fashion, eliminating the need for daily activation and deactivation,” the automaker’s website states.
But back to the point of this thread, this is a great example of a well-intentioned dependency on network infrastructure going horribly wrong for the buyer.
HA, and open-source in general, have been fighting the good fight for local ownership and against closed vendor ecosystems.
I think we all need to be vocal about any movement in the other direction, as well as vote with our wallets when deciding which hardware and protocols to commit to.
Traditionally yes, lately HA (nabu casa/open home foundation) is probably supporting matter with a payed CSA membership 
So even if the intentions were good… 
Sadly HA is even more advocating with “works with HA” for the non own-able matter devices (being the most listed devices) 
Agreed. I know I come across as cynical, but the fact is I’ve simply been around too long to believe that anything advertised as shiny and new is in my best interests to jump into.
As of this moment, Matter doesn’t solve any problem I have. If that day comes, I’ll be all over it. Meanwhile, I think I’ll wait this one out and see which path the tech firms pushing it go down. I do know which side I’d bet on though.
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@markie It is right, the most convenient way to commission Matter devices into your HA instance is to use the HA companion app which then uses Google frameworks to get the best experience.
But you can also use the Matter server of your HA instance directly to achieve the same, as @WallyR already pointed oput. With an BLE dongle (and assigning this BLE device to the Matter server) you can also commission fresh devices with it and deploy any Thread or Wifi credentials on them by using the Matter server Web-UI. Sure you need to bring the devices in BLE range to your HA host 
… So effectively you can do all without any Google, Apple or other ecosystems.
Additionally it is up to the Controller to decide if also devices can be paired that do not pass the certificate checks. And in fact the OHF Matter server also allows this when you enable to allow test certificates. Doing that you would not require access to this CSA “cloud system” (that are free to access by anyone and hosted by multiple CSA members btw) and can still pair devices, but you are responsible yourself to make sure you trust the vendor!
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Wow. All that just to use a new device? With Zigbee I plug it in, click the “+” button in ZHA and it pairs. I never have to worry about it again.
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Unless you need a quick to get it to work.