Streamlining the Home Assistant Yellow lineup

Blog
1

Home Assistant Yellow fully assembled with additional (and not included) NVMe storage and Z-Wave GPIO module

TL;DR:  We will now only sell the Home Assistant Yellow as a kit, which requires the separate purchase of a CM4. Home Assistant Green is the best plug-and-play option for beginners.

An important part of getting more people to use Home Assistant is providing great purpose-built hardware. It’s our goal to provide hardware that makes it easier than ever to start with Home Assistant, along with compelling options for advanced users.  In 2022, we began shipping our Home Assistant Yellow, and I’m happy to say that now in 2024, it remains our flagship hardware product.  We see a long life ahead for this expandable little powerhouse, and that’s why we’re streamlining our hardware lineup to make a bit more sense going forward.

We will now only sell the Home Assistant Yellow as a kit and have stopped producing the Home Assistant Yellow Standard (our version that came preassembled with a CM4 and Home Assistant already installed). Rest assured, as the Home Assistant Yellow Standard’s hardware is identical to our kits, it will continue to receive the same support and software updates. The kits will continue to be available with or without power-over-ethernet (PoE).

It’s not the biggest change, but we wanted our community to know - and if you want to see why we made the change, and how our current hardware compares, keep reading.

Background

When we launched Home Assistant Yellow, we designed it with expandability in mind.  It includes an onboard Zigbee/Thread radio, M.2 for more robust storage, and USB ports to add more connectivity (like adding our future Z-Wave device).  Most importantly, you can change the core specs of the device by swapping the Raspberry Pi Compute Module 4 (CM4).  This allows users to increase the RAM, add eMMC storage, or even add built-in Wi-Fi/Bluetooth.

All this expandability is great, but we found many users wanted a more straightforward way to get started with Home Assistant. That’s why we created the Home Assistant Yellow Standard variant, which included a CM4 with Home Assistant already installed onto the board - unlike our kits there was no assembly required. This meant you could immediately start using it after plugging in Ethernet and power.

Green meets Yellow

Jump ahead to 2023, and in our quest to create an even more affordable starting point, we launched Home Assistant Green. Not only does it cost less, it better fulfills the plug-and-play role the Home Assistant Yellow Standard used to occupy. From a timing perspective 2021 and 2022, were not the easiest time to source Raspberry Pi products, including the CM4. We learned some big lessons about the added supply chain complexities of this kind of product, and it influenced our thinking when designing Green. Ultimately, Home Assistant Green being a better beginner option led us to end production of the Standard. Though the Home Assistant Yellow Standard is now out of stock at major retailers, it will continue to receive support.

Comparison

Home Assistant Green and Yellow compared - as you can see they're about the same size

So you've decided on getting some official Home Assistant hardware and don't know where to start, here's a little comparison to help you choose between the Green and Yellow.

Features Home Assistant Green Home Assistant Yellow Kit Best for Beginners, plug-and-play Advanced users, tinkerers, expandability Setup Easy - plug in the two included cables, and you're up and running Requires purchase of a CM4, basic assembly, and software installation Connectivity Ethernet via included cable Ethernet via included cable Zigbee/Thread built-in No (Can be added with Home Assistant Connect ZBT-1) Yes (Onboard Zigbee 3.0 and Thread) Expandability Good Best 1x Compute module connector (RAM, eMMC, Wi-Fi/Bluetooth) 1x NVMe slot 2x USB ports 10-pin GPIO Power Included power supply Model dependent: Kit: included power supply Kit PoE: Power-over-Ethernet, no power supply What else do they have in common Both are small, fanless/silent, have extremely low power draw, and solid performance, leading to a smooth Home Assistant experience. Plus, purchasing either supports the development of Home Assistant! More information Learn more about Home Assistant Green Learn more about Home Assistant Yellow

Conclusion

This small change helps us keep things simple while continuing to provide great hardware options for new and existing users. But as we always say, run Home Assistant on whatever hardware you have, whether that’s our hardware or whatever you already have on hand. In the end, one of our main goals is to build a more sustainable smart home.

This is a companion discussion topic for the original entry at https://www.home-assistant.io/blog/2024/08/01/streamlining-the-home-assistant-yellow-lineup
2 Likes
2

Maybe not bad to inform how/where to purchase…

Sorry, didn’t click on the links to the devices where this info is available… :blush:
It’s because I don’t need any but wanted to make it easier for those who are interested.

1 Like
3

Zigbee/Thread built-in should for the Yellow say ”Onboard Zigbee 3.0 OR Thread” since running Multi-PAN with Zigbee AND Thread at the same time is not recommended nor activly maintained?

That is, it is not a good idea to market the Yellow as being made for ”Onboard Zigbee 3.0 ANd Thread” as that implies it have no issues using concurrant Multi-PAN with Zigbee AND Thread networks available at the same time on a single radio chip.

1 Like
4

This was expected with the upcoming launch of the CM5. I’m curious if the passive cooling will be able to handle it or if a new cooler and case is required.

2 Likes
5

Do you know something I don’t about the CM5?
Also in the past I had issues replacing an RPI3B for an RPI3B+
Because the + has a slightly thicker cpu which made my passive cooler not fit.
This is something which might comes into play.
Also it’s still not certain the pins will be at the same position.

6

I don’t know what you know.

The design specs of the CM5 are released to partners under a NDA. I asked about it during a live stream and the reponse was that it should be compatible (which is in line with the design goals), but there are some changes to certain pins (maybe related to PCIe, but I can’t recall).
The devil is in the details, so we won’t know for sure until it has been tested.

The cooling requirements are a notable different between the regular 4 and 5 so it’s safe to assume something needs to be done there.

7

yes, you are right. We were expecting both Zigbee and Thread on board. Since it will be not the case, Nabu Casa should provide Home Assistant Connect ZBT-1 for free or with discounted price for HA Yellow users.

8

That is not what I meant. They always said that Multi-PAN was experimental. I only meant that they should clearify on the comparison chart that users should expect to use ”Zigbee OR Thread” not ”Zigbee AND Thread” so there will be less confusion in the future, or they risk continued compliants like yours.

2 Likes
9

Will it be possible to add POE to a “non-POE” Yellow down the line?
I have a Yellow from the original pre-order, but without POE. I can solder the parts myself if I I know which parts to buy.

10

So is it even worth buying the Yellow? Would I be better off just using a raspberry Pi with either a zbt-1 or equivalent? I currently don’t use zigbee outside of Phillips Hue, so maybe built in thread would be all I need as I could always use a different zigbee adapter.

I want to move off of my current docker install that is running on a qnap NAS. The yellow was appealing until I read this.

11

You can buy a Raspberry Pi 4 with SSD hat, PoE hat, ZBT stick and case.
Or you can buy a Yellow with CM4 and end up with the same end result.

I really like my Yellow but a Raspberry Pi 5 or waiting for the CM5 would make more sense to me than buying a Yellow with CM4 at this moment in time.

12

If you have not already bought the Yellow and you do not need any on-device local storage onboard (for example NVR camera recording) then suggest just buying the official "Home Assistant Green" box instead, that way you both indirectly sponsor the Home Assistant project and will get the best support for it.

If need Zigbee and/or Thread then buy one or two of Home Assistant SkyConnect/Connect ZBT-1 dongles (i.e.one seperate radio dongle for each protocol) → Home Assistant Connect ZBT-1 - Home Assistant

The only major downside with the Home Assistant Green as I see it is that only has two USB ports, so if you also want to add a Z-Wave and/or Bluetooth radio dongle for it later then you need to buy a powered USB-hub for it as well.

1 Like
13

Just out of curiosity, what specifically in this blog made you change your mind on the Yellow?

14

I hope someday in the future be an expensive “Home Assistant Green Plus” model variant as full replacement for the Home Assistant Yellow that would have several M.2 slots for both NVmE SDD disks (e.i. for NVR) and PCIe modules for onboard AI acceleration for an all-in-one solution :pray:

Would be awesome to in the future be able to recommend a newer more powerful official model of Home Assistant OS appliance to friends and family members who want to add a few cameras but do not need or want to deal with the hassle or costs of having a separate NAS for NVR storage.

I’m also hoping eventually an updated next-generation of the entry-model Home Assistant Green will have at least many more USB-ports to allow connecting more IoT RF radio USB dongles without having a USB-hub. That is, the next Home Assistant Green should really have an onboard USB-hub to allow for more dongles.

I think many home automation enthusiasts now have RF USB du Zigbee, Z-Wave, Thread, and Bluetooth devices, and a few might also connect EnOcean or other wireless protocols via IoT RF radio USB dongles:

15

Yellow can handle all the connectivity you’re talking about.

  • Bluetooth - Get a CM4 with bluetooth (or use a esphome bluetooth proxy, as they tend to work even better)
  • Z-wave - get a GPIO zooz and add it into the Yellow’s GPIO
  • Zigbee - already included
  • Thread - (already included) but to run it together get a ZBT-1 for the USB on the back
  • RF - on the other USB on the back

Thats a lot of connectivity in a small package! haha

16

The fact that you can only use the built in zigbee or thread, but not both. As I mentioned I can probably live with one or the other, but just seems like a shortcoming. I like the modularity of the the yellow, so I’d probably do a yellow or my own Pi before going green.

I’m sunsetting a z-wave/zigbee combo stick so originally the yellow seemed perfect as I have a new zooz 800 stick. Buying a zbt-1 with a pi seems like the the best choice if I don’t want to “waste” hardware. I already have pi 4 2gb sitting around, but I’d rather have more ram.