Zigbee2MQTT not required?

I have a Aqara temp and humidity sensor. I looked into using this with home assistant and i’m confused as to what is required to get this device working. As I have this working with ZHA alone.

I have a CC2531 USB, I have flashed this with v1.2
https://github.com/Koenkk/Z-Stack-firmware/tree/master/coordinator

I have installed the “ZHA (Zigbee Home Automation)”, Configure → + Add device. I put device in pairing mode and all is working. I can blow on the sensor and see the changes in realtime.

Why is there so much documentation out there stating the installation of Zigbee2MQTT?
Does Zigbee2MQTT add any extra benefits?

Some some documentation also states the requirement to install a MQTT broker, such as Mosquitto, is this required to use Zigbee2MQTT?
If its not required what benefits does it add?

zigbee2mqtt and zha are alternative paths to (more or less) the same end.

I like zigbee2mqtt but I have never used zha. It seems easy to add new devices to.

But if you have zha working, stick with it :slight_smile:

EDIT: forgot to say mqtt is a useful protocol that sits between HA (or antother home automation software I guess) and a device. ZHA doesn’t need it, but it is dead easy if you want to go that way,

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