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Smart Home · head to head

Home Assistant vs Nebula

Home Assistant logo

Home Assistant

Smart Home

Open source home automation that puts local control and privacy first

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
Nebula logo

Nebula

Networking

Certificate based overlay network from Slack, with identity and firewall rules carried in the certificate

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Each has a real cost: Home Assistant add-ons run only on Home Assistant Operating System installations, and Container installations have no access to them; Nebula the open source project has no user interface, no enrolment workflow and no revocation service, so certificate issuing, distribution and expiry become scripts you write and then have to keep working.
  • They diverge on capability: Home Assistant covers Local Control, Nebula covers Certificate carried identity.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Home Assistant and Nebula actually diverge.

Attributes where Home Assistant and Nebula differ
AttributeHome AssistantNebula
Pricing modelopen-sourceOpen source, no licence fee
PlatformsLinux, Docker, Raspberry Pi, MacOS, WindowsLinux, macOS, Windows, iOS, Android, FreeBSD
CategorySmart HomeNetworking
Founded2013Unknown

Identical on both: starting price (Free), free tier (Yes), user rating (Not yet rated).

What each one covers

Drawn from each product's published feature list. An absence here means we hold no record of it - not that the product lacks it.

Only in Home Assistant

  • Local Control
  • Privacy First
  • Automation Engine
  • Custom Integrations
  • 150+ integrations
  • Voice Control
  • Mobile App
  • REST API

Only in Nebula

  • Certificate carried identity
  • Group based host firewall
  • Lighthouse discovery
  • Noise protocol encryption
  • Unsafe routes
  • Managed option

What people use each for

The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.

Home Assistant

  • Home automationnot Nebula
  • Energy monitoringnot Nebula
  • Security systemsnot Nebula
  • Device integrationnot Nebula

Nebula

  • Flattening a network across several clouds and datacentres without VPC peering or route tablesnot Home Assistant
  • Very large fleets where a central policy service on the connection path is unacceptablenot Home Assistant
  • Environments that already run an internal certificate authority and want the network to use itnot Home Assistant
  • Replacing per host iptables rules with policy written against roles that follow the hostnot Home Assistant

Where each one falls short

Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.

Home Assistant

  • Add-ons run only on Home Assistant Operating System installations, and Container installations have no access to them
  • Thread and Z-Wave are controlled by add-ons, so a Container install has no out-of-the-box support for either
  • A Container installation means bringing your own Linux host with Docker and handling updates by hand
  • The recommended install path expects dedicated hardware such as a Raspberry Pi 4 or 5 with at least 2 GB of RAM, an Odroid, or an x86-64 machine
  • Every documented hardware option requires a wired Ethernet connection

Nebula

  • The open source project has no user interface, no enrolment workflow and no revocation service, so certificate issuing, distribution and expiry become scripts you write and then have to keep working.
  • Revoking a compromised host means distributing a blocklist entry to every other host and reloading them, which is a fleet wide operation rather than a click, and easy to get wrong under pressure.
  • Changing a host group membership means reissuing and redeploying its certificate, so policy changes are a deployment rather than a configuration edit.
  • There is no identity provider integration or single sign on in the open source version, so it maps well to servers and badly to a fleet of user laptops.
  • NAT traversal is best effort and hosts behind symmetric NAT need a relay configured deliberately, so connectivity failures show up as intermittent rather than immediate and are awkward to diagnose.

Pricing, plan by plan

Home Assistant

Free
  • Community EditionFree
    • Unlimited devices
    • Full automation
    • Local control

Nebula

Free
  • NebulaFree
    • Full functionality under the MIT licence
    • No host limit
    • You operate the certificate authority and lighthouses
  • Defined Networking$undefined/month
    • Hosted control plane and enrolment
    • Managed certificate lifecycle and revocation
    • Policy and DNS interface

Which should you pick?

Choose Home Assistant if

  • You need local control.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Linux, Docker, Raspberry Pi, MacOS, Windows.
  • You also want privacy first.
Home Assistant review

Choose Nebula if

  • You need certificate carried identity.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Linux, macOS, Windows, iOS, Android, FreeBSD.
  • You also want group based host firewall.
Nebula review

Questions people ask

Is Home Assistant or Nebula better?
Neither clearly leads. Home Assistant starts at Free and Nebula at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Home Assistant or Nebula?
Home Assistant starts at Free and Nebula at Free.
Does Home Assistant or Nebula run on more platforms?
Home Assistant runs on Linux, Docker, Raspberry Pi, MacOS, Windows. Nebula runs on Linux, macOS, Windows, iOS, Android, FreeBSD.
Can I use Home Assistant for free?
Both have a free tier, so you can try either at no cost before committing.
What is Home Assistant best used for?
Home Assistant is most often used for home automation, energy monitoring, security systems, device integration. Of those, home automation and energy monitoring are not what Nebula is typically brought in for.
What can Home Assistant do that Nebula cannot?
Home Assistant covers Local Control, Privacy First, Automation Engine, Custom Integrations. Nebula covers Certificate carried identity, Group based host firewall, Lighthouse discovery, Noise protocol encryption.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Home Assistant: Does Home Assistant software cost anything?

Home Assistant core software is completely free and open source. It is operated by the Open Home Foundation as a non-profit, which means it cannot be sold or acquired. Commercial products like Home Assistant hardware are sold separately.

Source
Nebula: Does it use WireGuard?

No. Nebula predates the common WireGuard mesh tools and uses the Noise protocol framework with its own certificate format.

Home Assistant: Are there paid products from Home Assistant?

Home Assistant offers official hardware products including Home Assistant Green, Connect ZBT-2, Connect ZWA-2, and Voice Preview Edition, which have separate pricing. Nabu Casa provides commercial services as an official partner.

Source
Nebula: Can I run it without Defined Networking?

Yes, entirely. Defined Networking sells the control plane conveniences, not the network itself.

Nebula: How do I revoke a host?

Add its certificate fingerprint to the blocklist in the configuration of the other hosts and reload them. There is no online revocation check.

Nebula: Is it a good fit for laptops?

Less so than the identity provider based tools. There is no single sign on, so every laptop needs a certificate issued and renewed by whatever process you build.

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