Home Assistant Green vs Raspberry Pi 5: which to choose (2026)
Home Assistant Green or a Raspberry Pi 5 for your smart home hub? Official specs side by side, what's in the box, what you must add, and who each one suits.
Both run Home Assistant OS and both make an excellent local smart home hub. The difference is set-up time versus flexibility. Specs below come from the official pages: Home Assistant Green and Raspberry Pi 5 (checked 21 October 2026). We have not benchmarked them ourselves.
1. Specs side by side
| Home Assistant Green | Raspberry Pi 5 (4GB or 8GB) | |
|---|---|---|
| In the box | finished device: case, storage, power supply | bare board only |
| Processor | quad-core Cortex-A55, 1.8 GHz | quad-core Cortex-A76, 2.4 GHz |
| RAM | 4 GB LPDDR4X | 4 or 8 GB LPDDR4X (also 1, 2 and 16 GB) |
| Storage | 32 GB eMMC, built in | microSD, or NVMe SSD via a PCIe add-on |
| USB | 2 × USB 2.0 | 2 × USB 3.0 + 2 × USB 2.0 |
| Ethernet | Gigabit | Gigabit |
| Wi-Fi | none (Ethernet only) | built in (Ethernet still recommended for a hub) |
| Power supply | universal supply included | buy the official 27W USB-C supply (UK, US and EU plugs available) |
| Cooling | fanless | Active Cooler recommended |
| Set-up | plug in Ethernet and power, open homeassistant.local:8123 | flash Home Assistant OS with Raspberry Pi Imager, then boot |
| Price | Home Assistant Green on Amazon.com (US) | Raspberry Pi 5 4GB on Amazon.com (US) (board only: add supply, case, storage) |
2. Who should pick the Green?
- You want a silent box that just works, with official support from Nabu Casa.
- You don’t plan heavy add-ons such as video analysis for several cameras.
- You’d rather not buy and assemble a power supply, case, cooler and storage.
3. Who should pick a Raspberry Pi 5?
- You already own a Pi 5, or like to tinker.
- You want more CPU and RAM (8GB) for add-ons, or an NVMe SSD for long-term reliability.
- You want the 40-pin GPIO header for your own sensors.
Not sure which Pi 5 memory size? Read Raspberry Pi 5: which RAM to buy.
4. UK and US notes
- Power: the Green’s supply is universal (100–240 V); for the Pi 5 buy the official supply with your local plug rather than a phone charger.
- Availability: both are sold through official resellers in the UK and the US. Stock varies, so check current availability on the official pages linked above.
5. Either way, add a Zigbee coordinator
Neither device has Zigbee built in. Plug in a USB coordinator on a short extension cable to reduce interference: see the best Zigbee dongle for Home Assistant.
Verdict: Green for zero-hassle; Pi 5 for power and flexibility.