Zigbee2MQTT or ZHA for Home Assistant: which to choose

Also available in French.

You plugged a Zigbee USB stick into your Pi or Home Assistant Green and Home Assistant offers ZHA or Zigbee2MQTT. Both run your sensors, plugs and bulbs—but differently. This guide follows the ZHA integration docs and Zigbee2MQTT getting started (October 2026). We did not benchmark speed or range—no invented performance numbers.

Short answer

New and want it working fast? ZHA—built into Home Assistant, no MQTT broker, settings in the usual UI.
Tinkerer, odd devices, or MQTT elsewhere? Zigbee2MQTT—separate service, rich web UI, anything that speaks MQTT can subscribe.
Rule: one coordinator, one stack—never run ZHA and Zigbee2MQTT on the same USB stick.

Architecture

ZHA:          Zigbee device → USB stick → Home Assistant (ZHA)
Zigbee2MQTT:  Zigbee device → USB stick → Zigbee2MQTT → MQTT (Mosquitto) → Home Assistant

Comparison

	ZHA	Zigbee2MQTT
Runs on	Inside Home Assistant	Add-on or separate host
MQTT broker	Not needed	Required (Mosquitto)
Setup	Few clicks, auto-detect common sticks	Mosquitto, repo, add-on, wizard
UI	Home Assistant settings	Dedicated Zigbee2MQTT frontend
Radio families (docs)	Silicon Labs (EZSP), TI (ZNP), deCONZ, ZiGate	TI (zStack) and Silicon Labs (Ember) recommended; deCONZ supported
Odd devices	“Quirks” in ZHA	“Converters” in Z2M
OTA firmware	Limited vendor list	Community firmware repo
Network backup	Automatic; migration between some sticks in ZHA	Coordinator backup (zStack/Ember); changing stack often means re-pairing
Use sensors outside HA	No	Yes—Node-RED, scripts, etc.
Minimum hardware	Same as HA	64-bit; Pi 4+ advised for the add-on

Dongles that work with both

Silicon Labs and Texas Instruments sticks suit both stacks. The SONOFF ZBDongle-E (EFR32MG21) is listed for ZHA; Zigbee2MQTT uses the ember adapter. Home Assistant Connect ZBT-2 is the official stick (MG24)—Zigbee or Thread. Details: best Zigbee dongle.

Dongle	Notes
SONOFF ZBDongle-E	UK · US
Home Assistant Connect ZBT-2	UK · US

Zigbee2MQTT tip: use a USB extension so the stick sits away from the Pi—first fix for pairing drops and 2.4 GHz clash with Wi-Fi.

Install ZHA (summary)

Plug stick (extension cable).
Settings → Devices & services—configure if discovered, or add Zigbee Home Automation and pick serial port.
Settings → Connectivity → Zigbee → Add device—reset sensor per manual.

Install Zigbee2MQTT on Home Assistant OS (summary)

Install Mosquitto broker add-on and start it.
Add repository https://github.com/zigbee2mqtt/hassio-zigbee2mqtt.
Install stable Zigbee2MQTT add-on (not Edge unless you know why).
Run the web wizard—pick stick, Wi-Fi channel hint, pair devices.
If ZHA was using the stick, remove ZHA first.

Example manual config for ZBDongle-E (port from ha hardware info):

adapter: ember
port: /dev/serial/by-id/usb-…-if00-port0

Switching stacks

Official migration without re-pairing is documented within ZHA (stick to stick). Moving ZHA ↔ Zigbee2MQTT usually means re-pairing everything—choose before you deploy twenty sensors. Full HA backup first.

Common mistakes

Two stacks fighting for one /dev/tty*
Wi-Fi and Zigbee on overlapping 2.4 GHz channels—fix Wi-Fi channels first, add mains-powered routers (plugs, bulbs)
Bulbs switched off at the wall—mesh holes
modemmanager grabbing the stick on generic Linux—ZHA docs say to remove it

Who should pick what

Family, 5–20 mainstream devices: ZHA
Maker publishing MQTT from Pi scripts (door sensor tutorial): Zigbee2MQTT
Specific model in mind: search it in Z2M supported devices and ZHA device compatibility before you buy

More: Install Home Assistant on Pi 5 · Zigbee temperature sensor.

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