Home Assistant says ‘Big tech ruined the cloud, so we’re out’
Smart home platform Home Assistant is rebranding its cloud service to 'Link' to distance itself from the negative connotations of 'Big Tech' cloud reliance. The company aims to simplify its user experience through better dashboards and generative AI while maintaining its local-first philosophy.
Why it matters
It reflects a growing consumer and developer trend toward local data control and privacy in the smart home market, challenging the dominance of major tech ecosystems.
The open-source smart home platform Home Assistant is kicking the cloud to the curb — in name at least. “We are renaming Home Assistant Cloud to Home Assistant Link, because we hate clouds,” founder Paulus Schoutsen told The Verge in an interview ahead of today’s announcement. “Big tech ruined the cloud, so we’re out.”
The move is part of a long-term strategy Schoutsen and his team have been pursuing to make Home Assistant a mainstream smart home platform. Schoutsen says most users find the powerful platform after hitting the limits of mainstream options like Google Home, Amazon Alexa, and Apple Home. But it has a steep learning curve, and that’s what he’s looking to change.
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