Govee makes some of the most affordable smart LED strips, light bars, and ambient lighting on the market. They look great out of the box, but they really shine when you connect them to Home Assistant. Local control, custom automations, color sync with your media, and zero dependency on the Govee cloud. This guide covers every way to connect your Govee gear, the best devices to buy, and automations that make your lighting setup genuinely smart.
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Govee has quietly become the go-to brand for affordable smart lighting. Their LED strips, light bars, and ambient lamps show up in every "best of" list, and for good reason: the hardware is solid, the color accuracy is surprisingly good, and the prices undercut Philips Hue by 50% or more.
The problem? The Govee Home app. It works fine for basic control, but it ties everything to their cloud. Your lights stop working when the internet goes down. Automations are limited. And you cannot combine Govee devices with your other smart home gear in a single dashboard.
That is where Home Assistant comes in. Connect your Govee devices locally and you get instant response times, automations that actually make sense, and a dashboard where your LED strips sit right next to your thermostat, cameras, and door sensors.
LED strips from $15, light bars from $40, floor lamps from $60. Half the price of Hue for comparable quality.
Many Govee devices support LAN API for local control. No cloud needed. Instant response times under 100ms.
Govee temperature and humidity sensors are cheap ($10-15), accurate, and broadcast over Bluetooth. Perfect for room monitoring.
Not all Govee devices connect the same way. The method you use depends on your specific model, your hardware, and how much control you want. Here is a comparison of all three approaches.
| Feature | Govee LAN API (Built-in) | Govee BLE (Built-in) | govee2mqtt (HACS) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Connection | Wi-Fi (local network) | Bluetooth | LAN + BLE + Cloud |
| Local control | ✓ Yes | ✓ Yes | ✓ Yes (LAN/BLE) |
| Cloud needed | No | No | Optional fallback |
| Device types | Lights only | Sensors only | Lights + sensors + appliances |
| Scene support | No | N/A | ✓ Yes |
| Segment control (RGBIC) | No | N/A | ✓ Yes |
| Response time | ~50ms | 1-3 seconds | ~50ms (LAN) |
| Setup difficulty | Easy | Easy | Medium |
Our recommendation
If you have more than two Govee devices, go straight to govee2mqtt. It combines all three connection methods, auto-discovers every device on your account, and gives you the most complete control. If you only have a single LED strip, the built-in Govee Light Local integration is enough.
Home Assistant includes a native integration called Govee Light Local that talks directly to your Govee lights over Wi-Fi using the Govee LAN API. No cloud, no API key, no extra software. It is the simplest way to get started.
How to enable it:
You get on/off, brightness, and color control. No scenes, no segment control for RGBIC strips, and not all models are supported. But for basic use, it works great.
The Govee BLE integration reads data from Govee Bluetooth sensors, mainly the H5xxx series temperature and humidity sensors. Your Home Assistant host needs a Bluetooth adapter (built into most Raspberry Pi models and many mini PCs).
These sensors broadcast their readings over Bluetooth Low Energy every few seconds. Home Assistant picks them up automatically. You get temperature, humidity, and battery level as entities. Setup is as simple as walking past your HA host with the sensor. It should auto-discover.
If you are serious about Govee in Home Assistant, govee2mqtt is the tool you want. Built by Wez Furlong, it bridges every Govee device to Home Assistant through MQTT. It combines all three connection methods: LAN API, Bluetooth, and the Govee cloud API as a fallback.
What makes it special:
Setup steps:
# Docker Compose example for govee2mqtt
services:
govee2mqtt:
image: ghcr.io/wez/govee2mqtt:latest
restart: unless-stopped
network_mode: host
volumes:
- ./govee2mqtt-data:/data
environment:
- GOVEE_EMAIL=your@email.com
- GOVEE_PASSWORD=your-govee-password
- GOVEE_API_KEY=your-api-key
- GOVEE_MQTT_HOST=localhost
- GOVEE_MQTT_PORT=1883Note: network_mode: host is important. govee2mqtt needs to be on the same network as your Govee devices for LAN discovery and BLE scanning.
Not every Govee product works equally well with Home Assistant. Here are the ones that integrate best, organized by category.
The crowd favorite. RGBIC means each segment can show a different color at the same time. 16.4ft, great color accuracy. LAN API supported.
~$30 | LAN + BLEBasic RGB strip, not RGBIC (whole strip, one color). Cheaper but still great for desk backlighting or TV bias lighting. LAN API supported.
~$15 | LAN + BLEHigher density LEDs, brighter output, finer segment control. Premium pick for behind-TV or room perimeter. LAN API supported.
~$50 | LAN + BLETwo light bars that sit behind your monitor or TV. RGBIC segments react to screen content. Works great as ambient lighting in automations.
~$70 | LAN + BLERGBIC floor lamp with corner design. Each section displays different colors. Doubles as room accent lighting and notification indicator.
~$100 | LAN + BLECylindrical RGB desk lamp. Nice for bedside automations or office mood lighting. Compact and surprisingly bright.
~$50 | LAN + BLERGBIC outdoor string lights, 48ft. Each bulb can show a different color. Weather resistant (IP65). Great for patios and gardens.
~$70 | LAN + BLERGBIC pathway lights. 15 light discs on a connected strand. Low voltage, easy to install along walkways or garden beds.
~$80 | LAN + BLEThe classic. Small LCD display, BLE broadcast, accurate to +/- 0.3C. Battery lasts about a year. One of the cheapest BLE sensors available.
~$12 | BLEWi-Fi + BLE version. Has a built-in screen and can also upload to Govee cloud. The Wi-Fi option means range is not limited to Bluetooth.
~$20 | Wi-Fi + BLECompact BLE-only sensor. No screen, but slightly smaller. Great for hiding in cabinets, fridges, or crawl spaces for monitoring.
~$10 | BLEOnce your Govee devices are in Home Assistant, here are the automations people actually use every day.
When your TV or media player starts playing, fade the Govee light bars to a dim warm glow. When it pauses or stops, bring them back up.
automation:
- alias: "Govee Movie Mode"
trigger:
- platform: state
entity_id: media_player.living_room_tv
to: "playing"
action:
- service: light.turn_on
target:
entity_id: light.govee_light_bar
data:
brightness: 25
color_temp_kelvin: 2700
transition: 330 minutes before your alarm, slowly ramp up the bedroom Govee strip from deep red to warm white. Way better than a blaring alarm in the dark.
automation:
- alias: "Govee Sunrise Wake-Up"
trigger:
- platform: time
at: "06:30:00"
condition:
- condition: state
entity_id: binary_sensor.workday
state: "on"
action:
- service: light.turn_on
target:
entity_id: light.govee_bedroom_strip
data:
brightness: 10
rgb_color: [255, 50, 0]
- delay: "00:10:00"
- service: light.turn_on
target:
entity_id: light.govee_bedroom_strip
data:
brightness: 80
rgb_color: [255, 180, 100]
transition: 600
- delay: "00:10:00"
- service: light.turn_on
target:
entity_id: light.govee_bedroom_strip
data:
brightness: 200
color_temp_kelvin: 3500
transition: 600Use a Govee temperature sensor in your server room, garage, or greenhouse. If the temperature goes above a threshold, flash a Govee light red as a visual alert.
automation:
- alias: "Govee Temp Alert"
trigger:
- platform: numeric_state
entity_id: sensor.govee_h5075_temperature
above: 30
action:
- service: light.turn_on
target:
entity_id: light.govee_office_strip
data:
rgb_color: [255, 0, 0]
brightness: 255
flash: longWhen you arrive home after sunset, light up the outdoor Govee string lights and set the indoor strips to a warm welcome scene.
automation:
- alias: "Welcome Home Govee"
trigger:
- platform: state
entity_id: person.you
to: "home"
condition:
- condition: sun
after: sunset
action:
- service: light.turn_on
target:
entity_id:
- light.govee_outdoor_strings
- light.govee_hallway_strip
data:
brightness: 180
color_temp_kelvin: 3000When your PC or gaming console turns on in the evening, switch the desk Govee lights to a cool blue gaming scene. When it turns off, fade back to normal.
automation:
- alias: "Gaming Mode Govee"
trigger:
- platform: state
entity_id: switch.gaming_pc
to: "on"
condition:
- condition: sun
after: sunset
action:
- service: light.turn_on
target:
entity_id:
- light.govee_desk_strip
- light.govee_monitor_bar
data:
rgb_color: [0, 100, 255]
brightness: 150Wondering if Govee is the right choice for your Home Assistant setup? Here is how it stacks up against other popular smart lighting brands.
| Feature | Govee | Philips Hue | WLED (DIY) |
|---|---|---|---|
| LED strip cost (16ft) | $15-50 | $80-130 | $15-30 + ESP32 |
| Hub required | No | Yes ($60) | No |
| Local control | LAN API / BLE | Zigbee (local) | Wi-Fi (native) |
| HA integration quality | Good (govee2mqtt) | Excellent | Excellent |
| RGBIC support | Yes | No (Gradient only) | Yes |
| Setup difficulty | Easy | Easy | Moderate (soldering) |
Bottom line: Govee gives you the best value for ambient and accent lighting. If you want rock-solid Zigbee reliability for your primary room lights, Hue or Zigbee bulbs are still the better pick. If you want maximum customization and do not mind soldering, WLED with ESPHome gives you unlimited control. Govee sits in the sweet spot: no soldering, no hub, good integration, great price.
Create a separate Govee account for Home Assistant. This way you can share devices from your main account and revoke access if needed without losing your personal setup.
BLE range is limited to about 10 meters through walls. If your sensors are far from HA, use ESPHome Bluetooth proxies to extend range throughout your home.
Before setting up govee2mqtt, go through every Govee device in the Govee Home app and enable "LAN Control" where available. govee2mqtt will automatically prefer the local connection.
govee2mqtt exposes all Govee scenes (like "Sunset," "Rainbow," "Movie") as selectable options. These look much better than manually setting a single color.
Set up a low battery alert for your Govee sensors. They expose battery level as an entity. Create an automation that notifies you when any sensor drops below 15%.
govee2mqtt uses the device names from your Govee account. Rename them in the Govee Home app before setup so they appear nicely in Home Assistant.
Here is a practical weekend plan to go from zero to a fully integrated Govee setup.
Free scan. See which of your devices work with Home Assistant.
Yes. Many newer Govee devices support the Govee LAN API, which lets Home Assistant control them over your local network without cloud. You need to enable LAN Control in the Govee Home app first. For devices without LAN support, govee2mqtt provides local BLE (Bluetooth) control or falls back to the cloud API.
govee2mqtt is a community tool by Wez Furlong that bridges Govee devices to Home Assistant via MQTT. It supports three connection methods: LAN API for local Wi-Fi control, BLE for Bluetooth devices, and the Govee HTTP API as a cloud fallback. It auto-discovers your devices and gives you entities for brightness, color, color temperature, and scenes. If you have more than a couple Govee devices, it is the best option.
The best supported devices include LED strip lights (H6159, H6172, H61A2), RGBIC strips, light bars (H6054, H6056), table and floor lamps, outdoor string lights, and the H5xxx series temperature and humidity sensors. Devices with LAN API support get the fastest response times. Check the govee2mqtt compatibility list for your specific model.
Yes. The Govee H5xxx temperature and humidity sensors (like H5074, H5075, H5179) broadcast data over Bluetooth. You can pick them up with govee2mqtt if your Home Assistant host has a Bluetooth adapter, or use the native Govee BLE integration built into Home Assistant. They update every few seconds and battery life is excellent.
Home Assistant has two built-in Govee integrations. The Govee Light Local integration handles LAN API devices and works well for basic on/off, brightness, and color control. The Govee BLE integration reads temperature and humidity sensors over Bluetooth. For full control of all your Govee devices with scenes, segments, and music mode, govee2mqtt is the more complete solution.
Absolutely. That is one of the best things about Home Assistant. You can mix Govee lights (via govee2mqtt or the built-in integration), Zigbee bulbs, Hue lights, Shelly switches, and anything else in the same automations and scenes. Use Govee for accent and ambient lighting, Hue for primary room lighting.
Govee has started rolling out Matter support on some newer devices. As of early 2026, only a handful of models support it. For now, govee2mqtt or the LAN API integration remain the most reliable and feature-complete ways to connect Govee to Home Assistant. Once Matter support expands, it could become the simplest option.
Complete guide to protocols, bulbs, and switches
Required for govee2mqtt. Mosquitto setup and beyond
WLED, BLE proxies, and DIY alternatives
Lighting, climate, security, and more
Inspiration for your Govee light controls
Community store where you can find govee2mqtt