The Home Assistant Yellow was supposed to be the "it just works" hardware for smart home enthusiasts. A custom board with built-in Zigbee/Thread radio, NVMe storage, Power over Ethernet, and a Raspberry Pi Compute Module 4 at its heart. It was beautiful. It was open source. And in October 2025, Nabu Casa pulled the plug. Here's the full story, whether a used Yellow is still worth your money, and what to buy instead.
Jump to a section
Home Assistant Yellow was a purpose-built smart home hub designed by Nabu Casa, the company behind Home Assistant. Crowdfunded on Crowd Supply in 2021, it started shipping in late 2022. The pitch was simple: take the best Raspberry Pi hardware, put it on a custom PCB with everything a smart home needs, and make it gorgeous.
A Silicon Labs MGM210P radio built right onto the board. No USB dongle sticking out, no driver issues. Zigbee 3.0 and Thread/Matter support out of the box. Same chip as the SkyConnect dongle.
An M.2 slot for NVMe storage, connected via PCIe. No more SD card corruption nightmares. Faster boot times, faster database writes, and way more reliable long-term storage for your smart home data.
PoE support meant one cable for both power and network. Tuck it in a network cabinet, connect a single Ethernet cable, done. Clean installs made easy.
Full open-source design files published on GitHub. Board schematics, case design, everything. This was a statement: your smart home hub shouldn't be a black box.
Here's exactly what was inside the Yellow. Considering a secondhand purchase or just curious about the hardware? Read on.
| Component | Details |
|---|---|
| Compute Module | Raspberry Pi CM4 (1/2/4/8GB RAM options) |
| CPU | Broadcom BCM2711, quad-core Cortex-A72 @ 1.5GHz |
| Storage | M.2 NVMe slot (2230/2242) via PCIe x1, optional eMMC on CM4 |
| Radio | Silicon Labs MGM210P (Zigbee 3.0 + Thread/Matter) |
| Networking | Gigabit Ethernet with PoE support (802.3af, via add-on) |
| USB | 2x USB 2.0 Type-A |
| Power | USB-C (12V/2A), or PoE |
| Case | Custom translucent yellow enclosure |
| Price (Original) | $99 (kit without CM4) / $125-165 (with CM4) |
Kit vs Pre-assembled: The Yellow shipped in two versions. The standard kit came without a Compute Module (you supplied your own CM4). The pre-assembled version included a CM4 with 4GB RAM, ready to go out of the box.
In October 2025, Nabu Casa announced they were ending production of the Yellow. The reasons came down to a mix of supply chain realities and strategic focus.
The Raspberry Pi CM4 suffered through years of chip shortages (2021-2023). By the time supply normalized, the CM4 was aging hardware. The Raspberry Pi 5 launched with a completely different form factor, and there's no CM5 equivalent yet that fits the Yellow's design.
Nabu Casa decided to focus resources on what they do best: Home Assistant software, Nabu Casa Cloud, and the affordable Home Assistant Green. Hardware manufacturing is complex, capital-intensive, and distracting. The Green at $99 covers the entry-level market, and mini PCs handle the power-user segment.
Intel N100 mini PCs hit the market at $120-150 with dramatically more power than the CM4. The community increasingly recommended mini PCs over dedicated HA hardware. The Yellow's unique advantage (integrated radio + NVMe) became less compelling when a $10 SkyConnect dongle adds the same radio to any machine.
Software support continues. Your Yellow still gets every Home Assistant update. It runs standard HAOS. Nabu Casa has committed to continued software compatibility. This isn't like Google killing a product and bricking it. Your Yellow will keep working for years.
Used Yellows pop up on eBay, Reddit's r/homeassistant, and local marketplaces. Here's how to decide if one is worth your money.
Check the CM4 RAM. Some Yellows shipped with only 2GB CM4 modules. That's tight for modern Home Assistant with add-ons. Make sure you're getting a 4GB model, or plan to swap the CM4 yourself (they're still available from various suppliers).
Whether the Yellow is sold out, too expensive secondhand, or just not powerful enough for your plans, these options cover every budget and use case.
Best for: Beginners on a budget
The official entry-level option from Nabu Casa. Plug in Ethernet and power, and you have a working Home Assistant in 10 minutes. The downside? No Zigbee/Thread radio (you need a SkyConnect dongle, $30), no NVMe slot (uses eMMC), and limited CPU power. Perfect for a small home with under 50 devices. Not enough for cameras or heavy automations.
Best for: Most people (our top recommendation)
This is what most of the Home Assistant community runs in 2026. An Intel N100 mini PC (Beelink, TRIGKEY, GMKtec) gives you 16GB RAM, 512GB NVMe SSD, Intel QuickSync for camera transcoding, and enough power to run Home Assistant plus Frigate, Node-RED, Zigbee2MQTT, and more. Add a SkyConnect dongle ($30) for Zigbee/Thread, and you've got something far more capable than the Yellow ever was.
Best for: DIY enthusiasts who love the Pi ecosystem
The spiritual successor to the Yellow, assembled yourself. A Pi 5 (8GB) with an NVMe HAT, SSD, and SkyConnect dongle gets you close to what the Yellow offered, with a faster CPU. The Pi 5's quad-core Cortex-A76 is roughly 2x faster than the CM4's Cortex-A72. You lose the clean single-board design and PoE simplicity, but gain the huge Pi ecosystem of cases, HATs, and community support.
Best for: NAS owners who want to consolidate
If you already own a Synology NAS (DS224+ or newer), you can run Home Assistant in Docker or as a VM at no extra cost. It's not the fastest option, but it works well for medium-sized setups and means one less device in your network cabinet.
| Feature | Yellow | Green | Mini PC | Pi 5 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Price | $100-150 used | $99 | $120-180 | $100-140 |
| RAM | 2-8GB | 4GB | 16GB | 8GB |
| Storage | NVMe | 32GB eMMC | 512GB NVMe | NVMe via HAT |
| CPU Power | ★★☆☆ | ★★☆☆ | ★★★★ | ★★★☆ |
| Built-in Radio | ✅ Zigbee + Thread | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ |
| PoE | ✅ | ❌ | ❌ | Via HAT |
| Frigate Ready | Barely | No | ✅ QuickSync | With Coral USB |
| Power Draw | ~5W | ~3W | ~12W | ~5W |
Already have a Yellow? Here's how to get it running (or set it up fresh after buying one used).
If your Yellow came without a CM4, slide the Compute Module onto the two board-to-board connectors and press firmly until it clicks. The CM4 with 4GB RAM and no eMMC is recommended (so you use the NVMe slot for storage instead).
Insert a 2230 or 2242 NVMe SSD into the M.2 slot. Any brand works. A 128GB drive is plenty for Home Assistant. Secure it with the included screw.
Plug in an Ethernet cable to your router, then connect the USB-C power supply. If you have a PoE switch and the PoE add-on board installed, one Ethernet cable handles both. The Yellow will automatically download and install Home Assistant OS on first boot.
After 5-10 minutes, open your browser and go to http://homeassistant.local:8123. Create your account, set your location, and Home Assistant will auto-detect your Zigbee radio. You're done.
Buying used? Flash a fresh HAOS image to the NVMe drive using the Raspberry Pi Imager tool and a USB adapter. During onboarding, you can restore from a backup file if you're migrating from another Home Assistant instance.
If your Yellow is showing its age or you want more power, migrating to a new device is straightforward. Home Assistant makes this surprisingly painless.
Go to Settings → System → Backups → Create Backup. Choose "Full backup" to include everything: your config, automations, add-ons, history, and Zigbee network. Download the .tar file to your computer.
Install HAOS on your new mini PC, Pi 5, or whatever you're moving to. During the onboarding wizard, choose "Restore from backup" instead of creating a new instance. Upload your .tar file.
If you used the Yellow's built-in radio and you're switching to a SkyConnect dongle, the backup includes your Zigbee network. After restore, go to Settings → Devices → Configure on the Zigbee integration and point it to the new radio. Most devices will reconnect automatically.
See which of your devices are compatible before you migrate.
Yes. Nabu Casa announced the end of life for Home Assistant Yellow in October 2025. Production has stopped and official stock is sold out. Existing units continue to receive software updates since they run standard Home Assistant OS.
For most people, an Intel N100 mini PC ($120-180) with a SkyConnect dongle ($30) is the best option. It's significantly more powerful, more versatile, and costs about the same. The Home Assistant Green ($99) is the budget option if you just need basic smart home automation.
At $100-130 with a 4GB CM4, yes. The hardware is solid and receives full software support. Above $150, a new mini PC is better value. Check that the CM4 has at least 4GB RAM before buying.
Yes. The built-in Silicon Labs MGM210P radio supports both Zigbee 3.0 and Thread. With Thread support comes the ability to act as a Matter border router, connecting Thread-based Matter devices to your network.
Not directly. The RAM is on the Compute Module 4, which is a single replaceable unit. You can swap the entire CM4 for one with more RAM (e.g., replace a 2GB CM4 with a 4GB or 8GB version). This takes about 2 minutes.
Nabu Casa hasn't announced a direct successor. Their current hardware strategy focuses on the Green for entry-level users and recommending mini PCs for power users. The community speculates that if a Raspberry Pi Compute Module 5 launches, a new purpose-built board could follow, but nothing is confirmed.
About 3-5 watts at idle, depending on the CM4 variant and whether you have an NVMe drive installed. That works out to roughly $5-8 per year in electricity at average US rates. It's one of the most power-efficient ways to run Home Assistant.
Only if your CM4 module has Wi-Fi (most do). However, Ethernet is strongly recommended for a smart home hub. Wi-Fi adds latency to automations and is less reliable than a wired connection. The whole point of a dedicated hub is rock-solid reliability.
Every install method compared: HAOS, Container, Supervised, Core.
Every mini PC worth buying for Home Assistant in 2026.
Pi 5 vs Pi 4, NVMe storage, and getting started.
Coordinators, ZHA vs Z2M, best devices, mesh tips.
The new smart home standard and how it works with HA.
Everything you need to get started from zero.