Posted 2026-04-26 by the Oz Smart Home team.
If you've researched smart-home platforms for more than ten minutes, you've run into both Akubela and Home Assistant. They look like they do the same thing. They don't. This is an honest read on which one fits which kind of home — written by people who install both.
TL;DR
| Akubela | Home Assistant | |
|---|---|---|
| Style | Turnkey panels + hub | Self-managed open-source platform |
| Setup | Installed by us, used by you | Set up by us OR you, configured forever |
| Look | Polished panels, a single app | Customisable but raw out of the box |
| Local-first | Yes | Yes |
| Customisability | Moderate (scenes, schedules, integrations) | Total (YAML, Python, custom integrations) |
| Best for | Homeowners who want it to "just work" | Tinkerers, technical users, fully custom builds |
| Maintenance | We handle updates | Owner handles updates |
| Cost | Hardware + install | Hardware (less); time investment if DIY |
If you're asking "which one should I choose" and you don't already have an opinion — the answer is Akubela. If you already use Home Assistant or you're an engineer who wants to own the platform, Home Assistant is the right call.
What is Akubela?
Akubela is a Chinese-headquartered smart-home brand that makes hardware (touch panels, door stations, intercom, hubs, sensors, smart locks) and software (the Akubela platform) designed to work together as a complete system. The pitch: you get one polished app, beautifully-designed wall panels, intercom + scene control + dashboard in a single device, and a hub that runs your scenes locally.
In Australia, Akubela is distributed through specialist installers (us included). It's not on JB Hi-Fi shelves. The reason matters: Akubela is positioned for installers and integrators, not DIY shoppers, because the hardware is designed to be configured properly once and then disappear into the wall.
Strengths:
- One panel does intercom, scene control, lighting, and dashboard. Way fewer wall-warts.
- Local-first — scenes run without internet.
- Polished hardware. Looks good in a hallway.
- Single app. Family members don't fight three different interfaces.
- Native Matter / Thread / Zigbee support.
Weaknesses:
- Less ecosystem than Home Assistant — fewer third-party integrations.
- Customisation is bounded by what the platform allows.
- Closed-ish platform — you can't (yet) modify the source.
What is Home Assistant?
Home Assistant is open-source smart-home software that runs on a Raspberry Pi, a NUC, or a dedicated appliance like Home Assistant Green or Yellow. It supports over 2,000 integrations — basically every smart-home device you can buy plugs into it somehow. The catch: you (or your installer) configure it, and it stays configured the way you set it up.
Strengths:
- Integrates with anything. Literally anything.
- Total customisability. Write your own scripts, automations, dashboards.
- Fully self-hosted — none of your data leaves the house unless you choose.
- Massive community — the answer to any question is on a forum somewhere.
- Free software.
Weaknesses:
- Setup is technical. Even the easy on-ramp (Home Assistant Green) requires comfort with networking and protocols.
- Dashboards are powerful but can look raw without significant design effort.
- You own the maintenance — updates, breaking changes, integration deprecation.
- Voice and intercom hardware needs to be sourced separately and integrated.
How they compare on real questions
"I want one app for the whole household."
- Akubela: yes, native, polished.
- Home Assistant: yes, but the dashboard needs design work. Companion app is functional but not as polished.
"I want it to keep working when the internet drops."
- Akubela: yes, local-first.
- Home Assistant: yes, fully local.
Tie.
"I want every scene I can imagine."
- Akubela: most scenes work; complex ones may need workarounds.
- Home Assistant: literally any scene you can imagine, in YAML.
Home Assistant wins for ceiling.
"I want a video door station that talks to my phone and unlocks the door."
- Akubela: out of the box, polished, integrated.
- Home Assistant: requires you to source hardware (e.g., Reolink, Doorbird, 2N) and integrate. Doable, but not native.
Akubela wins for ease.
"I want it to look good on the wall."
- Akubela: panels are flagship hardware — they look like they belong in a designer apartment.
- Home Assistant: you can run the dashboard on a wall-mounted tablet (we install this); good design takes work.
Akubela wins for default-pretty.
"I want to own and modify the platform myself."
- Akubela: limited. You're a user of the platform.
- Home Assistant: yes — that's the whole point.
Home Assistant wins.
"I'm a software engineer and I'd be miserable if I couldn't tinker."
- Akubela: probably miserable.
- Home Assistant: probably joyful.
Home Assistant wins.
"I'm an architect or builder briefing this for a client."
- Akubela: easier to brief; consistent panel design; one supplier story.
- Home Assistant: harder to brief; more variability in execution.
Akubela wins for specifier-friendliness.
Which one we recommend, and why
The default we recommend is Akubela, for almost every homeowner who isn't already running Home Assistant. The reason: smart homes succeed or fail on whether the people in the house actually use them. Akubela's panels and app are designed for the household, not the engineer. If we install Home Assistant for a non-technical client, we know we're handing them a system they can't maintain — and the call-out invoice 18 months later proves it.
For technical clients — engineers, IT pros, hobbyists — Home Assistant is often the right answer. We'll install it, configure it, document it, and hand it over with admin access. From there, you own it.
What if I want both?
You can. Akubela handles the hardware-heavy stuff (intercom, panels, locks). Home Assistant handles the long tail (the obscure third-party device, the custom Python script, the energy dashboard nobody else can build). They talk to each other over Matter, MQTT, and HTTP webhooks.
This is the most-flexible setup but also the most expensive in time-to-handover. We do this for clients who specifically want both worlds.
What about Loxone?
Loxone is a third option — fully wired, server-redundant, designed for premium new builds. We install Loxone for fully-wired premium projects (priced project-specific, outside the standard tier ladder). It's not really comparable to Akubela or Home Assistant because the install scope is different (full re-cabling). Worth a separate post.
So which one should you pick?
Three questions to ask yourself:
- Do I want to maintain my own platform? If yes → Home Assistant. If no → Akubela.
- Do I want it to look good without effort? If yes → Akubela. If you're happy putting design work in → either.
- Do I have a non-technical partner / family who will use this every day? If yes → Akubela. If no → either, but Home Assistant is fine.
Or just book a free consultation and we'll talk through it with you.
Related reading
- What an Akubela install actually involves
- Getting started with Home Assistant Green
- Understanding Matter and Thread