Nabu Casa is renaming Home Assistant Cloud to Home Assistant Link, a change intended to better distinguish the service from cloud-dependent smart home platforms and reinforce Home Assistant’s focus on local control and privacy.
The new name is expected to take effect with the December 2026 release (2026.12). Nabu Casa, the commercial organization founded by Home Assistant’s creators, provides paid services that help fund continued development of the open-source smart home platform.
According to the company, the existing name has led some users to believe Home Assistant itself operates in the cloud. The platform runs locally in the home, while Home Assistant Link connects local installations to remote access and third-party integrations.
The company also cited consumer concerns about data collection, mandatory subscriptions, and closed ecosystems associated with cloud services as reasons for the change.
Home Assistant Link provides remote access without requiring users to configure port forwarding, voice integration with Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant, online speech-to-text services, cloud backups and live support.
The service uses end-to-end encryption, and Nabu Casa says user data is not sold or used for AI training. Home Assistant can continue operating locally without an internet connection, although cloud-based features require connectivity.
The revenue generated by Nabu Casa’s services supports the Open Home Foundation and ongoing development of Home Assistant.
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