If I am not mistaken the tradeoff is losing add-ons but being able to install other services.
So… what is your experience? Are add-ons useful/common for your use case?
You can go supervised! You still have most of the operating system available to your needs and you can still use add-ons. I use it for years and it works like a charm
I’m running the docker version as I’m also using the rpi for other things, like imageview and pi hole. I don’t really miss addons, the only annoying thing is that most documentation assumes you’re running ha os.
But if you don’t plan to use it for anything else than HA, I’d go for HA OS.
I used a ton of AddOns, really practical because they also embed themselves easily into the rest of Home Assistant. I would go for the HA OS. But I also do wish there was a AddOn to install random docker images.
I run my own a VM.
I was sceptical about running in a OS that I can’t run my normal updates and automations on but HA OS has been rock solid and easy. Plus you get a few more features
I second that, I just put it in a VM on my proxmox host. zero issues so far.
HA OS is the way to go.
You don’t want to have to think about it. HA OS just works. You set it up and let it run.
There’s no sense in trying to kerfuffle other things into it. You don’t want to do too much on the Pi anyway because it’ll lower the responsiveness of Home Assistant slightly. If you want a server that does things, buy a separate NAS and run it alongside HA OS.
This is what I do with a Pi running HAOS and a Synology ds920+ running backups and everything else. It’s been rock solid, gives me a decent backup solution, my home automation is stable and responsive and no-fuss, and plenty of options for tinkering. Highly recommend.
@EnglishMobster @unknowing8343 Home Assistant Yellow has been phenomenal. I was quite annoyed with the crowdfunding campaign and their lack of openness as they dealt with shipping delays, but the final product has been rock solid. Definitely recommended.
home assistant in docker is definitely not for the feint of heart! the networking requirements are actually quite intense, and really don’t map well to virtual networks like dockers uses
… among other issues
HAOS on a pi; i’ve tried the docker thing time and time again, and the next chance i get in blowing it all away and starting on real hardware again
I’ve run both, and the OS version is much more stable and easier to keep running. Whether you use an rpi or a VM, use the dedicated OS and save yourself the heartache of trying to get your hardware working with docker.
I definitely prefer HA in a VM, that way it can do its own thing and I won’t accidentally break something.
I’d always run HAOS. When you need Docker containers which are not available as add-ons I would look for a machine that can run Proxmox so you can run a Docker VM and a HAOS vm in parallel.
I recommend HA OS. What happened to me is that I used docker, got everything set up how I liked it, then had to move over to HA OS when I needed a specific add on and didn’t have any other solution.
If you don’t already have a plan for other services, might not make sense to use docker, too.
I run the docker because it’s really easy to migrate to another machine if I needed. I just rsync the data and re-run the yaml on the new machine and I’m back up within seconds.
Imho, for the vast vast vast majority of people, you should pick the lowest management solution for a long running home server. In an ideal world every home appliance is like an oven, something that always works, cleans itself, and requires no obligations of you the owner. Of course some things don’t work like that, knives need sharpening, cast iron pans need seasoning, wood cutting boards need oiling, but when it comes to home server software it’s entirely possible to design it so that it’s more like an oven, updating itself, always running, and never requiring anything of you the owner other than keeping it plugged in. That’s what HAOS is, and I would rather buy more Pis / old laptops and just run them side by side rather than deal with a whole extra management layer and critically timed updates and stuff.
Home assistant OS is also my recommendation. Add-ons are pretty important IMO. Plus for something I am planning to try and have 100% uptime and controlling my home smart devices I don’t want it containerized and at the mercy of docker.
Currently using 15 add-ons myself.
I started out running HA in a docker container on a NUC (everything configured in a docker compose file). Documentation around everything was pretty poor at the time (I’m not sure if this has improved since then), so I ended up feeling too confused on where to even begin expanding from vanilla HA.
I ended up picking up a RPi 4 (and SSD and enclosure) and have been happily running HA OS since then on the Pi. If that ever fails on me, I may go back to a docker instance.
I’d recommend you try whichever is the most convenient first (probably the docker approach, unless you already have the Pi on hand). Give it a month or two, try to setup up a few things you’re interested in, and then decide if you’re satisfied with that setup or want to try the other option.
There’s nothing that you can’t do with docker that you can do with addons, but many things you can do with docker that you can’t do with addons.
Addons are marginally easier to setup but if you have technical skills, docker is also not a lot of work. You can use something like Portainer to get a similar easy interface. So I think it’s down to if you have the technical skills for docker.
I run ha supervised and I do both, but the system does complain that I do that.
