Running Home Assistant on a Raspberry Pi 4

Home Assistant is the best open-source smart home platform. A Pi 4 gives you a dedicated hub with no cloud dependency.

Requirements

• Raspberry Pi 4 (2GB min, 4GB recommended)
• 32GB+ microSD or USB SSD
• Official USB-C power supply (5V 3A)
• Ethernet (more reliable than Wi-Fi for a hub)

Installation — HAOS

1. Download Raspberry Pi Imager
2. OS: Home Assistant > HAOS for Raspberry Pi 4
3. Write to SD/SSD
4. Boot — first setup takes 5-10 min

First Boot

Navigate to http://homeassistant.local:8123 and create your account.

Use a USB SSD (Recommended)

SD cards fail with frequent writes. A 128GB USB SSD costs ~$15-20 and is worth it:

• Pi 4 supports USB boot natively
• Enable in raspi-config if needed

First Integrations to Add

Backups

Settings > System > Backups > Automatic backups. Store to network share or Google Drive add-on.