AI Life / Voice & Assistants / Smart Speakers

If Alexa feels like too much of a microphone in your house, Home Assistant can run a voice assistant that stays local.

What you need

  1. A Home Assistant server. A Home Assistant Green, a Raspberry Pi or a small PC. See Home Assistant installation .
  2. A voice device. The Home Assistant Voice Preview Edition is the official speaker. See Home Assistant Voice .
  3. Local speech engines. Home Assistant’s add-ons for local wake word, speech-to-text and text-to-speech. These run on your server.

Steps

  1. Install Home Assistant and add your lights, locks and sensors.
  2. In Settings > Voice assistants, create an assistant that uses the local speech engines.
  3. Pair the Voice device and pick that assistant.
  4. Try simple commands first: “turn off the kitchen lights.”

Trade-offs

Local voice is good at device control and weaker at general questions. A faster server helps response time. Full details are in the Home Assistant voice docs .

Compare the mainstream options in best smart speaker for privacy .

More guides on the Smart Speakers hub .