The Complete Home Assistant Starter Kit (Everything, In Order)
Everything you need for a first Home Assistant setup, in the order to actually buy it — plus a blunt list of what to skip on day one.
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Most “what do I need for Home Assistant” lists are a pile of gear with no sense of sequence, which is how people end up with a Z‑Wave stick and no reason to use it.
This is the same list in the order you should actually buy it, with a clear note about what you can skip. You do not need all of this on day one. You genuinely need the first two things.
Tier 1: buy these now
1. A hub
Non-negotiable — this is the thing that runs Home Assistant. Two sensible choices, covered in depth in Green vs Raspberry Pi.
Short version: the Green if you want it working tonight, the Pi if you want to learn the stack or run other services on the same box.
Pick one hub
- Home Assistant Green — The shortest path to a working setup — plug in Ethernet and power and you're running tonight. Skip it if you actually want to learn what's underneath, or if you plan to run other services on the same box.
- Raspberry Pi 4 (4GB) — The tinkerer's choice. More setup work than the Green, but you learn the stack and can run other things alongside. Budget for the power supply and storage below — the board alone isn't enough.
2. Something to automate
This is the step people skip, and it’s why some setups sit idle for a month. Get one smart plug at the same time as the hub. A lamp that turns on at sunset the day you set it up is what makes the whole thing click.
Wi-Fi plugs need no radio and no extra hardware, which makes them the right first device even though they’re not the endgame.
Your first automated thing — a lamp, a coffee maker, a phone charger — start with one
- Kasa Smart Plug — The easiest first automation — no radio required, works over Wi-Fi, and integrates locally. Great for lamps, chargers, and anything you want to cut power to on a schedule.
Tier 2: buy these with the Pi
Skip this tier entirely if you bought the Green — it has storage and power sorted.
3. A real power supply
Not a spare phone charger. A Pi that browns out under load produces symptoms that look exactly like software faults: random reboots, corrupted configuration, integrations that disappear. People lose whole evenings to this before discovering the cause is a cable.
4. Storage that won’t die
Home Assistant writes constantly — state changes, logbook, the recorder database. Consumer microSD cards are not designed for that duty cycle. They fail without warning and take your configuration with them.
Boot from an SSD. Keep a microSD around as a spare or for the initial flash, but don’t run on it long-term.
The Pi essentials — the first two are not optional extras
- USB‑C 5V/3A Power Supply — Don't power a Pi from a spare phone charger. Undervolting causes random reboots and filesystem corruption that look like software bugs and waste entire evenings.
- USB 3.0 SSD + Enclosure — Boot from this instead of the microSD. It's the single upgrade that most reduces the odds of losing your setup, and it's noticeably faster.
- 128GB microSD (A2) — Fine for getting started and for keeping a spare on the shelf. Not what you want as a permanent boot device — Home Assistant's constant small writes kill cards, usually with no warning.
Tier 3: buy when you want sensors
5. A Zigbee dongle
The moment you want motion sensors, door sensors, or temperature sensors, you need a radio. Battery-powered sensors are almost all Zigbee or Z‑Wave — Wi-Fi versions exist but either need mains power or eat batteries.
Zigbee first: the devices are cheaper and far more plentiful.
Buy a USB extension cable with it. USB 3 ports emit interference right in Zigbee’s band. Plug the dongle directly into the machine and you’ll get devices that pair perfectly then drop constantly — a genuinely miserable thing to debug. Get it a foot away from the box.
6. A Z-Wave stick (probably not yet)
Better range, a less crowded band, and the ecosystem of choice for smart locks and in-wall switches. The devices cost noticeably more, which is why most people shouldn’t start here.
Buy this when you have a specific Z‑Wave device you want. Not before.
Adding sensors — Zigbee covers most needs; Z-Wave when you have a reason
- Zigbee 3.0 USB Dongle — Get this first if you're adding radios. Zigbee covers the cheap, plentiful stuff — bulbs, contact and motion sensors, buttons. Use a USB extension so it isn't sitting next to a USB 3 port, which will interfere with it.
- Z‑Wave 700 USB Stick — Better range and a less crowded band than Zigbee, and the ecosystem of choice for locks and in-wall switches. Devices cost more, so most people don't need it on day one.
What to skip
Being direct about what not to buy, because the internet is bad at this:
- A fancy case. It changes nothing about how well this works.
- A Z-Wave stick on day one. See above.
- A mini PC, unless you’re doing camera object detection or running a serious container stack. Real jump in capability, but not for a lights-and-sensors setup.
- Anything advertised as “works with Home Assistant” without checking how. Some of it means a local integration; some means a cloud round-trip that stops working when the vendor decides it should.
- A hub bundle with sensors you didn’t choose. You’ll replace them.
The whole thing, in one box
If you want the complete list without the reasoning:
The complete starter kit — hub, first device, radio for sensors, and storage that survives
- Home Assistant Green — The shortest path to a working setup — plug in Ethernet and power and you're running tonight. Skip it if you actually want to learn what's underneath, or if you plan to run other services on the same box.
- Kasa Smart Plug — The easiest first automation — no radio required, works over Wi-Fi, and integrates locally. Great for lamps, chargers, and anything you want to cut power to on a schedule.
- Zigbee 3.0 USB Dongle — Get this first if you're adding radios. Zigbee covers the cheap, plentiful stuff — bulbs, contact and motion sensors, buttons. Use a USB extension so it isn't sitting next to a USB 3 port, which will interfere with it.
- USB 3.0 SSD + Enclosure — Boot from this instead of the microSD. It's the single upgrade that most reduces the odds of losing your setup, and it's noticeably faster.
A realistic first week
- Day 1 — hub on Ethernet, onboarding done, one smart plug paired
- Day 2 — a sunset lighting automation, so it does something visible
- Day 3 — the mobile app, for presence detection and notifications
- Day 4 — scheduled backups, stored off the device
- Rest of the week — leave it alone and see what annoys you
That last one is the real advice. The automations worth building are the ones that occur to you after living with it, not the ones you plan in advance.
What to Read Next
- Home Assistant Green vs Raspberry Pi — the hub decision in depth
- Getting Started with Home Assistant — installation walkthrough
- Five Practical Home Assistant Automations — what to build first
- The gear I actually run
Building your first setup and stuck on a choice? Comments are open, or email [email protected].