The two supported methods
| Home Assistant OS | Home Assistant Container | |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | complete appliance OS, managed by the Supervisor | the Home Assistant container on your own Docker host |
| Apps (add-ons) | yes | no |
| Thread, Z-Wave via apps | out of the box | you run and connect those services yourself |
| Backups and updates from the UI | yes | Home Assistant itself only; the host is your job |
| Recommended for | most users | people who already run and maintain a container host |
Home Assistant's own recommendation: Home Assistant OS for most users.
Deprecated: Core, Supervised and 32-bit
- The Core (Python venv) and Supervised installation methods are deprecated.
- The 32-bit architectures i386, armhf and armv7 are deprecated too. Only 64-bit aarch64 and amd64 stay supported.
- Starting with 2025.6 affected systems showed a notice; support ended with release 2025.12. These installs can keep running, but get no updates or official help.
Moving to a supported install
Home Assistant's advice is to back up and restore:
- Create a full backup and download it together with the backup emergency kit (encryption key).
- Install Home Assistant OS (or Container) on 64-bit hardware or a VM.
- During onboarding choose restore from backup and upload the file.
On a Raspberry Pi, that means a 64-bit image. Older 32-bit Pi installs need to be moved.
Choosing
- Want apps like Mosquitto, Zigbee2MQTT or the ESPHome Device Builder with one click → Home Assistant OS.
- Already running Docker for other services and happy to run the broker, Zigbee2MQTT etc. as separate containers → Container.