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Networking gear comparisons

Routers, gateways, switches, access points, and satellite internet that Home Assistant can monitor for device tracking and presence detection.

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Standout picks

Strongest overall pick

Starlink (Standard Kit)

Starlink · HA: good · local: good

Official Home Assistant integration polls the dish locally over the LAN - no cloud account needed for telemetry

Product notes →

Best local-control posture

GL.iNet Flint 2 (GL-MT6000)

GL.iNet · works offline: yes

Ships with OpenWrt and is fully managed from its local admin panel / LuCI. GL.iNet's GoodCloud remote management is opt-in only, so it runs with no vendor cloud.

Why it stands out →

Another easy starting point

UniFi Switch Flex 2.5G 5

Ubiquiti · setup: moderate

UniFi households wanting wired clients tracked locally in Home Assistant

See buyer notes →

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Filter, sort, and open "More" on any row for what it's best at, setup, power, and cloud posture. Prices are the last verified read where there is one; the rest show a price band.

Showing 12 of 12 Ordered by Home Assistant fit, then local control. Click a column heading to re-sort.

Networking gear compared: Home Assistant fit, offline behavior, protocols, hub requirement, price, and where to buy.
						Where to buy
Starlink (Standard Kit) Starlink More Best for Rural, off-grid, or cottage homes that need satellite internet and want to monitor it locally in HA Standout An official, fully local Home Assistant integration that polls the dish's on-LAN gRPC API for detailed telemetry without any SpaceX cloud account. Local control good Cloud cloud-tinged (low) Setup moderate Power plug-in	good	no	Wi-Fi, Ethernet	no	$349checked Sep 6	Amazon ↗ *
UniFi Dream Machine Pro Ubiquiti More Best for Households that want a single UniFi console driving local device tracking in Home Assistant Standout Runs the UniFi Network controller itself, so it is the hub Home Assistant's local UniFi integration talks to for whole-home presence detection. Local control good Cloud cloud-tinged (low) Setup advanced Power hardwired	good	yes	Ethernet	no	$408checked Sep 13	Amazon ↗ *
UniFi Switch Flex 2.5G 5 Ubiquiti More Best for UniFi households wanting wired clients tracked locally in Home Assistant Standout A small 5-port 2.5GbE switch that can be PoE- or USB-C-powered (PoE input only, no PoE output) Local control good Cloud cloud-tinged (low) Setup moderate Power hardwired	good	yes	Ethernet	yes	$71.03checked Sep 5	Amazon ↗ *
UniFi Switch Lite 8 PoE Ubiquiti More Best for UniFi households wanting wired clients tracked locally in Home Assistant Standout A compact, fanless 8-port gigabit switch with four PoE+ ports and a 52W budget Local control good Cloud cloud-tinged (low) Setup moderate Power hardwired	good	yes	Ethernet	yes	$123.46checked Sep 9	Amazon ↗ *
UniFi Switch Pro Max 24 PoE Ubiquiti More Best for UniFi households wanting wired clients tracked locally in Home Assistant Standout A 24-port Etherlighting switch mixing gigabit and 2.5GbE PoE ports with 10G SFP+ uplinks Local control good Cloud cloud-tinged (low) Setup moderate Power hardwired	good	yes	Ethernet	yes	$862checked Sep 5	Amazon ↗ *
UniFi U6 In-Wall Ubiquiti More Best for UniFi households that want accurate, local Wi-Fi presence detection in Home Assistant Standout A Wi-Fi 6 in-wall access point that drops into a standard US gang box with extra wired ports Local control good Cloud cloud-tinged (low) Setup moderate Power hardwired	good	yes	Wi-Fi, Ethernet	yes	$189.90checked Sep 5	Amazon ↗ *
UniFi U6 Pro Ubiquiti More Best for UniFi households that want accurate, local Wi-Fi presence detection in Home Assistant Standout A ceiling-mount Wi-Fi 6 access point for high-density coverage Local control good Cloud cloud-tinged (low) Setup moderate Power hardwired	good	yes	Wi-Fi, Ethernet	yes	mid	Amazon ↗ *
UniFi U7 In-Wall Ubiquiti More Best for UniFi households that want accurate, local Wi-Fi presence detection in Home Assistant Standout A Wi-Fi 7 in-wall access point with multi-gig wired ports in a gang-box form factor Local control good Cloud cloud-tinged (low) Setup moderate Power hardwired	good	yes	Wi-Fi, Ethernet	yes	premium	Ubiquiti ↗
UniFi U7 Pro Ubiquiti More Best for UniFi households that want accurate, local Wi-Fi presence detection in Home Assistant Standout A ceiling-mount Wi-Fi 7 access point with 6GHz support Local control good Cloud cloud-tinged (low) Setup moderate Power hardwired	good	yes	Wi-Fi, Ethernet	yes	$199checked Sep 5	Amazon ↗ *
UniFi Switch 16 PoE (150W) Ubiquiti Discontinued More Best for UniFi households wanting wired clients tracked locally in Home Assistant Standout A managed 16-port gigabit PoE+ switch with 150W total PoE budget and two 1G SFP uplinks Local control good Cloud cloud-tinged (low) Setup moderate Power hardwired	good	yes	Ethernet	yes	$299checked Sep 5	Amazon ↗ *
UniFi Switch 24 (Gen1) Ubiquiti Discontinued More Best for UniFi households wanting wired clients tracked locally in Home Assistant Standout A managed 24-port gigabit switch (non-PoE) with two 1G SFP uplinks Local control good Cloud cloud-tinged (low) Setup moderate Power hardwired	good	yes	Ethernet	yes	$299checked Sep 8	Amazon ↗ *
GL.iNet Flint 2 (GL-MT6000) GL.iNet More Best for Local-first homes wanting a cloud-free, scriptable router with IoT VLANs Standout An OpenWrt-based WiFi 6 router with dual 2.5GbE and roughly 900 Mbps WireGuard - fully local management with no vendor cloud required. Local control excellent Cloud local-first (none) Setup moderate Power DC-powered	fair	yes	Wi-Fi, Ethernet	no	$169.99checked Sep 5	Amazon ↗ *