ZHA or Zigbee2MQTT - that's the question now!

What to use? What's better? What's easier to install? All and more of those questions will be answered in this video.

We will look at Pros and Cons of both ZHA and Zigbee2MQTT.

ZHA device handlers (quirks):

Zigbee2mqtt device database:

Blakadder device database:

00:00 - Intro
00:26 - Why ZHA vs Zigbee2MQTT
00:58 - ZHA Pros & Cons
09:59 - Zigbee2MQTT Pros & Cons
21:48 - Is it one or the other??!
24:25 - Blakadder Device Database
25:27 - Your help is needed

Don't forget to give this video thumb up if you liked it, subscribe if you still haven't and I'll see you next time!

Have fun!
Bearded Tinker
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#zha #zigbee2mqtt #zigbee

[JoseBerruezo]

Nice video, maybe you could take the opportunity to make a video explaining how to go from ZHA to Z2M.

[roymorrison]

I use both, over 200 devices. Skyconnect ZHA, Sonoff 3 Plus Zigbee2MQTT. Through out house and garage, use seporate channels have no issues. I would agree new user, get a Skyconnect and go with ZHA, much simpler setup, once you get more advanced, then branch out to Zigbee2MQTT. Good video thanks for taking the time.

[girian]

Love the video! Having separate Z2M installation and perhaps also broker of course also means more maintenance and chance of partially broken system. Doing backups with ZHA could make recovery from broken installation easier

[TommyBrenner]

Great video for new users of Home Assistant! 👍🏻⭐ Very informative and detailed, but still very concise. 😊 I've been using Z2M for several years now because of its bigger compatibility and I can't see myself going over to ZHA at the moment.

[clairerovic]

So wish this video was around four years ago. Great summary

[afcragg]

You get more versatility with Zigbee2MQQT. The support for devices is much larger. If you want some simple door sensors ZHA is the way to go.

[MrGreedyboyuk]

Invaluable insight & worth watching before installing many Zigbee devices. I started with ZHA then hit the frustrations mentioned & started again with Z2M 😂😢

[Jerpet]

I bought myself two radiator thermostats zigbee version. In ZHA - devices only the firmware version update was visible, no other entities. Okay, after viewing your video on how to install Zigbee2MQTT on docker (Synology!) and knocking myself out with installation of the USB drivers, the result is impeccable! Thank you for your video contributions! Best regards, Peter.

[krehlick]

Thanks. Been using HA over 2 years and had no idea what's the deference between the two.

I remember trying ZHA and switching to mqtt not long after

[MarkoRakar]

Great video, keep them coming :)

p.s. I am ZHA team, started early and decided that ZHA is a way to go, still there

[justindunn]

I have been using z2m for past 2 years after (briefly using zha). ZHA looks to have gotten a lot better, but had poor support for a lot of cheap aliexpress sensors back then so I chose z2m. Have been really happy with it. I switched from a conbee2 to a ethernet zigbee coordinator, which was a pain in re-paring the devices (didn't see a path to move everything over between those 2 coordinators) and everything continues to work great.

[janstergaard]

Thanks a lot for a comprehensive walk through. Recently moved from RP4+ConbeeII+Deconz to the Yellow where I now run the ConbeeII+deconz + ZHA. But am disappointed with ZHA. So now I will try a move to z2m

[Saturn]

Great video! You offered tons of options for me. I like the way you concluded. I think Z2M sounds better overall but even though I'm new to Zigbee.

[brianmorgan]

As usual, I learned something new. thanks!

[andregoncalvespires]

Congratulations on the video.
I currently use both options, precisely to have two zigbee networks in operation. Notably, zigbee2mqtt not only has more compatibility, but also better use of the resources of each device, such as entities, configurations, etc.

However, I notice a better response from devices with ZHA. Even if it's almost imperceptible.

Studying the possibility of migrating the current zigbee to a docker version in my proxmox, and creating a second zigbee2mqtt installation to replace the ZHA.

[Sarvesh]

I just migrated from ZHA to Z2M and indeed, most of my sonoff battery sensors were not detected. But all my mains powered devices appeared with additional configuration. Glad I made the switch, as I was even thinking of using only mains or usb powered devices/sensors.

[DaveMenkehorst]

Changed from years ZHA to Z2M and it's fantastic! Much greater device support and pairing was much easier(Sonoff USB zigbee P stick)

[ercanyilmaz]

Thanks for sharing this video.
I have many switches and plugs from the Bseed brand. These are better supported at Zigbee2mqtt. For this reason I switched from ZHA to Zigbee2mqtt.

[gedgicat]

Until recently I've been using WiFi only, but because of some random reliability issues due to devices dropping off line unexpectedly. I decided to look at ZigBee, ZWave and Matter, & because the Sky Connect does/will support ZigBee and Matter support at the same time it seemed like a good idea & it's also a nice way to give something back to the HA team. This lead me down the ZHA route, although I appreciate I can swap. As you mentioned not all devices are supported within ZHA and even devices on the Blackadder site can be misleading especially when manufacturers release a number of revisions of the same device under the same product code (Yes, AQARA! I'm talking to you) anyways my devices do now work although missing some features, custom quirks are great for ZHA as users can test them in-between HA releases and my community interaction was a positive one, which made it a nice experience.
I just wish the process to create Quirk's was better explained (perhaps an idea for a video 😉) as I would like to get more involved.

[oudoulj]

Thanks a ton for the very informative video!
Been using Deconz with a Conbee II stick for a couple of years and although I have standard Zigbee devices (Aqara, Ikea), I would rather go with Zigbee2MQTT if I had to do it again to benefit from the advanced features such as the OTA updates of the devices.