Home Assistant has more integrations than you could shake a stick at. Some of them can be really useful, while others are less helpful. I tried five different media integrations for Home Assistant, and while all of them were useful, only three of them really hit the spot.
Very useful if you already run Plex
The Plex Media Server integration in Home Assistant can be a useful tool if you already have a Plex media server set up. You can connect the integration to your Plex server to expose key information and some helpful tools.
An activity sensor shows a count of users who are currently streaming from the server, and you can click through for details of the users and what they’re watching. You can also enable sensors that show the item count for each library along with the number of shows and seasons. You can use this information in various ways, such as getting an alert when new content is added to a library.
The integration also creates media player entities for each connected client. You can use these to control playback on supported devices, display the currently playing media, and see playback progress.
While all of this is useful, Plex is slowly becoming more like the streaming services it was meant to replace, with key features such as remote streaming and hardware transcoding locked behind subscriptions. If you’re already all in on Plex, however, the Plex Media Server integration can make the experience even better.
- Compatibility
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Windows, Linux, macOS, Android, iOS, and various other devices
- Free Trial Period
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Free account available
A Plex Pass subscription takes your media server to the next level, with remote streaming, hardware transcoding, offline downloads, and more.
Jellyfin
A less polished option for fully local media
While Plex is becoming more and more like one of the bad guys, Jellyfin is exactly aligned with the principles of Home Assistant. It’s free and open source, and you don’t need to pay a subscription to use features such as hardware transcoding. Most importantly, it means you can run everything completely locally.
It also means that you don’t have to worry about issues with authentication. With Plex, you can run into issues if Plex authentication is down or flaky.
New to Jellyfin? Here’s How to Set Up a Custom Theme
Make your media server look a little more interesting.
The problem is that the Jellyfin integration just isn’t as polished as the Plex Media Server integration. It was simple enough to set up, but it’s supposed to expose each Jellyfin client’s state as well as playback controls. I found that the Jellyfin app on my iPhone kept showing as unavailable even when playing media, and when it was available, the media player entity didn’t include any controls at all.
It can still be a useful integration if you want additional tools for your Jellyfin server, but you may find that it doesn’t always work as you might expect.
Sonos
Way better than the official app
I have Sonos speakers and had to live through the shambles that was the Sonos app update of 2024. Sonos had one of the most disastrous software launches in recent memory, in an attempt to update its app to support the Sonos Ace headphones. The update was missing essential features, had serious performance issues, and it took months for the app to get back to where the original version was.
Thankfully, Home Assistant’s Sonos integration has no such problems. Beyond the obvious playback controls, you get deeper controls such as loudness, crossfade, and even speech enhancement for soundbars. It means you can control your speakers without ever having to touch the official Sonos app.
There are some really nice additional features too, such as the ability to duck the audio slightly when you use your Sonos speaker to play a spoken announcement, without having to stop the music and then restart it. If you have Sonos speakers, it’s definitely worth installing the Sonos integration.
8/10
- Battery Life
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30 hours
- Microphones
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8 mics
- Connection Type
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Wireless, 3.5 to USB-C, USB-C to USB-C
- Weight
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0.69lbs (312.97g)
Maximize your immersion with lossless streaming, spatial audio with dynamic head tracking, and world-class Active Noise Cancellation. Hear what’s going around you with Aware mode. Enjoy up to 30 hours of battery life, exceptional comfort, and flawlessly clear calls. Connect to your devices wirelessly via Bluetooth, or use the included USB-C and 3.5 mm cables.
Great until it breaks (which it does a lot)
Honestly, I’ve got so much use out of the Alexa Media Player integration. The trouble is, it’s also given me hours of headaches. This isn’t all the fault of the integration; Echo speakers are proprietary devices that Amazon guards pretty jealously, and it’s impressive that Alexa Media Player can do any of the things it does.
The issue is that you can’t rely on a feature being available from one update to the next. I used to be able to use it to expose the data from my Amazon air quality monitor, and then it just suddenly stopped working. Later updates often bring features back, but you can’t ever be certain whether a feature will stick around or not. I’ve ended up jailbreaking my Echo Show devices to expose them as media players for Music Assistant.
Music Assistant
A perfect way to combine music sources
Which brings us smoothly to the final integration. Technically, Music Assistant is both an add-on and an integration (and even more technically, add-ons are called apps now). The add-on is the engine that does the heavy lifting, and the integration is the bridge that connects Music Assistant to Home Assistant.
Regardless of the structure, Music Assistant is awesome. One of the things that I love the most is that it lets me play music from a variety of sources. I have my Apple Music account connected, but I’ve also connected my local music files, and you can add other sources such as Spotify, Tidal, and more.
It means I can create a playlist that includes music from Apple Music, music from Spotify, and music from my own collection, and the playlist will play as if the music were all coming from the same source.
You can also add a wide range of players, from Sonos and Bluesound speakers to broader ecosystems such as AirPlay and Snapcast speakers. I was even able to connect an old mini hi-fi using DLNA.
If you’re looking to control music playback in your smart home, Music Assistant is definitely worth a look. It’s one integration that I use almost every day.
Your mileage may vary
Only three of the integrations I tried did everything that I wanted, but that’s not to say that the others aren’t worth using. If you don’t use Plex, the Plex Media Server integration isn’t going to be any use to you, while the Jellyfin integration might be. Ultimately, all of these integrations exist thanks to the hard work of other Home Assistant users, and I’m hugely grateful to those people for creating them.
Stephan is the sports journalist for the Maple Grove Report.
