"Works with Home Assistant" means different things depending on the brand, and the difference matters before you buy anything.
Official, cloud-based integration
Ring, Nest, and the major smart lock brands (Schlage, August, Yale) all have official Home Assistant integrations. They work reliably, but they go through the manufacturer's cloud — Nest's "Works with Nest" access currently carries a small monthly fee on Google's side, separate from anything Home Assistant charges (which is nothing).
Matter — local and brand-independent
Newer locks like the Kwikset Halo Select and Level Lock support Matter, the newer smart-home standard that connects locally without relying on a manufacturer's cloud at all. Worth checking for specifically when you're buying: the plain Kwikset Halo (without "Select") does not support Matter — the model name matters.
Community add-ons
Eufy and Arlo cameras connect through community-built add-ons rather than an official integration. These work well for most people, but they're maintained by volunteers, not the manufacturer, so stability can vary between updates.
Limited support
Some budget cameras, like the Wyze Cam v3, have had their local-access firmware pulled by the manufacturer at various points, which breaks the integrations that depended on it. If a device's Home Assistant support depends on a firmware feature the manufacturer could remove, that's worth knowing before you buy ten of them.
The full compatibility breakdown
The Blueprint's comparison tables mark exactly which tier each product falls into, so you're not guessing at checkout.
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