Which License
Which deployment type should I choose?
For almost everyone, the answer is the Nomad Appliance, our turnkey system. It is the right choice for around 99% of people, and it is the one we recommend unless you have a clear reason to pick something else. If in doubt, choose the Nomad Appliance.
- Nomad Appliance (recommended). We build and ship you a ready-to-go server. It works out of the box with nothing to set up, we look after the updates and backups for you, and you need no Home Assistant knowledge. It just works and quietly looks after you.
- Enthusiast (planned). You supply your own hardware and flash our image onto it. You get full Home Assistant access and run Home Assistant OS, and you look after your own updates, backups, hardware and remote access. For people who want to run Sensa on their own kit and are happy to maintain it.
- DIY (planned). You already run Home Assistant and add Sensa on top as an application. The most hands-on option, with full control and fully portable. Ideal if you are already a confident Home Assistant user.
Enthusiast and DIY are planned but not released yet. Today every system is a Nomad Appliance.
Who looks after what
The biggest practical difference between the three is who is responsible for keeping things running.
| Responsibility | Nomad Appliance | Enthusiast | DIY |
|---|---|---|---|
| Server hardware | Sensa | You | You |
| Operating system | Sensa | Sensa image | You |
| Updates and backups | Sensa | You | You |
| Home Assistant | Sensa | You | You |
| Remote access | Sensa | You | You |
With the Nomad Appliance, all of this is our job. With DIY, all of it is yours. Enthusiast sits in between. This is why the Nomad Appliance is the right fit for the vast majority: there is nothing for you to maintain.
Appliance
The appliance is aimed at 99% of our customer base. It is a turnkey solution. We supply the hardware core system with the software pre installed. You will need to physically install the system or work with a dealer to install it for you.
Enthusiast (planned)
This option is more suited to customers who are already familiar with managing Home Assistant or may be running their own hardware. We will just supply the software, no hardware. This software is suitable for installation on your hardware or as a virtual machine in a hypervisor, e.g. Proxmox.
Recommended for confident Home Assistant users who want their own hardware and their own automations, and are happy to take on the maintenance that comes with holding the keys.
DIY (planned)
You already run Home Assistant on your own machine, and you install the Sensa Control app on top of it yourself. You keep full control of your stack, and your existing integrations and apps carry on working alongside Sensa.
We support the Sensa app. We do not support your hardware or your Home Assistant install.
Recommended for existing Home Assistant users who do not want to give up the reins.
Switching later
You can upgrade to Appliance later, but there is an uplift cost to cover the Support Plan and hardware.