BEGA and ubisys join Home Assistant network

Two German lighting firms are joining Home Assistant, expanding how offline Zigbee can power smart homes. BEGA and ubisys are the latest brands to join the Works with Home Assistant program. https://www.home-assistant.io/blog/2026/05/05/bega-joins-works-with-home-assistant/ https://www.home-assistant.io/blog/2026/04/23/ubisys-joins-works-with-home-assistant/

BEGA, a 75-year-old German maker known for architectural lighting, adds BEGA Smart to the WWHA lineup. The Zigbee-powered system is designed to run offline, with no internet connection required, and is described as flexible and expandable. BEGA says the goal is to marry high quality lighting with intelligent control and to bring that capability into open ecosystems like Home Assistant, so customers can experience new comfort, safety, and energy efficiency benefits without gutting their existing systems. The move is framed as a significant expansion of the program, underscoring BEGA’s intent to bring its precision engineering to smart home lighting.

ubisys, founded in 2005 in Düsseldorf, has built a two-decade-plus portfolio of Zigbee devices designed for retrofit, letting homeowners upgrade without a full rebuild. The company backs its hardware with a five-year warranty and long-term software updates, and it continues shipping feature updates for gear first shipped years earlier, reflecting a commitment to longevity. ubisys emphasizes Zigbee as the backbone of its products, a true mesh network that runs locally and prioritizes long battery life while operating without cloud dependency. This aligns with sustainability-minded practices that Open Home Foundation supporters tout.

Together the additions amount to enough to nearly double the number of Works with Home Assistant certified products in a single push, marking the largest batch the program has seen to date. The scale signals a broader push to bring mature, offline-first Zigbee ecosystems into an open, local-control home automation environment, rather than leaning solely on cloud-centric ecosystems. https://www.home-assistant.io/blog/2026/05/05/bega-joins-works-with-home-assistant/ https://www.home-assistant.io/blog/2026/04/23/ubisys-joins-works-with-home-assistant/

From a practitioner standpoint, the pairing of BEGA and ubisys highlights a few concrete dynamics. First, Zigbee’s mesh and offline operation reduce cloud dependency and can improve reliability across older homes with patchy WiFi, a workflow already familiar to many retrofit-focused projects. Second, the ability to retrofit existing installations without a full rebuild lowers the cost of upgrading and extends the usable life of legacy fixtures, a practical win for cost-conscious homes with pet locks and power concerns. Finally, the long-term warranties and ongoing software updates attached to both brands address a common pain point for smart-home buyers: obsolescence risk. With BEGA prioritizing offline capability and ubisys delivering durable, update-friendly hardware, homeowners gain resilience rather than more updates to chase. https://www.home-assistant.io/blog/2026/05/05/bega-joins-works-with-home-assistant/ https://www.home-assistant.io/blog/2026/04/23/ubisys-joins-works-with-home-assistant/

Verdict: Buy for Home Assistant users who want robust offline Zigbee support and practical retrofit options that reduce waste and future obsolescence. If your setup relies heavily on cloud services or non Zigbee ecosystems, weigh whether this expansion solves your pain points or introduces new compatibility questions. https://www.home-assistant.io/blog/2026/05/05/bega-joins-works-with-home-assistant/ https://www.home-assistant.io/blog/2026/04/23/ubisys-joins-works-with-home-assistant/