Home Assistant renamed two things this year, and both cause confusion. In February, add-ons became apps. In November, HACS was built into Home Assistant as the Marketplace. They sound alike, but they are not the same thing and they don’t run on the same installations. Here’s what each one is and what it means for yours.
Apps: what used to be add-ons
Since version 2026.2, what you knew as add-ons are called apps. Nothing changed in how they work: the new name is meant to stop newcomers from mixing them up with integrations, which you also “add”.
The difference, as the Home Assistant team puts it:
- Apps are standalone programs that run alongside Home Assistant: a code editor, a media server, an MQTT broker such as Mosquitto, or a database tool.
- Integrations connect Home Assistant to your devices and services.
Sometimes they work as a pair. The Mosquitto app runs the MQTT broker, and the MQTT integration connects Home Assistant to it.
The key point: apps are managed by Home Assistant OS, the operating system you install on a Raspberry Pi, a mini PC or a virtual machine. If you run Home Assistant Container (Docker), there is no Apps section. Many tutorials still say “add-ons”, so you’ll see both names for a while.
Marketplace: what used to be HACS
HACS (Home Assistant Community Store) was where the community published custom integrations, dashboard cards, themes and templates. You had to install it by hand, and for many people that was the first hurdle.
With version 2026.11, HACS became part of Home Assistant as the Marketplace, under Settings → Marketplace. What matters most:
- It works on every installation type, including Home Assistant Container, with no manual downloading or unpacking.
- It’s free, and you don’t need a GitHub account to install or update.
- When you install an integration you go straight into its setup, with no restart. Updates still need a restart for now.
- Updates show up under Settings → Updates, next to Home Assistant’s own.
- If you already used HACS, everything you installed stays installed and keeps getting updates.
One warning Home Assistant itself shows the first time: everything in the Marketplace is made by the community. It isn’t tested, reviewed or supported by the Home Assistant team, and it runs inside your installation. Install only what you need, from projects with recent activity.
Apps, integrations and the Marketplace at a glance
| What it is | Where it is | Installations | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Apps (formerly add-ons) | Programs that run alongside Home Assistant | Settings → Apps | Home Assistant OS only |
| Integrations | Connections to your devices and services | Settings → Devices & services | All |
| Marketplace (formerly HACS) | Community integrations, cards, themes and templates | Settings → Marketplace | All, since 2026.11 |
What it means for your installation
If you run Home Assistant OS, little changes in practice: you have apps and, now, the Marketplace without installing HACS.
If you run Home Assistant Container, this is good news: the Marketplace is now built in. What you don’t have is apps, so whatever others install as an app, you run as a separate service. The most common cases:
- MQTT broker: Mosquitto in its own container, connected through the MQTT integration.
- Zigbee: Zigbee2MQTT in its own container, with a Zigbee coordinator.
- Editing files: a web file manager, or your usual editor on the configuration folder.
- Backups: Home Assistant’s native backup works the same; download it and keep it wherever you like.
If you’re just getting started, the question isn’t “apps or no apps” but what you really need. For most homes, integrations, an MQTT broker and the Marketplace are enough. Apps help in specific cases, such as running a media server on the same machine.
And on Coiaca Cloud HA
Coiaca Cloud HA is Home Assistant Container hosted by us, so it works as described above. It includes the Marketplace, an MQTT broker with TLS already set up, a web file manager, Zigbee2MQTT at the press of a button (with a network Zigbee coordinator at home) and the native backup. What it doesn’t have is apps, because they need Home Assistant OS. If you rely on a specific one, write to us before you sign up and we’ll tell you if there’s an alternative.
Meet Coiaca Cloud HA: your Home Assistant in the cloud, ready in about 15 minutes, with a 30-day free trial.
Sources
- Home Assistant 2026.2: add-ons are now called apps
- Home Assistant 2026.11: welcome to the Marketplace
Coiaca is not affiliated with the Open Home Foundation or Nabu Casa. Home Assistant is a trademark of its owners.