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SONOFF Zigbee 3.0 USB Dongle Plus-E — Coordinator for Home Assistant
Home Automation & Smart Home

SONOFF Zigbee 3.0 USB Dongle Plus-E — Coordinator for Home Assistant

4.6(3,696 reviews)

$24.90reference price

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Best for

Anyone already using (or looking to migrate to) Home Assistant who'd rather not depend on the cloud or a single brand's app (like Tuya) to control their Zigbee devices.

  • Zigbee 3.0
  • Home Assistant
  • USB

What is it and what's it for?

It's the "antenna" that gives your Home Assistant server the ability to talk directly to Zigbee devices (bulbs, plugs, sensors) without going through each manufacturer's cloud.

Real-world use cases

At home

Instead of having the Tuya app, another bulb brand's app, and yet another for plugs all separate, you connect all those Zigbee devices to a single local Home Assistant panel, which keeps working even if your internet connection drops.

In a business or workshop

A store already running Home Assistant or openHAB for lighting and plug control avoids being tied to a single manufacturer's cloud or account, which matters if the installed equipment changes brand over time.

How to avoid buying the wrong one

  • It doesn't work alone: you need Home Assistant, openHAB, or Zigbee2MQTT running on a PC, mini-PC, or Raspberry Pi — not a product for someone just starting out in home automation without that software.
  • It's a Zigbee coordinator, not Matter or WiFi — the devices you connect to it need to be Zigbee, so confirm the protocol before buying sensors or bulbs to use with this dongle.
  • A newer version (Dongle Plus, without the 'E') with a different chip exists — this model remains fully supported, but if you're building a system from scratch it may be worth comparing price against the newer version.

The investment takeaway

Compared to staying tied to the Tuya app (simpler to start with, but you depend on its cloud and its rules), this dongle is the gateway to the open ecosystem: the time investment to set it up is bigger, but afterward you don't depend on a brand keeping its app or servers running.

SONOFF Zigbee 3.0 USB Dongle Plus-E — Coordinator for Home Assistant

$24.90reference price

See current price on Amazon

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