Official documentation
The Home Assistant approach to wake words
Home Assistant project, Home Assistant, 2026
Read the originalRead on October 17, 2026
- What it is
- The Home Assistant documentation that explains where wake word detection runs, which engines it uses (openWakeWord and microWakeWord) and how many voice satellites a Raspberry Pi 4 can serve at once.
- How much weight it carries
- The project's own documentation of its architecture. The capacity figure is the project's estimate for its own setup and is not a benchmark of other hardware.
Facts taken from this source
- Home Assistant says five voice satellites can stream audio at the same time without overwhelming a Raspberry Pi 4, because wake word detection runs inside Home Assistant.
“Currently, users can have 5 voice satellites streaming audio at the same time without overwhelming a Raspberry Pi 4.” (Overview of the wake word architecture)