Home Assistant vs MCP Pihole
A side-by-side look at the Home Assistant and MCP Pihole MCP servers: transport, auth, tools, quality signals, and the config to install either one in Claude, Cursor, Windsurf or VS Code.
Verdict: choose Home Assistant for home automation work over a hosted endpoint; choose MCP Pihole for home automation as a local process. You can also run both side by side in one mcpServers block.
Which MCP server should you choose?
Choose Home Assistant when
- You need dedicated capabilities in the Home Automation domain.
- You prefer a remote HTTP/SSE transport.
- Its auth model fits you: OAuth 2.0.
Choose MCP Pihole when
- You need dedicated capabilities in the Home Automation domain.
- You prefer a local stdio subprocess transport.
- You have the keys it needs:
PIHOLE_URL, PIHOLE_PASSWORD. - You want tools like
pihole_get_stats, pihole_get_top_blocked, pihole_get_top_permitted.
Feature & specification comparison
Rows where the two servers differ are marked.
| Spec | ||
|---|---|---|
| Category | Home Automation | Home Automation |
| Quality signal | 73/100 · Great | 55/100 · Good |
| Install command | Confirmed | Confirmed |
| Transport | Remote HTTP/SSE | Local subprocess (stdio) |
| Auth | OAuth 2.0 | Not declared |
| Pricing | Free | Not declared |
| Required env vars | None listed | PIHOLE_URLPIHOLE_PASSWORD |
| Verified owner | Verified | Community listing |
| GitHub stars | — | 8 |
| Directory activity | 2 views 0 installs 1 upvotes | 0 views 0 installs 0 upvotes |
| Tools | Not listed | 16 |
| Full listing | View Home Assistant | View MCP Pihole |
Tools & capabilities
Home Assistant tools
No tool names declared yet. Check the project README from the listing page.
MCP Pihole tools 16
pihole_get_statsGet comprehensive Pi-hole statisticspihole_get_top_blockedGet top blocked domainspihole_get_top_permittedGet top permitted domainspihole_get_top_clientsGet top clients by query countpihole_get_query_logGet recent DNS queriespihole_get_blocking_statusCheck if blocking is enabledpihole_enable_blockingEnable DNS blockingpihole_disable_blockingDisable blocking (optionally with timer)pihole_get_whitelistList all whitelisted domainspihole_get_blacklistList all blacklisted domainspihole_add_to_whitelistAdd domain to whitelistpihole_add_to_blacklistAdd domain to blacklist- +4 more on the listing page
Ready-to-paste client configs
Paste either block (or both) into your client config, e.g. claude_desktop_config.json or ~/.cursor/mcp.json. We only show a config when the install command is confirmed.
Home Assistant
{
"mcpServers": {
"home-assistant": {
"url": "https://homeway.io/mcp"
}
}
}
MCP Pihole
{
"mcpServers": {
"mcp-pihole": {
"command": "npx",
"args": [
"-y",
"mcp-pihole-server"
],
"env": {
"PIHOLE_URL": "YOUR_PIHOLE_URL_HERE",
"PIHOLE_PASSWORD": "YOUR_PIHOLE_PASSWORD_HERE"
}
}
}
}
Frequently asked questions
Home Assistant is categorized under Home Automation and uses a remote HTTP/SSE transport. MCP Pihole belongs to Home Automation and uses a local stdio subprocess. Pick Home Assistant for home automation work and MCP Pihole for home automation.
Copy the mcpServers block from the config section on this page into your client's config (for example claude_desktop_config.json or ~/.cursor/mcp.json), then fully restart the client.
Home Assistant is listed as free. Auth: oauth 2.0. MCP Pihole has no declared pricing — check the project's own site. If a server needs environment variables such as API keys, define them under the env key in your client's MCP config.
Yes. MCP clients support multiple servers: add home-assistant and mcp-pihole as separate keys in the same mcpServers object, and your assistant will call tools from either one.
On AllMCPs, Home Assistant has a quality signal of 73/100 (Great) with 2 views, 0 installs and 0 GitHub stars. MCP Pihole has 55/100 (Good) with 0 views, 0 installs and 8 GitHub stars.