Home Assistant has built-in automations. Node-RED is a visual programming tool that can also control your smart home. I use both, and each has clear strengths.
Home Assistant Automations
Use for: Simple trigger-action automations. Motion detected -> turn on light. Temperature below 68 -> turn on heat. Time is 11 PM -> lock all doors. These are quick to set up in the HA UI, easy to understand, and reliable.
Node-RED
Use for: Complex logic, conditional flows, and anything involving delays or sequences. “If motion in the hallway AND it is after sunset AND nobody is in the living room, turn on hallway lights at 30% for 2 minutes then fade to off.” Try building that in HA’s automation editor – it gets messy fast. In Node-RED, it is a clean visual flow.
My Setup
About 70% of my automations are in Home Assistant (simple stuff). The remaining 30% are in Node-RED (complex logic, API integrations, multi-step sequences). Node-RED also handles my notification system – it decides what is worth pinging me about and what can wait for the daily summary.
One tip: do not duplicate automations across both systems. Pick one home for each automation and document it. I keep a list in my Home Assistant dashboard of which automations live where.