Every few months someone asks me which Zigbee stick to buy, and every few months I give a slightly different answer. This time I sat down and read the manufacturers’ own pages instead of answering from memory, because one sentence on Home Assistant’s ZBT-2 page changed how I think about the whole question.
That sentence: the ZBT-2 runs Zigbee or Thread, not both at once. Multiprotocol is technically possible on the chip, but according to Home Assistant’s own ZBT-2 page Nabu Casa found it performed poorly and does not plan to implement it. Their recommendation is a separate device per protocol.
Why that sentence matters
For a couple of years the pitch for one radio doing everything was tempting: one dongle, one USB port, Zigbee and Thread together. I never ran it in anger, and honestly that is the point. If the people who build the platform tried it and walked away, I do not need to be the test subject on a network my family relies on for the lights.
The practical rule I take from it: one radio, one job. If you want Zigbee, buy a Zigbee coordinator. If Thread is on your horizon, plan a second, separate radio rather than hoping a firmware flag will save you. The same roundup notes that the Sonoff Dongle Plus MG24 offers MultiPAN as experimental and not supported by Home Assistant, which fits the picture.
The three honest options
Going by the specs in SmartHomeScene’s coordinator roundup (updated early 2026), the market splits into three shapes.
The USB stick. The ZBT-2 is listed at $49 / €45, uses a Silicon Labs MG24 radio with an ESP32-S3 handling the USB-serial link at 460800 baud (four times the ZBT-1’s 115200), and ships with a 1.5 m cable. The Sonoff ZBDongle-E, on the older MG21 chip, is described as the budget pick that is still reliable with both ZHA and Zigbee2MQTT. For a single small house, a stick is perfectly sensible.
The network coordinator. The SMLight SLZB-06MG24 and Sonoff Dongle Max connect over USB, LAN, PoE or Wi-Fi, and the roundup calls the SLZB-06MG24 its top PoE pick, good for up to 350 Zigbee end devices. The appeal is placement: the coordinator goes where the radio is happiest, with a network cable as the only tether, rather than wherever your server happens to sit.
The dual-radio box. The SMLight SLZB-MR5U carries two MG24 radios so Zigbee and Thread run side by side, with capacity listed at 750 devices (350 Zigbee, 400 Thread). This is the sensible way to get both protocols in one enclosure: two radios, not one pretending to be two.
What I would do in my own rack
My Home Assistant machine is a used HP EliteDesk mini PC tucked away in a cabinet, which is exactly the situation where a radio does not want to live. Metal, a pile of cables and nearby USB 3 devices are not a friendly neighbourhood for 2.4 GHz. Even Home Assistant’s page says range depends on building materials and placement, and the ZBT-2 sits at 10 dBm transmit power in Europe, so a good location matters more than a bigger number on a spec sheet.
So for a fresh build I would lean toward a PoE coordinator if the cabling allows it, and a stick on a proper extension cable if it does not. I would not pay extra for a Thread radio until I owned Thread devices I actually wanted. Buying hardware for a protocol you might adopt is how drawers fill up.
Where I would not overthink it
If your network already works, leave it alone. Migration wizards exist and the ZBT-2 offers one, but a working mesh is worth more than a faster serial link. The upgrade I would consider is a failing or flaky older stick, or a house that has outgrown a single well-placed router device.
One more caution: Nabu Casa notes the ZBT-2 is not a standalone Thread border router, and its experimental repeater firmware means reflashing to get a coordinator back. Read the fine print before you flash anything you only own one of.
The short version
Pick the protocol first, then the shape. Zigbee only: a PoE coordinator or a stick on an extension cable. Zigbee plus Thread: two radios, whether in one box or two. And treat anything marked experimental as a hobby project, not the foundation of your home. I will keep documenting what I actually buy and run here, affiliate-free until I have something I would genuinely recommend.
Sources: Home Assistant’s own ZBT-2 page; SmartHomeScene’s coordinator roundup.
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