The Sonoff NSPanel Pro Gen2 is Sonoff’s new 86-type in-wall smart control panel, and the pitch is simple: replace your old light switch with a touchscreen that also works as a Zigbee hub, a Matter bridge, and a wall-mounted Home Assistant dashboard. In this Sonoff NSPanel Pro Gen2 review I break it down completely — specs, real wiring, installation, Home Assistant setup, how it compares to the original NSPanel Pro, and price — so you know whether it’s worth buying before you spend a cent.
And because I’m an electrical engineer rather than a generic smart-home blog, I’m giving you the angle nobody else is: what it actually means to put this thing into your electrical installation (line, neutral, load limits and safety), not just which bulbs it can switch.
What is the Sonoff NSPanel Pro Gen2?
The NSPanel Pro Gen2 is an in-wall smart control panel that fits a standard 86-type back box (86 × 86 mm), the size used across Europe and much of the world. On paper it’s a wall switch, but inside it’s essentially a small Android computer with a touchscreen that centralizes control of your entire connected home.
It packs four devices into one unit that you’d otherwise buy separately:
- A physical switch with a dual-channel relay, to control two wired circuits (two lighting points, for example).
- A Zigbee 3.0 hub to add sensors, switches and lights without a separate gateway.
- A Matter bridge to expose your devices to Apple Home, Google Home, Alexa and Home Assistant.
- A Home Assistant dashboard running the official app locally thanks to F-Droid.
It’s the direct successor to the original NSPanel Pro, and the leap is in the hardware and connectivity, not the concept. If you already own Sonoff gear, think of it as the screen-equipped sibling of the iHost and the rest of Sonoff’s smart home hubs.
Specs and technical sheet
Here’s the full NSPanel Pro Gen2 spec sheet — this is where the generational jump shows:
| Specification | Sonoff NSPanel Pro Gen2 |
|---|---|
| Model | NSPanel86PB-Relay / NSPanel86PW-Relay |
| Processor | ARM Cortex-A35 quad-core (Rockchip RK3326-S) |
| GPU | Mali G31-2EE |
| RAM / Storage | 2 GB / 32 GB |
| Display | 3.95″ capacitive touchscreen, 480 × 480 px |
| Connectivity | Dual-band Wi-Fi 2.4/5 GHz (802.11 b/g/n/ac/ax), Zigbee 3.0, Bluetooth LE |
| Zigbee chip | Silicon Labs EFR32MG24 |
| Compatibility | Matter Bridge, Home Assistant, eWeLink, Apple Home, Google Home, Alexa |
| Relay | 2 channels |
| Power / load | 100–240 V 50/60 Hz · max 5 A per circuit · 10 A total (resistive load) |
| Audio | 8 Ω 1.5 W speaker + dual silicon microphone |
| Sensors | Ambient light (auto brightness) and proximity |
| Dimensions | 86 × 86 × 39.5 mm · 190 g |
| Colors | White / Slate Gray |
| Operating temp | -10 ℃ to 40 ℃ |
The two numbers that really change day-to-day use are the 2 GB of RAM with 32 GB of storage — enough to run Home Assistant and several apps without stutter — and the dual-band Wi-Fi, which gives it the connection stability the previous model lacked.
Installation and wiring: what nobody tells you
This is where this review parts ways with the rest. The NSPanel Pro Gen2 is powered at mains voltage by connecting line and neutral to its terminals, just like any wall mechanism, and its two relays switch whatever circuits you wire to them. It mounts in a standard 86-type box and reuses your existing wiring, so in most cases there’s no chasing walls or pulling new cable. If you’d rather not recess it, there’s an optional desktop stand.
Now, the limits you must respect, because the device’s lifespan and your safety depend on it:
- Max 5 A per circuit and 10 A total on resistive load. In plain terms: it’s perfect for lighting points (LED, halogen) and small loads. It is not meant to directly drive a water heater, a hob or powerful motors without a contactor in between.
- With inductive loads or inrush currents (motors, some low-quality LED drivers), the real current can spike well above the nominal rating. When in doubt, the golden rule is to use the relay to command a contactor and let the contactor carry the load.
- Watch out for phantom standby loads, and don’t gang two channels onto the same circuit assuming you’re adding up amperage — each channel has its own limit.
Respect those three things and the install is one of the cleanest on the market: one mechanism, two screws, done.
Getting started with eWeLink
The onboarding is classic Sonoff. Download the eWeLink app, power up the panel, tap “Start”, pick your Wi-Fi network (2.4 or 5 GHz — you now get the choice), enter the password and follow the on-screen prompts. In the app, tap “+” and scan to pair it. A couple of minutes later it’s live and controllable from both the screen and your phone.
From there you can build scenes, enable the smart thermostat to manage heating room by room or whole-home, set up security modes (armed/disarmed with sensor alerts) and even use Sonoff and RTSP-compatible cameras as a video-doorbell feed.
Sonoff NSPanel Pro Gen2 with Home Assistant (via F-Droid)
This is the headline feature for power users and the most-searched one. The NSPanel Pro Gen2 runs Android and ships with F-Droid, the open-source app store. That means you can install the official Home Assistant app straight onto the panel, locally and with no root required, and use it as a dedicated wall dashboard for your whole setup.
You have three routes to live happily with Home Assistant:
- HA app via F-Droid: install the app on the panel and control your Home Assistant devices from the screen itself. You can even set HA as the default home app so it launches on boot, with Sonoff’s native interface still running in the background.
- “Web Pages” function: point it at your Home Assistant server IP and open the HA dashboard from the device like a browser.
- eWeLink + Matter sync: enter your HA details in eWeLink and the NSPanel Pro Gen2 — together with its Zigbee sub-devices — syncs into Home Assistant, so you control panel and sensors from HA.
For anyone living in the Home Assistant ecosystem, this is by far the most flexible wall panel out there, because it doesn’t force you to choose between Sonoff’s convenience and HA’s power — you get both.
Matter and Zigbee: hub, bridge and router in one
The NSPanel Pro Gen2 integrates a Zigbee 3.0 hub and a Matter bridge, and it’s worth understanding exactly what each does so you’re not caught off guard.
As a Zigbee hub, it adds sensors, switches and lights from any brand (not just Sonoff) and shows them right on the screen. It’s compatible with Sonoff’s entire Zigbee lineup — from the MINI-ZBD to the SNZB sensor range — as well as third-party Zigbee 3.0 devices. It also supports Zigbee router mode, acting as a repeater to extend another gateway’s coverage (note that in router mode it can no longer add sub-devices or run local scenes).
As a Matter bridge, it exposes your eWeLink Wi-Fi and Zigbee devices to other Matter platforms (Apple Home, Google Home, Alexa, Home Assistant). One important nuance worth stating clearly: it acts as a bridge, not as the main Matter controller. It doesn’t manage the Matter fabric or add Matter devices natively the way a dedicated controller would; its job is to widen compatibility by integrating what you already have. For a complete Matter setup you’ll still need a compatible controller, with the NSPanel Pro Gen2 acting as the middleman that unifies brands.
NSPanel Pro Gen2 vs NSPanel Pro (Gen1): is the upgrade worth it?
If you already own the original NSPanel Pro or you’re torn between the two, this is the comparison you’re after. The differences aren’t cosmetic — the display and audio are similar — they’re under the hood:
| NSPanel Pro (Gen1) | NSPanel Pro Gen2 | |
|---|---|---|
| Relay | None | 2 channels |
| Processor | Rockchip PX30 | Rockchip RK3326-S |
| Storage | 8 GB | 32 GB |
| Wi-Fi | Single-band 2.4 GHz | Dual-band 2.4/5 GHz |
| Zigbee chip | Silicon Labs MG21 | Silicon Labs MG24 |
| Speaker | Weaker | 1.5 W |
The honest summary: if you already run the Gen1 happily and don’t need Matter or the second relay, don’t rush to swap it. But if you’re buying from scratch, or you want to switch two circuits, more storage for HA and Wi-Fi that doesn’t drop, the Gen2 is the right buy and the price difference is justified by the hardware.
Price, opinions and what I don’t like
The NSPanel Pro Gen2 price on Sonoff’s official EU store is €154.17 (tax included), in White and Slate Gray (regional pricing applies elsewhere). It sits at the higher end of wall panels — but it does the job of three or four devices: a dual switch, a Zigbee hub, a Matter bridge and an HA screen. In context, it earns its keep.
Early-user opinions are broadly positive — quality build, easy to use, the touchscreen delivers — with two recurring requests: some would like a physical button alongside the touch panel, and a few want more firmware maturity.
And here’s the honest part, the one a press-release rewrite won’t give you: on factory firmware v4.4.3 some units can show delays updating the time and weather. It doesn’t affect control (lights, scenes and Zigbee keep working fine) and it’s fixed with an OTA update or a reboot, but it’s worth knowing so you update it right after install. To be fair to Sonoff, they acknowledge it openly and keep patching it via updates.
Is the Sonoff NSPanel Pro Gen2 worth it?
Yes — if you fit its profile. The NSPanel Pro Gen2 is worth it for anyone who wants to centralize home control on the wall without depending on their phone, for anyone building or expanding a Home Assistant setup who wants a fixed dashboard, and for the integrator or installer who needs a Zigbee hub, Matter bridge and physical control solved by a single clean device in the mechanism box.
It’s not your panel if you only want to switch a lamp from the sofa (a cheap Wi-Fi switch is plenty), or if you expected it to drive large loads directly without a contactor.
For its niche — a multi-protocol wall panel with a screen — it’s currently one of the most complete things you can buy, and the Home Assistant angle puts it ahead of almost everything else.
Where to buy it (with a discount)
As I always recommend, buy Sonoff devices from the official store: best value and full manufacturer warranty. And for making it this far, you get an extra 10% off the NSPanel Pro Gen2 with my code AXLM10 at checkout.
👉 Buy the Sonoff NSPanel Pro Gen2 on the official store
Sonoff NSPanel Pro Gen2 FAQ
Does the NSPanel Pro Gen2 work with Home Assistant? Yes. You can install the official Home Assistant app on the panel itself through F-Droid (no root), access your HA server by IP using the “Web Pages” function, or sync it via eWeLink and Matter to control the panel and its sub-devices from Home Assistant.
Does it require a neutral wire? Yes. It’s powered by connecting line and neutral at mains voltage to its terminals, like a standard mechanism. You need a neutral in the box.
What’s the difference between the NSPanel Pro and the Gen2? The Gen2 adds a dual-channel relay (instead of one), a Rockchip RK3326-S processor, 32 GB of storage (up from 8 GB), dual-band Wi-Fi, an MG24 Zigbee chip and a built-in Matter bridge. It’s a hardware and connectivity upgrade, not just a facelift.
Is it Matter compatible? Yes, it has a built-in Matter bridge, but it acts as a bridge (exposing your devices to other Matter platforms), not as the main Matter controller. For a full Matter network you’ll still need a compatible controller.
How much load can the relay handle? Max 5 A per circuit and 10 A total on resistive load. It’s ideal for lighting. For large or inductive loads (water heaters, motors) use the relay to command a contactor.
Can it be used locally without internet? Zigbee control and local scenes run locally. The Home Assistant integration allows very cloud-independent operation, although some eWeLink features do rely on a connection.
How much does the NSPanel Pro Gen2 cost? On Sonoff’s official EU store it’s €154.17 (tax included), in White and Slate Gray; pricing varies by region.
Got the NSPanel Pro Gen2 or stuck on the wiring? Drop your case in the comments and we’ll work through it.
