I’m planning to build several WiFi connected devices for home automation: an AC remote control and air quality sensors. These devices would send data and be controlled through a local server. I’m considering two approaches: running custom software on a server PC (hardware to be determined) or integrating with Home Assistant’s protocols and purchasing their hardware. Would using Home Assistant be excessive for this use case?
As others have said, you can run Home Assistant on anything if you want to just test it out. Their own hardware is a great choice though.
But to answer your broader question, yes. Home Assistant is the choice. It works better with literally everything else out there.