Sonoff
Sonoff Zigbee 3.0 USB Dongle Plus (ZBDongle-E)
- Native integration
- Local control
- Zigbee
Prices verified September 2026
See more hubs & dongles picks on our Amazon storefront →Our verdict
The best-value Zigbee coordinator in the UK at well under £20 — an EFR32MG21 with +20dBm output that just works with ZHA and Zigbee2MQTT. If you're building your first Zigbee network on a budget, start here. It ships pre-flashed with EZSP coordinator firmware, so there's no manual flashing step. At a compact 75×25.5×13.5mm it's barely bigger than a regular USB stick, but Sonoff doesn't bundle a USB extension cable in the box — the external SMA antenna is worth moving off a cheap 1-2m USB-A extension lead you supply yourself, to get it clear of your PC or NAS case and away from other radios for better range.
What can Home Assistant control on the Sonoff Zigbee 3.0 USB Dongle Plus (ZBDongle-E)?
| Control | Type | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| Radio type | Config | Auto-selected on setup since the dongle enumerates as an EZSP coordinator; no manual driver choice needed. |
| Transmit power | Number (up to +20dBm) | Configurable in the coordinator settings; community reports mixed results running it pinned at max on dense mesh networks — some drop it to reduce interference with low-power battery end devices rather than chase raw range. |
| Channel | Number (11-26) | Manual Zigbee channel selection, used to dodge 2.4GHz Wi-Fi overlap — worth setting explicitly rather than relying on auto-scan given how common Wi-Fi congestion complaints are for this dongle. |
| Coordinator firmware | Config | Community-flashable via vendor tooling; the stock EZSP-only coordinator firmware is the supported path, while the alternative multiprotocol firmware is community-available but deprecated. |
Both ZHA and Zigbee2MQTT auto-detect this coordinator on serial connect with no manual driver step, since it enumerates as a standard Silicon Labs EmberZNet/EZSP device. Because this is one of the most heavily used dongles in the community, firmware version drift shows up in the wild: on busy networks with dozens of devices, some coordinator firmware builds have triggered buffer-exhaustion crashes when migrating between driver versions, so it's worth staying on the firmware version your integration's own docs currently recommend rather than always-latest. The chip also supports a multiprotocol firmware for concurrent Zigbee+Thread operation, but that path has since been deprecated as unreliable in practice — flash the standard EZSP-only coordinator firmware unless you specifically need Thread and are prepared for it to be unsupported.
Specs
| chip | Silicon Labs EFR32MG21, +20dBm TX power |
|---|---|
| antenna | External SMA antenna |
| firmware | Pre-flashed EZSP Zigbee coordinator firmware |
| included | USB dongle with attached SMA antenna only — no USB extension cable in the box; Sonoff sells a separate 1.5m extension lead |
| connector | USB-A |
| dimensions | 75 x 25.5 x 13.5mm |
How does the Sonoff Zigbee 3.0 USB Dongle Plus (ZBDongle-E) compare?
| Product | From | Protocol | Local control | Integration |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sonoff Zigbee 3.0 USB Dongle Plus (ZBDongle-E) (this product) | £18.57 | Zigbee | Yes | Native |
| Aeotec Z-Stick 7 | £46.43 | Z-Wave | Yes | Native |
| Apple TV 4K (Wi-Fi + Ethernet, 128GB) | £249 | Thread, Matter, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth | Yes | Native |
| Aqara Hub M3 | £109.99 | Zigbee, Thread, Matter, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth | Yes | Native |
Frequently asked questions
- Does the Sonoff Zigbee 3.0 USB Dongle Plus (ZBDongle-E) work with Home Assistant locally?
- Yes. The Sonoff Zigbee 3.0 USB Dongle Plus (ZBDongle-E) is controlled locally in Home Assistant through a built-in Home Assistant core integration (zha), so it keeps working if your internet connection or the Sonoff cloud goes down. Control and state updates stay on your own network.
- Which protocol does the Sonoff Zigbee 3.0 USB Dongle Plus (ZBDongle-E) use, and do I need a hub?
- The Sonoff Zigbee 3.0 USB Dongle Plus (ZBDongle-E) uses Zigbee. To pair it with Home Assistant you need a Zigbee coordinator (for example a SkyConnect/ZBT-1 or Sonoff dongle) attached to your Home Assistant host. Sonoff's own hub is not required when you integrate through a built-in Home Assistant core integration (zha).
- How much does the Sonoff Zigbee 3.0 USB Dongle Plus (ZBDongle-E) cost in the UK?
- The lowest price we have listed for the Sonoff Zigbee 3.0 USB Dongle Plus (ZBDongle-E) is £18.57 at Amazon UK. Prices were last checked in September 2026 and change often, so confirm on the retailer's page before buying.