Home assistant isn’t only for automations! I just use it as the smart hub for my house in general. I control all my lights and other smart home devices through the home assistant dashboard, it’s just like having one centralized app instead of many individual apps for every smart home device.

I use the esphome intergration to make my own diy smart home devices, and so much more.

Really if you have any interest in a “smart home” or using any smart home products on a reoccurring bases I’d say home assistant is worth getting into.