FWIW, I’m at ~50 devices (in a two bedroom apartment, so quite dense), and I spend maybe 5 minutes a month on average maintaining my HA instance and automations

FWIW, I’m at ~50 devices (in a two bedroom apartment, so quite dense), and I spend maybe 5 minutes a month on average maintaining my HA instance and automations. It takes some fiddling to make the automations bulletproof, but once you’re there, it’s entirely hands off.