The Best Smart Home Hubs
18 October 2020
As Debbie and I continue to work through our house project planning we’ve both taken different approaches in organizing our work. My approach is to work from foundation up as I’ve used in my career in sports technology. My last blog was about communication protocols — Wifi, Zigbee and Z-Wave — which covered how the different smart device in our home will talk to each other and the pros and cons of each. As I start to look at the different elements that will work together to make our home efficient, secure and comfortable, one of the first considerations are hubs.
Think of a hub as the brain — appropriate when discussing in reference to a smart home. A hub is a centralized unit that ties smart devices together and provides a single source of control. But when it comes to choosing a smart home hub, it can be difficult. Just like settling on a single (or predominant) protocol, it’s all about starting with the end in mind. Understanding what kind of smart home features you want or need will help narrow down your choices. Here are some great options depending on your end game …
What to Look for in a Smart Home Hub
When I first started my Smart Home journey a few years ago it was a little overwhelming with the variety of options. And as the stuff wasn’t exactly cheap I didn’t want to make any obviously bad choices so I made lists — interests, needs and existing smart devices. This last one was crucial in a lot of my decision making to leverage existing investment. If you’re new to Smart Home you may already have devices in your home and not know it — TVs, Blu-Ray players, voice assistants, etc. I realized I did after taking inventory of the devices I wanted to include in my Smart Home plan.
The key benefit of a hub is centralization, that “single pane of glass” for management and automation. Hubs make it possible to integrate a variety of devices so you can automate processes around security and lighting, heating and air conditioning, entertainment and more. But they also offer efficiencies around local processing without the cloud, and in some cases, less congestion for your network. And with the rise of voice assistants like Google Home and Amazon Alexa it’s even gotten easier and more reliable. The flip side of that coin though is that smart home hubs can be more challenging to learn and use than a voice assistant’s app.
Going back to your reasons why to jump into Smart Home in the first place will help you choose which to pick. Beyond your “why” here are a few other factors to consider …
Type of Connection: Some smart home hubs only allow wired connections, some only allow Wifi connections, and some offer both. You’ll want to pay attention to which the hub you’re looking at supports. Wired connections are faster, but you’ll need space and an open spot on your router to connect your hub.
Protocol: Most smart home gadgets support a small number of protocols: typically Wifi, Zigbee, Z-Wave and Bluetooth. As you decide on what you want your Smart Home to be keep in mind that not all hubs are created equal — and this could limit you in the future — or become expensive time consuming replacing equipment. Some hubs only support certain universal protocols while others take a proprietary approach, which means you’re limited to devices that specifically support that hub. I try to steer away from the latter to avoid dead ends down the road.
Local vs Cloud Processing: Some hubs have basic I/O with no real intelligence, meaning the hub offloads all the processing to the cloud. This can be slower or undependable (like when your internet goes down, thanks SuddenLink). Some hubs process everything locally, but they typically have a higher learning curve.
App or Dashboard Support: Most hubs provide an app or dashboard you can use on your mobile device or via a web browser. But few offer both. I prefer the app approach mostly for convenience.
I commented previously on my concerns over standards around Smart Home, especially with security. Amazon, Google, and ZigBee recently announced a new working group called Project CHIP (Connected Home over IP), with the goal of eliminating the complexity of some of the Smart Home choices. The goal is to create a unifying standard that manufacturers can rely on to make smart devices work nearly anywhere and with any hub (that support the standard). Keep this in mind as well in choosing your technology. Although the companies state that existing smart devices will continue to work, as Zigbee is part of Project CHIP and if you are on the fence about a protocol, this may help you make a safe call.
As you can probably tell, there’s something for nearly every hub preference out there. Your hub choice will determine your smart device options heavily, so pick the one that suits your needs and supports the devices you want the most.
Going back to the lists I made in the beginning, I realized I had a lot of Samsung devices in my home — mostly TVs and Blu-Ray players. But I also knew Samsung made a lot of other stuff like appliances. As it seemed like a natural progression for Samsung to invest in and support their Smart Home efforts long term their SmartThings platform made sense as a starting point for Debbie and I. It turned out to be a good entry point for us or anyone new to smart homes. The Android and iOS app interface is fairly intuitive, easy to learn and it supports relatively complex routines for automation. It connects via Wifi or ethernet, which I like, as I mentioned before I prefer to wire everything I can. It’s also a cloud-based smart hub with some support for local controls with Z-Wave, ZigBee. Third-party solutions like Philips Hue, Schlage, Alexa and Google Assistant are also supported. The jury is till out whether we’ll continue to go down the road with our new house but I like the flexibility and familiarity of the platform.
If you’re already working with Smart Home tech or willing to put up with a little steeper learning curve, the Hubitat smart hub is a great choice. While not as approachable as SmartThings, Hubitat’s automation is much more advanced and capable. You can set up some pretty elaborate if/then scenarios. If you goal is to be independent of the cloud, the Hubitat is a good choice, as it’s locally controlled. It supports Alexa, Google Home, ZigBee, Z-Wave and Lutron devices but is limited to ethernet connections. Dashboards can be created for Hubitat iOS and Android apps as well as a web browser.
The Abode iota could be considered the Swiss Army Knife of hubs — it’s a smart hub, a security hub and a camera all in one package. And there’s less to connect and set up. It supports a variety of security products including door and motion sensors and is compatible with ZigBee, Z-Wave, Alexa, Google Home and Apple Homekit. The initial set up is via ethernet but then it can moved anywhere later where it can be connected over Wifi.
If you’re a DIYer then HomeSeer is for you. But you’ll have to set up your own Raspberry Pi and go through all of the licensing and software installation. But could also be a cheaper option for existing Raspberry Pi users. HomeSeer is entirely local compute (no cloud) for faster response times and supports Z-wave and ethernet connections. It also features a rules engine that’s fairly easy to learn and offers an iOS and Android HomeSeer app and custom dashboard support.
Most of the smart hubs I’ve covered here support Z-Wave, ZigBee or both. But Insteon runs off its own proprietary protocol. The downside may be that it limits integrations with other devices but for Smart Home beginners it could be considered a distinct advantage. Instead of having to evaluate a multitude of Z-Wave and ZigBee smart devices, you simply choose the Insteon devices. As the devices are designed specifically for the Insteon hub, set up and management is simple. But the Insteon selection is limited to switches, fan controls and a thermostat, but no light bulbs. Insteon does support third-party integrations like Alexa, Google Assistant and Yonomi, though, which can help expand compatibility. It uses a proprietary wireless and wired connection to increase uptime and generally lead to faster response times than Z-Wave products.
Control4 is the only professionally installed option I’ll cover here. Not a budget favorite but you work with a dealer to figure out the best devices for your Smart Home. They install it, set up the connected devices and design the dashboard. But Control4 also goes beyond Smart Home as it can control entertainment systems, intercoms and more. Control4’s hub works with ZigBee, Wifi and you can add an optional Z-Wave module.
As you can see the options are many and all over from a technology solution perspective. To be honest I haven’t made a decision on our direction yet. But, circling back to the beginning of this article, I’ll be methodical and go back to my “lists.” Our final direction will certainly be a combination of what we do and don’t want in regards to the technology roadmap for our Smart Home. Stay tuned as we continue to move through the process — our initial floor plan should be released by the architect soon so things will start gaining momentum.
