I’ve been installing various forms of home automation in my houses and offices for about 15 years. In that time, we’ve gone from Z-wave or Zigbee to Wi-Fi and gone from first having to build a computer in the home to manage the automations to apps to appliances to web services and now a hodgepodge of all of it. I’ve got automations I’ve written in python, borrowed from lovely GitHub repos, and probably 20 times what is running that I’ve deleted over the years.
The hardest part seems to find compatibility and know the approximate setup time to expect. Setting expectations is important. Especially if installing an HVAC control means the heat will be off for a few hours in the middle of the winter. So I built this little grid of things that either I like, or I’ve built/installed for friends.
A few points:
- I’m happy to have anyone add their stuff, so request write access and I’d love some collaborators.
- I pasted the high end of pricing in here. It’s not a terrible jump to spend an hour shopping to save a couple bucks on any of the devices.
- The setup time is just a guesstimate and I find the second time I do something it takes half the time.
- The compatibility changes as product managers get their acts together.
- There are literally thousands of devices not represented here. I’m quite aware of that so no need to tell me. I tried to put the ones I’ve used or like. I have all four of the platforms mentioned in my home.
- I’m partial to “customer installable” devices and so don’t pay much attention to the vendors that require a certified installer.
- The API column is there more as a reminder for me to where to look if I wanna’ create my own webhook/trigger/lambda type of automations. If you’re not a developer it won’t mean that much to you – although it’s worth mentioning that a good API helps make a device more future-proof.
- I have dozens of z-wave and Zigbee devices sitting around. They’re not prominent in this list because the rapid move to Wi-Fi over the past few years, but yes I have a hub and can still control them through Alexa over that.
- Things like automated blinds are based on the size of a window – therefore the price is a base price and shoots up from there as the windows get larger (pro tip: the solar add-ons are almost always worth it).
- It just occurred to me this might not be a bad gift-buying guide for your nerdy friends.