Best Smart Home Hubs in 2024
If you’re looking for the best smart home hub, we’ve got you covered right here with our top picks available today.
A smart home hub is the main control where all your smart devices are linked. This hub can communicate with all the smart devices connected to your home. And thanks to this website, you can easily control your home’s entire Internet of Things (IoT) with just a single app.
Now there is a range of different smart home hubs available. Some are entirely voice-controlled, while others provide more privacy or higher compatibility.
We have compiled a list of some of the best smart home hubs available on the market today and reviewed them for your assistance. Read on for our conclusive guide!
Products at a Glance
How we picked the Best Smart Home Hubs
With many options available, it comes down to a few factors. The first is compatibility, so your home hub can work flawlessly with as many devices from different brands as possible.
The second key consideration is price, and that may impact which option you go for. When picking, we’ve factored in the price in relation to compatibility and features. Picking the most expensive option rarely means getting the best product for everyone.
Finally, we’ve considered features, which will reflect how flexible a smart home hub can be in most settings as the ley component in a smart home.
Product Reviews
- Highly compatible
- Quite affordable
- Readily available
- Straightforward set up
- Average audio
The undisputed king of smart home hubs is the Amazon Echo, and now its 4th Generation model is available. The device has a spherical design and a rich sound. And, of course, Amazon Alexa comes built-in.
It is available in three different colors, and you can include its battery and a wall mount in your purchase. In addition, this device supports high-definition sound on various streaming services like Amazon Music HD.
The Echo 4th Gen enables you to voice control your music, but you must go for a compatible music-streaming service. These include the likes of Amazon Music, Spotify, Apple Music, SiriusXM, and others.
It enables you to voice control various smart devices in your home. These include your lights, switches, sensors, locks, smart appliances, and others.
This smart home hub lets you conveniently set daily reminders, alarms, and timers. You can even begin your routines with just motion, and your Amazon Echo will turn on lights, play your briefing, and even start preparing your coffee as soon as you enter the kitchen.
This device enables multi-room synchronized music when multiple Echos are placed in all rooms. It allows you to send and receive your messages without using your phone or hands.
- Handy 5.5-inch display
- Streams music and shows
- Doubles as a photo frame
- Conveninent for video calls, reminders
- Slightly sluggish interface.
The Echo show 5 by Amazon is another powerhouse in the world of smart home hubs. And it comes with a 5-inch display. You can order your device with Blink Mini and an adjustable stand.
It lets you set your timers and alarms, quickly check your calendars, and even make video calls using the built-in 2MP camera. It allows you to stream music and shows that you love.
You can have a look using its camera when you are away. You can connect anything with motion sensors to cameras and lights. Its installation and setup are pretty simple, as you can do that by installing the Alexa app on your smartphone or tablet. It allows you to turn your hub display into a photo frame, and you can watch photos from Facebook or Amazon Photos and cherish your memories.
This device comes with multiple layers of security and privacy controls, an inbuilt camera shutter, and a mic turn-on/off button.
- Multiple connectivity options
- Easy to set up and control
- Support 5,000 devices
- No ethernet for better performance
This high-quality smart home hub by Aeotec comes with a ring controller and works well with Samsung Smartthings, Google Assistant, and Amazon Alexa. In addition, you can conveniently connect it with iOS and Android devices.
If you are interested in a smart home hub with voice control, you don’t need to look any further. There are various connectivity protocols you can use. These include Z-Wave, Wifi, Bluetooth, and ZigBee.
Setting this device up is pretty simple as you can conveniently connect a wide range of your smart devices without wires. There are more than 5000 devices available on its list from different brands to connect with this hub.
These devices range from smart switches, smart lights, sensors, cameras, speakers, voice assistance, and much more. The hub allows you to automate all your connected devices.
You would be able to use it with the help of Samsung SmartThings on your Android and iOS devices and use voice assistance via Google Assistant or Amazon Alexa. It will need a wifi connection so you can connect wirelessly or via Ethernet. But connecting the device via Ethernet is a better option.
Zigbee Hub Gateway
- Simple installation
- Budget-friendly
- Supports all ZigBee devices
- Limited compatibility
This smart home hub by Zigbee is compatible with both Google Home and Amazon Alexa. So, this is the right option if you are looking for limited connectivity like water leak detections, motion sensing, or smart door sensor.
But of course, there are other models available if you need more compatibility options. Setting up and installing is pretty straightforward, but you must remember this smart home hub is only compatible with Tuya Zigbee smart devices.
You can always use this powerful hub to serve your purpose if you have a small home or don’t have many devices to connect to. It is compatible with Apple HomeKit, Google Home, and Amazon Alexa.
You won’t have to deal with signal loss; a single device will cover your entire home. So, the network coverage will remain stable even if you have fluctuating wifi signals. In addition, it can wirelessly connect with Zigbee and can support up to 128 connections.
You can control all these devices remotely using your phone. And, of course, you can control them hands-free using your voice assistant.
What does the smart home hub do?
Smart home hubs serve as the core part of a smart home, or house with various Internet of Things (IoT) devices. They connect to all devices and are the central hub from which all of the devices are controlled.
This can be via touch-screen, where some hubs (like the Echo Show) double as a monitoring device of your network and any attached camera. Alternatively, control can be via voice-commands which allow you to switch on or adjust lighting, stream music, open blinds, and much much more.
How much does a smart home hub cost?
There’s no set price, but you can spend under or over $100 should you wish. Amazon’s Echo devices offer options under $100, or you can pay more for a smart home hub which offers support for thousands of devices, and provides more flexibility.
Our Verdict
It’s hard to look past the Echo 4th Gen when considering a smart home hub, for two reasons.
Firstly, it’s easy to use thanks to Amazon’s refining of the device and the Alexa ecosystem – this makes it straightforward to use, and it#s compatible with plenty of devices.
Secondly, it doesn’t cost too much so serves as a good and affordable smart home hub if you’re looking to set up a smart home.