Imagine a first-time buyer standing in the smart home aisle. They hold a budget speaker that claims it can control the lights with a simple command. In the other hand, there’s a hub that promises to manage the whole house with custom rules, but only after a tricky setup.
If you go for simplicity, your system might end up feeling basic or limited. If you aim for more advanced features, you could spend hours setting up, only to get frustrated and unplug everything.
Most beginners should choose easy setup. Start by picking one ecosystem and buying two or three simple devices that solve everyday problems. Once you see the benefits, you can add more automation. There are five cases where starting with advanced options makes sense, which are listed in pick six below. If those don’t apply to you, stick with the easy route.
Here’s what to buy first, in an order that keeps your options open.
When you ignore the marketing, most first-time buyers want two things: something that quickly makes life easier, and the feeling that their money was well spent.
According to Deloitte’s 2023 Connected Consumer survey, 85 per cent of people who buy smart home products are most concerned with features that satisfy their present needs rather than with creating the most intelligent home. Five per cent of respondents stated that their devices caused them frustration or made situations more complicated. In other words, most individuals purchase smart devices for a particular purpose and it is usually the ones who have tried to do too many things at once that end up being frustrated.
Shall we consider whether the real problem is deciding between easy and advanced configurations? It is generally a matter of deciding where to begin and how much flexibility you want later on. In both cases there are disadvantages. If you choose the easy route altogether, you will have to depend on the cloud, will be bound to a single platform, and will be restricted to basic features such as schedules and voice commands. On the other hand, if you go all the way with advanced setups, you will face a steeper learning curve, need to carry out continuous maintenance, and have more potential problems.
There’s one rule that keeps things simple: go for devices that are Matter-certified, although you should understand what that actually entails. Simple functions such as turning on or off, adjusting brightness, and setting the temperature work with Alexa, Google, and Apple. Special features generally only operate through the manufacturer’s own app. While Matter does make it easier to switch between platforms, it doesn’t make the process effortless. Anyone who claims it does is overstating the case.
Ideal for proving the concept within an afternoon.
The smart plug is the cheapest and most practical of all smart devices since it doesn’t require a hub, has a simple setup procedure, and enables you to control items such as a lamp, a fan, or a coffee maker within just a few minutes. The speaker turns out to be more important than it appears because it decides which ecosystem you’ll end up using, and that decision in turn influences your future purchases.
Alexa offers the broadest range of device compatibility and the most competitive prices, while Google Home is best suited for homes using Android and is most effective at understanding natural voice commands. For those who want built-in hub radios, it’s necessary to consult the specification sheet rather than just looking at the product line. Support for Zigbee, Thread, and Matter can vary between the different generations of the same product family, so the model name by itself won’t tell you.
If you’re wiring an entire floor then skip it and go to pick six.
Ideal for dealing with one daily annoyance and no further.
To carry out the task, you will need one or two smart plugs, a few bulbs for scheduled lighting, and an indoor camera if the purpose is to monitor. All of the equipment can be installed via guided apps within an afternoon.
There are two things you should be aware of. One is that most of these devices depend on the manufacturer’s servers, which means that if there’s a service disruption, routines that were previously working may cease and you’ll be unable to resolve the problem. The other point is that budget cameras can have very different security records; for instance, in both 2023 and 2024 Wyze experienced incidents in which users momentarily saw images from other people’s cameras. Therefore, if you’re installing a camera in a private area, you should invest more in a brand that has a good security record.
If the problem you’re trying to solve involves conditional logic rather than schedules, then don’t proceed.
Most suitable for people who aren’t able to handle wiring.
Things like plugs, light bulbs, cameras, speakers, and battery-operated sensors are easy to take out and can be taken with you, whereas thermostats, in-wall switches, and hardwired doorbells need to be wired or involve permanent alterations and generally require your landlord’s permission.
If you assemble the whole kit using the first group, you’ll never have to carry out a deposit conversation. If you’d like a smart lock, then you should consider retrofits which mount over the inside of the existing deadbolt, leaving both the external hardware and your current key undisturbed.
If you own the property and have any renovation work planned, then don’t bother and do the wiring while the walls are open.
Works best for sensors, scenes with more than one device, and automations that keep running even if the internet goes out.
Ecosystem apps are useful for managing schedules and handling voice commands, but they struggle with more complicated rules such as “if a window is open, pause the heat”. It is precisely features of this type that give a home a truly smart character, and that is the real reason for incorporating a hub.
The hub which is now made by Aeotec and compatible with SmartThings communicates using Zigbee, Z-Wave and Wi-Fi and fills the standard middle role. It enables you to use different brands and allows scenes to be operated which link multiple devices together.
You should purchase a hub only if you really do need some of the more advanced features, not if you don’t.
If all you’re looking for is a schedule or a voice command, then you’re just introducing a potential point of failure.
Ideal for use with cameras and locks in private areas.
Simple devices transmit the video and activity data to the company’s servers, which makes it easy to set them up but also means that a greater amount of your data leaves your home. This compromise is particularly significant when it comes to cameras and locks.
Among the mainstream choices, Apple Home places the greatest emphasis on local processing and encryption, although HomeKit Secure Video requires an iCloud+ plan and a home hub. With a self-hosted setup, the footage and logs are stored completely on your own hardware.
Make sure you check the price of the subscription services. For example, popular doorbells such as Ring require a paid plan in order to store and review video clips. A cheap piece of hardware that has a monthly fee may end up costing you more than you anticipate.
If you’re using an Android device and mainly purchasing plugs and bulbs then you should skip it since the privacy benefit in this case is minor.
This recommendation is most suitable for people who don’t match the standard advice.
The option isn’t suitable for most people who are just starting out, but there are five circumstances in which it does make sense.
You are currently in the process of renovating or constructing the property. Access to the walls will only be temporary. At present, neutral wires, in-wall switches, and wired sensors are cheap but will become expensive later on. This is the most compelling argument.
You’re already running your own server; if you’ve got a NAS, a Pi, or a home server, the skills you’ve acquired apply directly and the learning curve which discourages most beginners isn’t something you’ll face.
It’s necessary to have equipment that doesn’t rely on the internet. For example, heating in a cold climate, a security system, or looking after an elderly relative at home. Equipment that depends on the cloud fails precisely when it’s most important, and the only real solution is local control.
From the very beginning, your situation requires the use of conditional logic; for example, with time-of-use electricity tariffs, solar self-consumption, and multi-zone heating, simple gear is not adequate and so you would have to buy two units.
You are fitting a large number of devices at the same time. Setting up the Wi-Fi for each device becomes rather tedious quickly, and having dozens of Wi-Fi devices on a home network causes congestion. Protocols that use a hub scale more effectively when there are more than about 20 to 30 devices.
Skip this option if others in your home need to use the system without your help. A setup that only one person can manage is worse than a simple one, and that’s more important than any other reason listed above.
It would be best not to purchase a hub until you actually have a need for one; entering the world of Home Assistant before you encounter real limitations is the fastest way of ending up with gadgets that you won’t use.
Don’t stick with closed brand ecosystems. Instead, go for a Matter-certified option if it costs about the same. Devices which are designed to work with just one brand usually don’t hold up well if you decide to switch to another platform.
Switch off any cloud features that you don’t use. Each continuously active service causes more data to leave your home and for another account to have to be secured. Turn off those that are not necessary.
Be careful about feature creep; using five devices to deal with a single problem only results in clutter and frustration. A single device that addresses a real problem is superior to having a number of possibilities.
Before purchasing a large number of devices, ensure that your network is secure by using a strong Wi-Fi password, setting up a separate network for smart devices if you can, and enabling two-factor authentication for each account.
Then purchase one device designed to deal with a particular problem and use it for a week before buying anything else.
Always keep a manual backup for anything important, like a physical key or a wall switch. That way, if someone else’s servers go down, you’re not left without options.
