A smart home is tempting because individual devices seem cheap. A smart bulb is £10. A smart speaker is £50. Wire them together and you have a connected home.
The trap is that each device connects to a different platform. The bulb uses Philips’ Hue ecosystem. The speaker uses Amazon Alexa. The thermostat uses Nest. Over time you have five platforms, none of which talk to each other, and a home automation system that does not actually automate anything.
The path forward is standards over brands.
The standards
Matter. The new standard backed by Google, Amazon, Apple, and most device manufacturers. It allows devices from different brands to work together on the same network without a cloud middleman. It is open source and is becoming the default for new devices.
Matter solves the lock-in problem, but adoption is still early. Not everything supports it yet.
Zigbee and Z-Wave. Older standards, still widely used. Zigbee is open source. Z-Wave is proprietary but licensed. Both create a mesh network where devices relay messages through each other. Hubs from Hubitat or Home Assistant bridge these to the wider network.
Thread. A new protocol built on top of Zigbee standards, supported by Matter. Focuses on reliability and latency for smart home applications.
WiFi. Many devices just use WiFi. The downside is WiFi is power-hungry and slow on battery-powered devices. The upside is every home has WiFi.
Proprietary systems. Philips Hue, Nanoleaf, Govee, and others use proprietary protocols. They work great within their ecosystem. They do not play well with other brands. Avoid them unless you are willing to stay within that brand forever.
The hub
A good smart home has a hub that talks to all the different protocols and lets you automate across brands.
Home Assistant. Free, open source, runs on a Raspberry Pi or a small server. Supports Zigbee, Z-Wave, WiFi, Bluetooth, and many proprietary systems. Very powerful but requires technical comfort.
Hubitat. Cheaper and simpler than Home Assistant. Supports Zigbee, Z-Wave, and a few others. Less customization but more reliable for non-technical users. Around £100 upfront.
SmartThings. Samsung’s hub. Works with many devices. Cloud-dependent and less customizable than Home Assistant.
Apple Home. For HomeKit devices. Limited to Apple ecosystems, not a real hub in the broader sense.
If you are not comfortable with Home Assistant, Hubitat is your best bet. It is local, reliable, and extensible.
The device selection
Start with standards that have hub support. Zigbee and Z-Wave devices that work with your hub. WiFi devices if the hub supports them.
Avoid proprietary systems. If the manufacturer’s app is the only way to control the device, it is proprietary. Avoid.
Check Matter support. Increasingly devices support Matter. When it works, it is the simplest option. Adopt Matter devices as they become available.
Prioritize devices that work without internet. A device that requires connection to the manufacturer’s cloud servers is useful only while that company exists and maintains the service. A local-first device (controlled via your hub) works forever.
The practical setup
A minimal setup is:
1. A central hub (Home Assistant or Hubitat) 2. Zigbee or Z-Wave devices controlled by the hub 3. Automations within the hub (if motion is detected, turn on lights) 4. Voice control via a local hub or through a cloud voice assistant
The advantage is that if one brand discontinues a product, you replace it with any other Zigbee device and the automation still works. If cloud services go down, your home still works.
Common mistakes
Buying a device for brand loyalty. All my lights are Philips so I’ll buy Philips everything. You lose flexibility and pay a premium.
Over-automating. Automation is fun to set up but often gets in the way. A light that comes on when motion is detected is great. A light that comes on at 3am because a sensor flaked out is not. Start simple.
Buying devices that require monthly subscriptions. Some devices charge a fee to use features that should be free. Avoid these.
Trusting that a manufacturer will support a device. If they have not updated it in a year, they are probably not going to. Check the release date of the firmware before buying.
Putting everything on a cloud service. If all your automations run in the manufacturer’s cloud, they go down when the service goes down. Keep critical automations local.
The future
Matter is becoming the default. Within two years, most new devices will support it. Smart home will become much simpler because you will not have to think about compatibility.
For now, the safest path is choosing an open standard (Zigbee, Z-Wave, Matter, or Thread) and avoiding proprietary systems. A device that works locally on open protocols will still be useful in five years.
A device locked into a proprietary cloud system might not be.