✦ Smart home, explained

The (very) complete reference for smart homes

Plain-language explainers of every smart home protocol, 25+ hubs profiled and scored, head-to-head comparisons, 85+ automation recipes in nine categories, 25+ buying guides, more than 100 in-depth articles, a troubleshooting library, and a 138-term glossary.

Hub Advisor →Compare smart home hubs →

Pen-and-ink drawing of a smart home hub on a living-room shelf

Not sure which hub?Ten questions about your home, three hubs that fit. No sign-up.Hub Advisor

10protocols covered

25+hubs profiled

200+device types

85+automations

25+buying guides

100+blog articles

What’s new

Latest smart home news →

November 2026Compare smart home hubsPick any two of 18 hubs and see them side by side. November 2026Hub Advisor, rebuiltTen questions, then three hubs that fit your home. November 2026Smart home brand statisticsWhat 240 brands support, in numbers you can filter and cite. November 2026Smart home expos29 trade shows from November 2026 to October 2027, on a map.

Protocols

See all 10 protocols →

The radio and application layers every smart home device speaks.

Pen-and-ink drawing of a router on a shelf

Application layer

Matter

Lets certified devices work across Alexa, Google Home, Apple Home, and SmartThings with one setup code.

Mesh radio

Zigbee

Mature 2.4 GHz mesh protocol with the largest device catalog of any smart home radio standard.

Thread

IP-based, low-power mesh built for Matter, needs a border router on your network.

Hubs

See all 25+ hubs →

Every major hub and controller, profiled by origin, protocol support, and local-vs-cloud design.

🇳🇱 Netherlands · 2014

Homey

All-in-one hub from Athom supporting Zigbee, Z-Wave, 433 MHz, infrared, Wi-Fi, and Matter in one device, with local Homey Flow automations.

Read more 🇺🇸 United States · 2016

Google Home

Google's ecosystem app and hub hardware line, with strong voice recognition and broad Wi-Fi/Matter device support.

Read more 🇺🇸 United States · 2014

Amazon Alexa

The largest device compatibility list of any ecosystem, built around Echo hardware and the Alexa skills platform.

Devices

Browse all 200+ device types →

Every category worth knowing about, filterable by energy, safety, outdoor, health and more.

Energy

Charging an electric car at home, properly

The largest flexible load most households will ever own. Done well it is cheaper per kilometre than anything else; done badly it trips fuses and costs peak-rate money.

Read the guide

Outdoor · Water

Irrigation controllers

Multi-zone sprinkler control that skips a run after rain instead of watering on a fixed calendar. The weather-skip feature pays for the controller.

See all devices

Security · Comfort

mmWave presence sensors

Radar that detects a motionless person, solving the "lights turn off while I'm still here" problem that ordinary motion sensors cause.

See all devices

Compare smart home hubs

Pick any two of 18 hubs and see radios, offline use, price and setup side by side.

Compare any two Hub Advisor

Pen-and-ink drawing of three smart home hubs side by side on a table

Comparison

Home Assistant vs Hubitat

Two fully local platforms: free and endlessly configurable, against a ready-made box with Zigbee and Z-Wave built in.

See the comparison Comparison

Apple Home vs Google Home

Two ecosystems built around your phone and speakers: privacy and on-device processing, against strong voice and Nest hardware.

See the comparison Comparison

SmartThings vs IKEA Dirigera

Two affordable starting points: wide protocol support, against one of the simplest hub apps around.

See the comparison

Best Buys

See all 25+ buying guides →

One guide per device category, ranking on what you can verify before buying — protocol, local or cloud control, and what a subscription is quietly hiding.