Platforms
Explore 6 terms in the platforms category of our smart home glossary.
Amazon Alexa
Amazon Alexa is Amazon's voice assistant and smart home platform with the largest device ecosystem and market share. Compatible with practically everything, it's the path of least resistance - affordable Echo hardware, thousands of skills, and the voice assistant your less-techy relatives probably already have.
Learn more →Apple HomeKit
Apple HomeKit is Apple's smart home platform with end-to-end encryption and privacy-first design. It integrates with iPhone, iPad, Mac, and Apple Watch, using Siri for voice control. You'll need Apple hardware (HomePod or Apple TV as hub), but everything "just works" with that signature Apple polish.
Learn more →Google Home
Google Home is Google's smart home platform built around the Google Assistant, offering deep integration with Google services like Calendar, Gmail, and YouTube. The voice assistant is genuinely the smartest of the big three - it understands context and handles follow-ups. The trade-off? Your data fuels the machine.
Learn more →Home Assistant
Home Assistant is an open-source home automation platform that runs locally on your own hardware, giving you complete control over your smart home without relying on cloud services. With 2 million active installations and 21,000+ contributors, it's become the de facto standard for local-first automation.
Learn more →Homey
Homey is an all-in-one smart home hub with built-in radios for Zigbee, Z-Wave, Thread, Matter, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, infrared, and 433 MHz RF. It offers Home Assistant-level power without the learning curve - the "no dongles required" approach to home automation with a polished, user-friendly interface.
Learn more →openHAB
openHAB is an open-source, Java-based home automation platform designed for long-term stability and hardware abstraction. Managed by a non-profit foundation, it separates your physical devices from your automation logic - meaning you can swap hardware without rewriting rules. The "configure it once, run it forever" choice.
Learn more →Want more smart home knowledge?
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