Homey
Last updated: January 3, 2026
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.
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Homey's pitch is seductive: what if you could have a genuinely powerful smart home without spending weekends on YAML files? The hardware backs this up - the Homey Pro (now LG-owned via Athom) packs every major protocol into a single orb. Zigbee sensors, Z-Wave locks, infrared remotes, even those cheap 433 MHz outlets from a decade ago - they all just connect. The 2026 model doubled the RAM to 4GB, supports 50,000+ devices from 1,000+ brands, and includes a Thread Border Router for Matter devices.
The automation system uses visual "Flows" - drag-and-drop cards for triggers, conditions, and actions. It's genuinely intuitive: non-technical household members can actually understand and modify automations. Need more power? Advanced Flows add logic, variables, and complex branching without touching code. The Matter Bridge app (November 2025) can even expose your legacy Zigbee/Z-Wave devices to Apple Home or Google Home - suddenly that old thermostat works with Siri.
The trade-off: Homey costs real money upfront. Home Assistant is free and infinitely more customizable. If you want to tweak everything, write custom integrations, or run bleeding-edge features, Home Assistant wins. But if you want a polished experience that your whole household can use - and you'd rather spend time living in your smart home than building it - Homey earns its premium.
Related Terms
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.
Matter
Matter is an open, royalty-free smart home connectivity standard that enables interoperability between devices from different manufacturers. It lets products from Apple, Google, Amazon, and Samsung work together without compatibility headaches - no proprietary hub required.
Thread
Thread is a low-power, IPv6-based mesh networking protocol designed specifically for smart home devices. It creates a self-healing network where each device strengthens the mesh - if one goes down, the others pick up the slack. It's the primary transport layer for Matter wireless devices.
Z-Wave
Z-Wave is a wireless mesh networking protocol that operates on sub-GHz frequencies, offering superior wall penetration and mandatory device certification for guaranteed interoperability. Every device is certified before it hits the market - you'll pay more, but you'll troubleshoot less.
Zigbee
Zigbee is a low-power wireless mesh networking protocol that connects smart home devices like sensors, bulbs, and switches. It's been quietly running smart homes for over a decade, offering excellent battery life and a self-healing mesh - unlike Wi-Fi gadgets, your Zigbee motion sensor won't need new batteries every month.