It is pretty easy to operate smart home devices independently using the apps that come with them. But if you are looking for a fully integrated smart home system that does not require tons of apps, then you need another device known as a smart home hub. A hub is to a smart home what the brain is to the human body.
As with all things in the smart home space, hubs come in all shapes and sizes, so to speak. Consumers also have plenty of brands to choose from. But there is more to choosing a hub than finding a brand you recognize and blindly selecting one of their products based on a webpage description.
If you are new to smart home tech and planning to invest in a hub, there are some important things you need to know before you buy:
Two Main Types of Hubs
The first thing to know is that there are two main types of home automation hubs: multi-platform and single-platform. The type you go with is as important as the devices you will eventually connect to it. Your choice will determine everything you do thereafter.
1. Multi-Platform Hub
A multi-platform hub is designed to work with products from different brands. It is usually equipped with multiple communication protocols including Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and Z-Wave. These days, manufacturers are looking at including Matter as well.
It is worth noting that multi-platform hubs are not the standard. Some of the earliest adopters failed to get off the ground because they didn’t deliver on their promises of connecting all types of smart devices. That’s where Matter comes in. Matter is a communications protocol that offers standardization across ecosystems.
2. Single-Platform Hub
Also known as ecosystem hubs, single-platform hubs are designed to work only with devices from the same ecosystem, or devices with compatible bridges and gateways. More on that in a minute.
Smart speakers from Google and Amazon are perhaps the best-known ecosystem hubs. They work with a wide variety of devices thanks to manufacturers willing to meet Google and Amazon standards. Still, if you choose one over the other, you will be locked into that product’s ecosystem.
There are smart home brands, like Vivint Smart Home, which have made devices compatible with both Google and Amazon smart speakers. But Vivint also has its own ecosystem hub.
More About Bridges and Gateways
Without getting into too much detail, bridges and gateways provide some level of interoperability between ecosystem hubs and third-party devices. Most bridges and gateways work just fine with multi-platform hubs. Things can be a little more sketchy with ecosystem hubs, but manufacturers almost always design their bridges and gateways to be compatible with Google and Amazon smart speakers.
Despite all of that, you still need to be careful about adding new devices to a system. You need to be absolutely sure that a new device is compatible with your existing hub. So if you choose an ecosystem hub, your device choices might be limited.
You Can Build Your Own
Finally, the last thing to know is that you can build your own hub with a computer and an open source home automation package. You need to have some technical know-how, but it is not as hard as it sounds. Building your own hub greatly expands your choice for adding devices. That is really what this is all about.
The smart home hub is more or less the brains of the operation. If you want full integration, you will need a hub. So do some research, shop around, and choose wisely. All hubs are not the same.
