The reason is that any new system (even as simple as Smart Things) require some investment of time to get used to it, so we recommend to do it with more flexible and powerful system. However, do not hesitate and go for Home Assistant if you are even slightly tech skilled ( Best Hardware for Home Assistant) and plan to automate many things in your house. If it all goes well, you can still use it with Home Assistant. You can still start with Smarthings and test it out (with recent discounts it is really a no-brainer) especially if you are not sure of your technical skills. Home Assistant is very flexible, powerful system that can integrate all your devices in one ecosystem, but its open source nature would require some time to get used to. SmartThings is solid off the shelf device from a known brand for an average consumer, but a dependency on the internet and limited flexibility might put off some more advanced users. How to choose between SmartThings and Home Assistant?įundamentally the choice between Smart Things and Home Assistant is the one between two smart home concepts.
(Update January 2021) We continued running Home Assistant and spend over $2k on smart devices (sensors are expensive, but still no regrets) ( see the full list).