A smart home often begins with just a couple of smart light bulbs, but there are many products that can take your home from a simple light show and turn it into a proper home of the 21st Century. You can find all sorts of home devices that can interface with the internet, letting you then control them remotely with apps, smart speakers, or even some crafty automation.
Smart home devices can let you bolster your security with smart locks and a wide variety of security cameras or even video doorbells. If you want to save on your energy bill, you have a solid option to do that by cutting down on excessive heating or cooling by installing a smart thermostat. And, even if you don't want to shell out the big bucks to get a smart version of a product you already own, you can more or less convert any electronics into smart home devices by powering them through a smart plug.
We've rounded up an assortment of different smart home devices to fit various niches within your home, so you can find just what you need to make each part of your home that little bit smarter.
TL;DR – These are the Best Smart Home Devices
- Sonos One
- Amazon Echo Show 8
- Google Nest Hub
- Philips Hue A19 Bluetooth Smart LED Bulb
- SimpliSafe Home Security System
- TP-Link Kasa Smart Plug Mini
- Google Nest Hello
- Arlo Ultra
- August Smart Lock Pro
- Amazon Echo Dot 4th Gen
- Google Nest Mini
- Apple HomePod Mini
1. Google Nest Thermostat
Best Smart Thermostat
If you've got central air and heating, you've surely seen the huge spikes you'll sometimes get in your power bill. A smart thermostat can help you manage the indoor climate with a little extra finesse, so you can hopefully avoid watching the furnace burn through your budget. The Google Nest Thermostat is built not only to help you with those savings, but it's also a fairly affordable smart thermostat option, so you don't have to put down too much money upfront.
The Google Nest Thermostat can wire up in place of an existing thermostat. With it, you'll be able to set the temperature as you like on the device itself or on your phone from anywhere in the world. In other words, you might leave your furnace idle while you're off on vacation in the winter if the weather is particularly mild, but you'd still be able to turn it back on if you saw a cold forecast with temperatures low enough to risk a burst pipe. You can also set the Google Nest Thermostat to change temperatures when you leave the house and then to start making it more comfortable when you're on your way home.
2. Sonos One
Best Smart Speaker
Where most smart speakers are content to listen to a voice command now and then and pump out a little music to keep the kids happy, the Sonos One smart speaker doesn’t settle for mediocrity. This smart speaker comes from a brand known for its speakers, so you can rest assured you’re going to get sound that blows the many $30-$40 smart speakers on the market out of the water. At $200, it may be expensive, but it can actually serve as part of a stereo or surround sound setup, and it has a lot going on that justifies the price.
The Sonos One ironically boasts two speaker drivers. These are custom-built drivers that come powered by a pair of Class-D amplifiers. By splitting up those speaker drivers as a tweeter and a mid-woofer, the Sonos One can cover more frequency range and deliver more accurate sound. As much as you’ll want to hear this speaker, you’ll want it to hear you too, and that’s where its far-field microphone array comes in. Better still, Sonos isn’t locking you into one smart ecosystem like an Echo, Nest, or HomePod would. The Sonos One supports Google Assistant and Amazon’s Alexa for voice commands, and it even supports Apple’s AirPlay.
3. Amazon Echo Show 8
Best Smart Display for Alexa
You can get a lot of information out of a smart speaker, but sometimes it can be slow to spit out just the words you’re looking to hear, and some information is just a lot easier to digest visually. That’s where the Amazon Echo Show 8 comes in. This smart speaker can do the whole sound thing just fine with large, two-inch speakers. But, its 8-inch touchscreen display makes it a fair bit more useful. You just connect it to your Wi-Fi and you’re off to the races with the best of Alexa’s capabilities.
You’ll be able to ask questions, check the weather, and ask for instructions while getting more information than audio alone might deliver. The 2nd-Gen Echo Show 8 also includes a crisp, 13MP camera you can use to have video calls or remotely check in on your home. And, for privacy, there’s a built-in shutter to block the camera as well as a button to turn on or off the camera and microphone.
4. Google Nest Hub
The Best Smart Display for Google Assistant
If you’re team Google Assistant, the Nest Hub is the smart display we recommend. It lacks some of the extra features of the larger Nest Hub Max, but it has some other benefits. For one, it’s smaller – there’s a 7-inch display – and doesn’t have a camera, making it better suited for putting it in a bedroom or any privacy-conscious home.
It also acts as a portal to all of your connected smart home devices. In fact, we prefer the interface to Amazon’s Echo Show displays.
But its biggest strength may come as a surprise: it’s a really great digital photo frame when sitting idle. Thanks to Google’s ambient light technology, the screen constantly adjusts to the lighting of the room to make your photos look impressively vivid without too much backlighting.
5. Philips Hue A19 Bluetooth Smart LED Bulb
Best Smart Lights
The smart light market has really diversified over the last few years, but in our view Philips Hue is still the best. It offers the widest variety of bulbs, fittings and accessories, and consistently excellent quality.
Hue used to be a pricey proposition – which is why so many brands pounced on the budget market – but that bar has been lowered with the addition of Bluetooth support. While we still recommend buying the Hue Bridge for the best experience, you can now buy a Hue bulb and get connected right out of the box – with some limitations.
Once you’re fully wedded to Hue, there’s a massive world of features to explore in the app: color control, scheduling, routines, and integrations with other smart home devices. And that’s before you even touch the accessories Signify has to offer.
The color-changing bulbs have a 16 million-strong palette, but there are more basic white bulbs on offer, as well as light strips, floodlights, and a bunch of outdoor lights too. Note: if you have an Amazon Echo Plus or the latest Echo Show, you can use it as a Zigbee hub for your Hue lights in lieu of the Bridge.
6. SimpliSafe Home Security System
Best All-in-One Security System
When it comes to home security, you have two options: buy an all-in-one system or build it a la carte. If you’re going with the former, SimpliSafe makes the, well, simplest security system right now.
There are several starter packs with varying numbers of sensors and cameras – starting with ‘The Foundation’ and working up to ‘The Haven’ – but you can opt for a custom package if you’d prefer.
Best idea is to size up your home and the number of doors/windows you want to cover, and go from there. Once you’ve turned your home into a cosy Fort Knox, SimpliSafe sells a smart lock and even a connected smart doorbell, should you want to take things to the next level.
7. TP-Link Kasa Smart Plug Mini
Best Smart Plug
Smart plugs are dime a dozen these days, with loads of great options. Our pick? TP-Link’s compact little number, which delivers most of the essential features for a low price – and it won’t block other outlets either.
You can control it from anywhere using the app, and you won’t need a hub; just plug it in and get going. There’s Alexa and Google Assistant support, but no HomeKit. There’s also no energy monitoring – if that’s important to you, look to the Belkin Wemo Insight.
8. Google Nest Hello
Best Smart Doorbell
This was a tight race, but the Google Nest Hello is our frontrunner when it comes to upgrading your doorbell. Firstly, it’s really smart, recording footage round the clock and tagging any motion events that it feels you need to know about. We also love the facial recognition feature and the pre-recorded responses, which can be read out to any visitors.
You will have to wire it, and it doesn’t come cheap, but you’re pretty much getting the full package here. If the price is too steep, we’d recommend the Eufy Video Doorbell and the Arlo Video Doorbell as cheaper alternatives.
9. Arlo Ultra
Best Smart Security Camera
The Arlo Ultra isn’t only the best of Arlo’s smart cameras – we think it’s the best smart security cam you can buy, hands down. 4K HDR recording delivers an ultra-crisp picture, letting you zoom in on images with a higher amount of fidelity.
It also comes with an integrated spotlight so you can see/scare off any chancing burglars in the dark hours. You can run it off your household wall power or the battery, which should net you 3-4 weeks of power before needing a recharge. Oh, and it’s friendly with Alexa, Google Assistant, and HomeKit.
The only major drawback of the Ultra is how expensive it is, but Arlo’s range has other, more wallet-friendly choices. We’d also recommend the Arlo Pro 3. Outside of Arlo, we’d also highlight the Ring Stick Up Cam.
10. August Smart Lock Pro
Best Smart Lock
August is one of the biggest names in smart locks, and its Smart Lock Pro proves why. It’s easy enough to install, but you’ll want to make sure you buy it with the Connect Wi-Fi Bridge, which opens up features like remote access, so you can lock or unlock it when you’re out of the home, and integration with Alexa and Google Assistant.
Using the app, you can also grant temporary access “keys” for guests so they can get into your home when you’re not there. You’ll also get notifications so you can see who opened the door, but our favorite feature is August’s DoorSense, which will show you whether your door is open or closed at any given time.
11. Amazon Echo Dot 4th Gen
A Cheap Alexa Smart Speaker
Alexa is so widely supported by other smart home devices, you've probably got more than a few good reasons to grab an Alexa smart speaker. Fortunately, Amazon's 4th-gen Echo Dot makes that perfectly affordable. This new speaker costs just $50 and gives you a device that can control your smart home, play music and podcasts, set alarms, and even order pizza.
The Amazon Echo Dot 4th Gen is a kind of cute little ball (there are even stylized models for kids) with a capable 1.6-inch speaker and microphones. If you're concerned about privacy, this model also includes a button to deactivate the microphones any time you don't want Alexa listening for instructions. A light ring at the base of the Echo Dot will also let you know when it's active. And, if you want to use the Echo Dot to play music but have your own speakers, a 3.5mm audio jack and Bluetooth connectivity will let you use the Echo Dot as an audio source.
12. Google Nest Mini
A Cheap Google Assistant Smart Speaker
For the Google crowd, the Nest Mini is your version of the Echo Dot. It also comes in a fabric coating, but unlike the Dot it can be mounted to a wall. The latest model also comes with ultrasonic sensors that detect when someone is nearby and light up the capacitive buttons.
Most of the time you’ll be asking the Nest Mini questions (“Hey Google, what’s the weather forecast for today?”) and commanding it to control your smart home devices.
Whether you opt for the Nest Mini or the Echo Dot depends on whether your allegiance lies with Google Assistant or Alexa. Amazon has more third-party integrations than Google right now, though the latter is fast catching up.
13. Apple HomePod Mini
A Cheap HomeKit Smart Speaker
Apple's gadgets don't usually come cheap, and that's true of its HomeKit devices as well. But, the Apple HomePod Mini shifts the equation a bit with a price of just $100. This compact little speaker comes with a stylish design and light-up top so you know when Siri is listening. Each HomePod Mini delivers 360-degree audio, too, so you can set them up wherever you want.
With the Apple HomePod Mini, you can set up speakers throughout the home and go for whole-home audio or even pair two in the same space for stereo audio. You can call out to them to control smart home gadgets, have Siri set reminders, check the weather, or even send voice messages from one HomePod Mini to others in the home with the Intercom feature. If you bring your iPhone near the HomePod Mini with audio playing, it can automatically switch over to play on the speaker. It's packed with handy features for the home and is probably one of Apple's cheapest gadgets.
What to look for when buying smart home devices
Ongoing costs
When it comes to cameras and doorbells especially, some of the more useful features can be locked behind a subscription.
Before you buy a device like this, get clarification on what comes for free, and what doesn’t. Offline storage is ideal, at least as an option, as it means you don’t have to rely on the company’s cloud servers. That in itself is not necessarily a bad thing, but it can get pricey.
Choose your platform
The smart home is, sadly, a bit of a platform war. Most of these devices will come with their own app and don’t have to integrate with Alexa/Google Assistant/HomeKit, but chances are you’ll want the convenience of controlling all of your devices using a smart speaker.
In that case, be sure to check that any smart home device you buy is compatible with your platform of choice.
Hugh Langley is a tech journalist who’s fascinated by wearables, health tech, the smart home, and more. You can find him tweeting (often nonsense) over at @hughlangley.
