I've researched and tested the best smart hubs to simplify your home automation – these are my top 6 recommendations

There are lots of reasons why you should invest in one of the best smart home hubs – from potential savings on your energy bills to the ability to schedule automations that make chores easier.

Whether you want to set a timer for your coffee to brew when you wake up in the morning or ensure your towel radiator is toasty before your evening shower, a smart hub lets you control all of your smart devices (like the best smart thermostat) from one place.

Contrary to popular belief, you don’t need to be a tech genius to get a smart hub up and running, and you can usually connect it to a voice assistant for extra ease of use. To find out our six recommendations – and why the Homey Pro is our top choice – keep reading.

The Quick List

In a hurry? Here's a quick overview of the best smart home hubs, including direct links to a detailed overview.

The best smart hub overall

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We spent hours researching the best smart hubs, and the Homey Pro came out on top as our number one pick. We were impressed with how many devices it can connect to (over 50,000!) and that it works with eight wireless protocols, making it easier to integrate into your home and connect to a wide range of devices.

The hub lets you monitor and manage your home through your phone, laptop, or voice assistant, and it even provides insights on your energy usage to help find ways to reduce your bills.

If privacy is a top priority, you'll be pleased to hear that your data is stored locally, encrypted, and won’t be sold to third-party companies – nor will you receive any adverts.

While this smart hub offers some fantastic features, it does come with a premium price tag of £399. However, it’s worth noting that it doesn’t require a subscription like some other hubs. If you’re on a tight budget, the IKEA Dirigera Hub is a more affordable option.

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The best smart hub for Apple users

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The HomePod's standout feature is its impressive speaker, which delivers 360-degree sound, deep bass, and a sensor that enhances audio performance based on the room you are in. You can also use multiple speakers in the same home to create the ultimate sound system.

The hub can be integrated with Apple products, including the iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, Apple TV, Mac, and AirPods, and can be used to control any device set up on a Matter protocol.

HomePod comes with a built-in temperature and humidity sensor to help you monitor your home's conditions through the Home app. When combined with smart curtains, you can set up automations for them to close when the temperature reaches a certain point.

The hub will also alert you if it detects a carbon monoxide or smoke alarm going off, and it gives you the option to remotely unlock your home or set automations even when you're away.

If the £299 price tag feels a little daunting, I have tested the HomePod Mini, which offers most of the same features but with a less powerful speaker system.

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The best smart hub for user-friendly app design

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We love how user-friendly the IKEA Dirigera Hub is, with a beautifully designed app interface that makes controlling your smart devices effortless. You'll be able to group them by room and combine different ones, such as lighting and sound, to create a custom "scene."

The hub works with any smart system that's connected to the Matter protocol, as well as any IKEA smart device, such as its light bulbs, air purifier, thermostat, plug socket, window sensor, and more.

Priced at just £60, this is the second most affordable smart hub we've come across, and we think it's pretty reasonable considering it offers most of the same features as others.

My only caveat is that it works only with the Matter protocol. While this is the most popular system, it doesn't offer as much flexibility as, say, the Homey Pro, which works with eight.

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The best mid-range smart hub

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New and improved, the Philips Hue Bridge Pro has been updated from the previous version with a design that is up to five times faster, with enhanced smart features and more flexible connectivity. You can now place the hub anywhere in your home without the need for an Ethernet cable, and Hue MotionAware allows you to create motion-detection automations that turn on lights automatically.

The Hue Bridge Pro can connect to over 150 lights and up to 50 accessories using the Zigbee protocol, as well as Bluetooth-enabled Hue devices, and can be controlled via Apple Home, Alexa, Google Assistant, and Samsung SmartThings.

Like the other smart hubs in this guide, you’ll be able to control, manage, and automate your devices – including lighting, security systems, smart plugs, and more – making your home run more efficiently, safely, and comfortably.

If you would prefer to invest in a smart hub with broader protocol compatibility, the Homey Pro supports eight.

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The best budget-friendly smart hub

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If you don’t want to spend too much on a smart hub, we recommend the Samsung SmartThings Hub, which costs just £39.99. Despite the low price tag, it offers a wide range of useful features, proving you don't need to splash out hundreds for a decent hub.

No matter where you are in the world, you'll be able to control all of your smart devices at the click of a button or voice – whether that's from your phone, Alexa, Google Assistant or Samsung Bixby – and set up multiple users in your household.

You have the option to receive activity alerts through the SmartThings app (available on Android and iOS), create schedules, and set up lighting scenes.

It might not have any flashy features, like the high-tech speaker on the Apple HomePod or touch screen display on the Amazon Echo, but it's a good, basic option for those on a budget.

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The best touch screen smart hub

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The Amazon Echo smart hub has an eight-inch touchscreen display, which makes it easy to monitor and control your smart devices without the need for a phone or voice assistant.

I tested this device for a month and was impressed with how easy it was to set up – particularly when it came to connecting my Ring doorbell, which was pretty much automatic. It displays live footage from the camera and includes a microphone and speaker, which is ideal considering my partner is the only one with the Ring app currently installed on his phone.

Amazon Echo lets you control the lights, locks, climate, security, and media in your home, as well as categorising devices by room so you can manage them simultaneously. It also gives you access to a range of widgets, including a to-do list, and the option to use it as a digital photo frame – perfect if you mount it on the wall.

I found the touchscreen a little laggy at times, which meant I had to turn the device off and on again to get it to respond, and some of the widgets seemed a little pointless (fart noise button, anyone?). However, the display is a very nice feature and one that isn’t offered by many brands.

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How we tested the best smart hubs

When it came to finding the best smart home hubs to test, we spent hours scouring top retailers to compare all the available options, choosing those with the best specs, compatibility, and customer reviews. We selected and tested them based on:

• Budget: Not everyone wants to spend hundreds on a smart hub, so we included a range of price points and took this into consideration when deciding whether they are worth the money.
• User experience: We highlighted where products shone and fell short in terms of ease of use and the features they offered.
• Compatibility: In an ideal world, your smart home hub should work with as many devices as possible, so we tried to include ones with broad compatibility. We also noted how easy they were to connect.

For more information on our procedure, read our dedicated page on how we test products.

Curated by

Curated by

Megan Milstead

This buying guide was curated by Homebuilding’s content editor, Megan Milstead, who tested the Amazon Echo and Apple Homepod (mini version). The remaining four products are next on our list to test.

How to choose the best smart hub

To ensure you choose the best smart home hub for your needs, we asked Hayley Brown, AO’s smart tech expert, for her top tips. Here's what she said:

1. The devices you already have: "Think about the devices you already have and make sure you choose a smart hub that works with them. If you have smart devices that are Android and Apple, your smart hub should be compatible with both."

2. What you will be using it for: "Whether you are switching on your lights, turning up your heating or controlling automated routines, you should ensure the smart home hub you purchase has the capability to do this. Usually, the more you want it to do, the more advanced it should be."

3. How you would like to control things: "Consider your preferred way of controlling your devices. Whether its voice activated, via a smartphone app or physically through the display on the device, you should choose a smart hub that meets your preferred method."

4 Think about reliability and future compatibility: "Smart home hubs are often expensive to purchase, so you therefore want to ensure its longevity when it comes to controlling your smart devices. It is important to think ahead to what devices you will want it to control in the future to ensure it will be compatible with those."

Hayley Brown

Hayley Brown is a Smart Home and Tech expert at AO.com, and an expert on everything from how to choose smart home security cameras, how they work and what you need in your home, as well as the more general details on maintenance.

Wondering if a smart hub is worth it? Micheal Fernandes, tech expert at Tapo, says, "A smart hub becomes worthwhile when a homeowner has or plans to build a smart home with multiple devices from different brands or wireless technologies."

For more advice and product recommendations, read our guide on the best smart plugs or learn what a smart plug is.

Edited by Beth Murton.