Smart homes have brought a lot of interesting new challenges into our lives. Notably, the much-increased concern over cyber security and protecting our Wi-Fi! No one wants to find people messing with their smart devices. Perhaps a much more prevalent problem is actually managing all the devices you now own. After all, when there’s only one or two, things are still simple and easy. When you fill your home with them and achieve the vaunted ‘smart home’ status? Well, it can get a bit difficult just to keep track of things. To help you with just that, you need a smart home automation hub! What’s tricky about getting one of the compatibility concerns? You probably didn’t buy all those devices from the same manufacturer, did you? To help you deal with this, we’ve put together a list of the top 5 most compatible smart home automation hubs in 2022.
Amazon Echo
Amazon Echo comes with many variations, so you will definitely be able to find one that fits your needs. It also does an excellent job of predicting trends in home IoT, which tends to put Amazon products at the forefront of hub developments. The major appeal points for the Amazon Echo line of products are their high compatibility with smart devices, excellent voice recognition, and affordability. It is one of the cheapest top smart home automation hubs on the market! Are any downsides to this particular Amazon product as well? Unfortunately, yes. First, while it supports most devices, the bulk of the hub’s optimization is for Amazon products. Second, the sound quality for Amazon Echo leaves a lot to be desired, though a few iterations managed to make some strides towards fixing this. If you like Amazon products, this hub’s a solid choice.
Aeotec Smart Home Hub
Now, this is a hub by Samsung, and out of all the smart home automation hubs on our list, it is probably the one with the highest range of compatibility. You can use it with practically anything, whether you opt for Google’s Assistant, Amazon’s Alexa, or any other range of devices. Does it mean it completely beats out everything else? Admittedly not. First, while the app itself is amazing, you will need to learn a bit more about the latest tech and its own unique quirks in order to use it to its full potential, which can seem a little daunting to beginner users. Another disadvantage is that there is a glaring hole in its wide array of compatible devices: it does not, in fact, support the Apple HomeKit. Meaning that if you are looking for a highly compatible hub for all your Apple products, this likely won’t be it.
Google Nest Hub
What can we say about Google Nest Hub? Well, while definitely qualifying as one of the top most compatible smart home automation hubs in 2022, it is one of the ‘weaker’ competitors on our list. Still, as the experts from Consumer Opinion like to advise, if you are just starting on smart home integration in your own home, this is one of the best options to use. The reason? It is the most intuitive and easiest-to-use hub on our list. It has a great app, excellent voice recognition and controls, and, most of all, downright the best smart display. As we stated already, this comes at the cost of some compatibility and even a slightly reduced functionality compared to the other hubs we have to present to you. Still, Google makes quality products, and their hub is worth the price if you’re okay with the drawbacks.
Apple HomePod
Lots of people swear by their Apple devices. After all, they are always of high quality make, and they are one of the best ways to stay protected from cyber attacks. However, they either have no or very little compatibility with most of the devices on our list. Even the ones who can support them do not have the tools to make the best use of them. The solution to this can be found in the Apple HomePod, which will allow you to link up and control all your smart Apple devices with ease! It comes with an Apple HomeKit certification program and Apple Home app, after all! And its audio performance is nothing short of stellar. Of course, the drawbacks are glaring, as well. To say that the hub’s compatibility with non-Apple devices is bad would be something of an understatement, so avoid it if that’d be an issue.
Hubitat Elevation
Hubitat is one of the top most compatible smart home automation hubs and perhaps the best rounded-out device on our list. It panders to most brands without the corporate history which would make it lean anyway. It also allows for some pretty complex interactions between smart home devices. This is great if you have a ton of different brands you are fond of for one reason or another! In addition, all of its smart home logic is stored locally. So, if home security is your concern, and you want to opt for the best solution, you should consider getting this particular hub. It does have a similar problem as the Aeotec hub we’ve already gone over. Namely, it takes a while to get used to the complex operating system. It also does not have a Wi-Fi option, which means it needs to be plugged into the router.
Final comment
Now that you are familiar with the top 5 most compatible smart home automation hubs in 2022, you can pick one which has caught your eye! You can choose to go with more generalized hubs or pick ones that are published by popular companies and are guaranteed to work perfectly with their own products while still being able to handle the few outliers in your smart device collection. Just make sure you actually like the hub you are considering, so you don’t end up regretting your choice in the future!