Question

So I'm finally buying a smart home hub, might as well get a good one. I'm going back and forth on the SmartThings v3 and Hubitat. I know that Hubitat is superior in terms of functionality, but I also know it's more designed for more serious applications than I have in mind. Right now, Smart Things is probably good enough for what I'm doing, but I don't want to have to upgrade in a year or 2 though. What would you choose and why? Please note I'm not interested in super complex applications of this technology. Trying to keep it simple enough where I don't have to write code. Lol! Current setup is multiple echo devices, smart bulbs, smart switches on timers, ecobee thermostat, air purifier. Going to be adding a smart lock and some sensors soon. Nothing super complicated.  

Answer 1

100% Smartthings.  

Answer 2

I’ve had ST for 5 years and Ecobee, google home, lutron caseta, Siri, Alexa and a bunch of sensors, kwikset, arlo, ring. I’m happy.  

Answer 3

I’m using both Smartthings and Hubitat. I love the fact that my internet was playing up all day yesterday, but I wouldn’t have known as Hubitat was completely not effected. But saying that it does have some problems, personally I would always recommend smartthings to anyone who’s starting out with their first smart hub. Smartthings has been pretty stable over the last 5 years and I can’t say that about Hubitat

Answer 4

100% HomeAssistant

Answer 5

I'm happy with SmartThings. My laundry pump let go yesterday. The water sensor went off and then called my cell phone with IFTTT. Saved a ton of hassle.  

Answer 6

I have SmartThings at my lake house and Hubitat at home. I like ST, it’s super easy to get stuff connected and works fine. Use it for remote monitoring so I have to have internet all the time to do that anyway. I love what I’ve seen of Hubitat so far. If you can get around the learning curve, there is so much more here. I didn’t want to rely on someone else continuing to support products and the like. I only go to cloud/internet for voice commands. Everything else is done at home.  

Answer 7

I dont think hubitat is superior, at least not overall. hubitat runs local, which is a huge plus, but theres a steeper learning curve. smartthings has a giant community, tons of custom device handlers and apps that let you run devices that dont have native support and the app is easier to use than the hubitat interface. hubitat is great, too, though. I have 2 ST hubs and a hubitat hub. I am planning on moving some stuff from ST to hubitat eventually, but havent had time to. Both are going to do everything you want, i think it comes down to what is more important to you - local control (hubitat) or a larger community, with a more mature app and ecosystem.  

Answer 8

I have only had ST

Answer 9

With either platform, you'll want to make sure your existing devices are compatible if you want to use them. Since you currently have a few smart devices but no hub, it's likely they're random Wi-Fi devices that might not have integrations with either ST *or* Hubitat, both of which support many LAN and cloud devices but which generally do best with Zigbee or Z-Wave for most product categories. I personally prefer Hubitat (mostly for local execution). However, ST might be easier to start with--it does a bit more hand-holding if you're not already familiar with Z-Wave and Zigbee, and they have a few more cloud integrations that might matter if your current devices are such (check the compatibility list for either if you care). If you use Hubitat, read the docs or use the Community to ask for help if you need it. You might be happy with ST, especially if cloud-dependency doesn't bother you (but for lighting, it might), and even if you do want to switch in a year or two, you'll probably have good enough reasons that you won't care. :)

Comments

@snug51948 Morris The switches are wifi, but all the lights are Zigbee. I'm controlling them with the Echo Plus right now.  

Answer 10

I have both ST and Hubitat and mess around with them both a lot. I can share my experiences so that you have more information in order to decide what best fits you. It's basically a competition between open source and a corporate product. SmartThings has very good support from a reputable company. They have a full time team always doing updates and patching security vulnerabilities. Hubitat relies more on the robust community of users and developers to keep up with an ahead of competition. Think Linux vs Windows or Apple. With Hubitat, you have a lot more custom made tools. The developers range in skill though. They can be hobbiest or professionals and that skill reflects in the app. Good ones work great. Bad ones are glitchy. The apps also are not continuously supported with patches and upgrades. They may be for a while, but since these people are not paid for their work, they cannot afford to give the tools the time and work out of their own lives to keep up with all of that. That said, often times when the support for a tool wanes, somebody else comes along and picks up the pieces. You also have other people taking the tool and improving on it. So, there is a lot more creativity and innovation and custom solutions in the Hubitat world than the SmartThings world. Now, don't get me wrong, the SmartThings community is just as robust and they do a lot of custom handlers as well. The difference is that Hubitat is dependent upon the community of developers, SmartThings is not. Hubitat markets itself as primarily a locally executed platform. Where your commands and information do not go out to web servers in order to process, and then return. My issue with that is that both the fans of Hubitat, and the marketing of it are a bit misleading. For example, if you are using a voice assistant, you're using cloud support. If you are using IFTTT, you're using cloud support. If the product requires the use of an app on your mobile device, you're using the cloud. So, a lot of things that happen on Hubitat use cloud support. Conversely, the opposite argument is often used against SmartThings. That it doesn't execute things locally. This is also not true. A lot of my devices on SmartThings execute locally. I will concede the point that SmartThings has a lot more to do to catch up with Hubitat in the amount of local execution they are compatible with. It is absolutely fair to say that Hubitat executes MORE things locally than SmartThings does. One issue that I do have with Hubitat has to do with ceiling fans. It doesn't like them. At least, it doesn't like ceiling fans with lights. Hubitat will see a ceiling fan as three devices rather than two. If you use a switch to turn on and off the light, and a fan controller switch to turn on and off, and adjust speed of the fan, Hubitat will see the first switch for the light as the light switch. It will also see the fan controller switch as a light switch and a fan controller switch. So, when you tell the light to turn on, it turns on both the light and the fan. If you tell the light to turn off, it turns off both the light and the fan. You can't natively manage the light without also impacting the fan. Now, there are work arounds for this. That's where the awesome community comes into play. But you have a lot of work to do, in research and coding to make it all work. SmartThings doesn't have that problem. Conversely, Hubitat can work with some things that SmartThings cannot. So, my take away from that is that Hubitat is great, but it's more work. If you're like me and love to tinker, then that more work will be more fun for you than frustrating. If you're busy and don't want to spend that kind of time, then SmartThings might be for you. Remember my Linux vs Apple comparison? Hubitat is great and lets you do a lot of thing. SmartThings just works.  

Comments

Good comparison! Just a few points of clarification: * I agree that both Hubitat and ST have robust communities of developers, though I think they might be more important on ST than you've noted--specifically, I'm not sure that a lot of ST "power users" would still be there if it weren't for webCoRE (he does work for ST now, but it originated as a community project; Hubitat probably exists only because the developer of Rule Machine, originally an ST project and probably the reason CoRE/webCoRE exists at all, got fed up with the platform instability) * voice control requires the cloud (on both platforms) because of how the voice assistant platforms currently work, (though there are still differences with ST vs. Hubitat in that ST keeps a cache of your device states in the cloud, whereas Hubitat with, e. g., Alexa has to go down and talk to the hub each time), but this feature is, of course, optional on either platform; more importantly, Hubitat doesn't need the cloud for hub and device administration and setup, which ST does for both that and (see below) the majority of operations * "A lot of my devices on SmartThings execute locally" - This doesn't really mean much on its own. Manual device control through the app always requires the cloud, so this just means that an *automation* (SmartApp) you use the device in *could* execute locally if it meets other requirements (on Classic, this is Smart Lighting and Smart Home Monitor under certain conditions; everything else is, indeed, cloud) * Your fan/light issue on Hubitat sounds like a problem with the driver or an accidental use of the parent device instead of the light or fan child device. Have you tried asking about this in the Community? I should also add to my previous comments that there's no reason you can't use both. :) (I'm mostly Hubitat but used to use ST and still have a couple cloud things on there that are nice to have but not super-important, integrated to Hubitat via HubConnect when needed. )

---

Thanks Robert! Good additions! I 100% agree with your input on WebCore as a power user go-to on SmartThings. I know that I use the snot out of it. I was more referring to the custom device handlers. Both communities do make custom device handlers. I would agree that Hubitat as a community does this as a default, where the smartthings community does it out of frustration. I also agree about your assessment on voice assistants. I failed to make the point that it applies to both platforms, so I do appreciate you filling in that detail. It's important. Also, thank you for pointing out where device details are stored. That's also a good point. I do need to correct one thing you stated in regards to local control on SmartThings. There have been a few updates over the last few months that changes the way things execute. If you go to the IDE, you can now actually see the route the traffic takes. Generally speaking, the smartapps allow the local execution, but recent updates are also allowing this to take place on the hub itself without going to the cloud. But, like you accurately pointed out, currently the device states, themselves are stored on servers. This is changing as well according to Samsung. Just not there yet. As for the fan, yeah I checked the community, it's a well known issue. I found a custom device handler there that resolved it. The community is awesome. It's rare that there is an issue that cannot be resolved. Hub Connect is an awesome app on Hubitat. I too use both hubs for things. Thank he didn't ask to include Home Assistant into the comparisons. Imagine how details and nuanced we'd have to get then!?  

---

@kym how is that possible with fans? You have 2 separate switches that hubitat has no clue they are related? Thanks for the quick explanation between the two!  

---

@snug51948 Morris why have both wouldn't get confusing which devices are working with which hub? Can you give me examples why need to do this? Lol

---

If one hub doesn't support a specific device or feature and you want to use it, that would be the main reason. :) Everything I care about is on Hubitat, but until I replace my Ring Doorbell, I'm still using that on ST and pushing events to Hubitat (for automation) via HubConnect, for example.  

---

@balk As to the two hub scenario, @snug51948 answered the most common scenario. I did use the two hubs to temporarily fix my fan issue while I researched it. That way my wife didn't kill me. I like using two hubs for troubleshoot as well. But, if I'm being completely transparent. I use two hubs because I have to. I run a local smart home consulting business and I need to remain current on all the stuffs to best serve my clients.  

---

@kym that makes the most sense! All my devices work with ST or use custom handlers like proview or myq garage door. I haven't had a need to wish for more options with webcore. I did watch a video on inovelli and the switch options looked easier on hubitat. So I was curious Wouldn't it be easier as an installer to use a cloud based program?  

---

@kym your link to the fan issue seemed to be with Google home not hubitat?  

---

@balk Honestly, setting up and installing devices is pretty easy on either hub. The MyQ garage door openers and stuff are all cloud based. That is one of the examples that I was talking about before where even if you had Hubitat, you're still going to be touching the cloud. Some devices are designed that way an you can't bypass it with a hub. Where local control comes into play is with Z-Wave, Zigbee, and certain WiFi based firmware (like tasmota). Generally speaking those protocols won't be reaching out to any servers. So, the MyQ is WiFi, and you can't really flash it for more locally controlled options. That's only good or bad based upon your preferences. The MyQ is an industry standard and a reputable company.  

---

@kym you'd need a garage door zwave relay to bypass the cloud I think

---

@balk The fan issue. is a Hubitat issue more than a Google Home issue. You can test this by using SmartThings. Th fan control works just fine with Google Home and SmartThings. Also the issue was resolved with the custom device handler and drivers for Hubitat. In other threads on the topic you can see the developers figure out that it's an issue on the Hubitat side.  

---

@balk you nailed it! Yes, a z-wave relay would make things work locally.  

---

@kym so weird. Was it because they were named the same? Could you avoid it by calling it office fan and DESK light instead of office light?  

---

@balk Nope! They had different names. The light switch was called "Fan Light" and the fan was called "Fan" In google home it showed up as Light Switch, Fan, Fan. With one of the Fan's showing as a light. So, if I said "Hey Google, turn off the bedroom lights" it would turn off all the lights, plus the fan. Because it thought it was a light.  

---

One solution that I've seen a lot of people use for garage doors is a z-wave relay, and a tilt sensor on the door itself (placed near the top). That combo works pretty good.  

---

@kym I have zwave relays for my fireplaces and to turn on my ERV. I've thought about it for the garage. The myq works OK for now but may change in the future. The thing is if the internet is down all it will help is not having to walk to the garage to shut it. I mainly use the myq to open the door for quests and workers

---

@kym do you have a website or thread of neat stuff you've done with your hubs?  

---

My website is for my consulting business. It's pretty much just a booking platform and a small Amazon Affiliate store. I started working on some articles, a YouTube channel, and stuff. I've written for other guys in the industry like Automate Your Life. But my niche isn't the "look at my automations. " I'm a Cybersecurity guy by profession. I work for the DoD now but just left NASA after a few years there. Before my Government time, I was doing security for IBM in their Managed Security Services SOC. We handled the security for 3700 corporations. So, my little niche is bringing corporate and government level security to the homeowner and renter. via smart home tech That means that most of my online stuff has far more to do with security than it does with check out my automations. I have not done any work with that in the last 6 months though. Had a series of unfortunate events happen with our home, and then kids school, and now the virus. So my time has been spent doing other things. It would be against the group rules for me to post links to my stuff though.  

Answer 11

With webcore is there much ST can't do that hubitat can? Local vs cloud would be the difference between the two correct? I guess why are people running both? (except for experimentation)

Comments

@balk Hubitat also uses WebCore. The big difference is the community support is more involved with Hubitat, the Rule Engine in Hubitat is more evolved and can do more. That last advantage is going away though as Samsung has announced that they're developing a rule engine for SmartThings. That should be out soon. (This year) When I say that the Hubitat Community is more involved, that's not to say that the SmartThings community is any slouch. They're quite robust. It's hard to articulate. The Hubitat Community DRIVES the development on Hubitat. The community makes all the stuff. The SmartThings community patches all the stuff. I hope that helps paint the picture a little better for you. Also, yes the main difference is local execution versus cloud. You'll notice that difference big time if your ISP drops service for any reason. A lot of things will still work on Hubitat where most things will be glitchy if not dead on SmartThings. But, like I said before, SmartThings is jumping on the local control train. They just have some catching up to do.  

---

@kym Thanks for the clarification, I get the community issues, it makes the experience better.  

Answer 12

I ordered a Smart Things hub. Thanks for your thoughts and opinions everyone!