Question

Im new to home automation. I've been watching yt but can someone explain to me what's the difference between home assistant like echo and "hub" like smartthings? Do i need both?  

Answer 1

Devices link to your Hub - like light switches, temp sensors, etc. the echo simply lets you send commands via voice to those devices.  

Answer 2

Smartthings controls just about everything, and has lots of automatons, and you can add custom automatons and such. Alexa or Google can control some things and have a few awkward automatons, but can also control all of the things connected to smartthings. So if you like what you can do with Alexa, you'll love the world that opens up when you use smartthings with Alexa.  

Answer 3

The best possible way of thinking about it is that the hub is the central brain of your automation ecosystem. Whether you choose Hubitat, SmartThings, HomeAssistant, Wink, Wyze, whatever hub you end up with it is “central command” Assistants like Amazon’s Alexa or Google Home or Samsung’s Bixby and the devices that they live in are just more devices that connect to the central brain just like a light switch or a motion sensor. Some devices like certain Amazon Echo devices have a hub built in but in the case of the Echo you only have Zigbee capabilities where with Samsung you have both Zigbee and Z-Wave which gives you a wider array of options when it comes to hardware. I’m an Alexa home so I can only attest to that directly. Alexa can definitely do some automations via “routines” and I’m sure Google is the same but in order to have full access to all your devices and create more complex and layered automations you simply have to have a hub as Alexa isn’t all that capable. The way I look at assistant devices as they’re just something I added to the central hub in order to gain voice commands capability.  

Comments

@chiasma54569 that's an eye opener

Answer 4

Hubs are the brain that control devices through Automations. Voice Assistants control devices through your voice. Automations are events that happen on their own, without your involvement. The reason why this is confusing is that voice assistants are also hubs. They can control devices with Automations called routines. The difference between dedicated hubs and voice assistants is the level of detail that you can set up your Automations to do. For example, I just installed a Shelly relay behind some light switches. I can use Google Home, or Alexa, and tell that relay to turn on the switch. I use my hub, to turn on the switch, all by itself, 15 minutes after sunset, and turn off at midnight. But, here is the true power of the hub. I have it set so that if anyone comes along and flips the switch, during that time between sunset and midnight, it will automatically toggle it back for me. Voice Assistant hubs don't have that power. But, regular hubs won't let you talk to the devices. So, while there is overlap in functionality, the primary purpose is different. I hope that helps