Homey Pro and SmartThings are both very capable smart home hubs to control and automate your home. So what’s the difference? Read on and discover everything you need to know.
Both hubs feature most of the key functionalities for controlling a smart home. If you require simple smart home functionality, SmartThings might be the better choice. If you want to be more creative with automations, then Homey is for you. Also, Homey focuses more on privacy and offers tools to gain insight into your home's data.
Homey Pro
€ 399,-
SmartThings
€ 109,-
Mobile App
Tablet App
Web App
-
Supported Devices
50,000+
2300+
Supported Technologies
7
3
Wi-Fi
Zigbee
Z-Wave
Bluetooth
-
433 MHz
-
868 MHz
-
Infrared
-
Voice Assistants
Basic Automations
Advanced Automations
-
Energy Tracking
-
Monitoring
-
User & Roles
-
Privacy
-
Scripting
-
Open Platform
-
Apps
What makes a smart home smart, is that you can easily control it from all of your favorite devices.
Mobile App
With Homey Pro, you can access your smart home from anywhere in the world. Available for iOS & Android.
Mobile App
Access SmartThings from anywhere in the world with your Android or iOS device.
Tablet App
The Homey App for tablets expands your screen space. Full control over your home in one view. Available for iOS & Android.
Tablet App
Access SmartThings from anywhere in the world with your Android or iOS device.
Web App
Quick web access is perfect for a smooth workflow - especially when organizing your home, or editing advanced Flows.
SmartThings doesn’t have something similar.
Apple Watch
When you have the Homey app installed on your iOS device, it automatically becomes available on your Apple Watch — allowing you to start your favorite Flows from your wrist.
SmartThings doesn’t have something similar.
Connectivity
When choosing a smart home hub, you want to be sure that it connects with all your devices at home — now and in the future.
50,000+ devices
Homey connects with over 50,000 devices from more than 1000 brands thanks to its 7 integrated wireless protocols.
2300+ devices
Following the SmartThings website, the hub connects with 2300 devices thanks to its 3 integrated wireless protocols.
Homey App Store
The Homey App Store is an open platform with apps from brands, manufacturers, and the Homey community. It works like any other app store: search, install and connect all kinds of devices & services.
With SmartThings you can use the search function in the app to search for the brand or device type you want to add. It is not possible to use custom plugins in your automations. Quite some devices are integrated, although it doesn't come near to the range of devices included in Homey's App Store.
7 Wireless Protocols
Wi-Fi
Wi-Fi
Connects the smart home hub with the Internet and other devices through a Wi-Fi router.
Zigbee
Zigbee
Zigbee is the low-energy variant of Wi-Fi, with a few extras for domotics. Learn More
Z-Wave
Z-Wave
Z-Wave is a protocol optimized for Smart Home devices at home. Learn More
Bluetooth LE
Bluetooth LE
Bluetooth is the all rounder and is mainly used for audio and sporadic communication.
433 MHz
433 MHz
Widespread frequency for cheaper devices like Lightwave RF
868 Mhz
868 Mhz
Widespread frequency for cheaper devices with more data, like weather stations.
Infrared
Infrared
TVs and older tuners usually work with infrared, and is the only frequency that does not go through walls.
3 Wireless Protocols
Wi-Fi
Wi-Fi
Connects the smart home hub with the Internet and other devices through a Wi-Fi router.
Zigbee
Zigbee
Zigbee is the low-energy variant of Wi-Fi, with a few extras for domotics. Learn More
Z-Wave
Z-Wave
Z-Wave is a protocol optimized for Smart Home devices at home. Learn More
Control
Arguably the most frequently used feature of any smart home hub is device control. This is where you go to adjust anything — from the brightness of your lights to the position of your blinds.
Colorful and simple
Each device type has its own unique design — optimized for the specific functions of the device. This way you can — for example — switch your lights on and off immediately, while the dimming functions and color picker are always just one tap away.
In the settings of your device you can easily change specific settings, such as the sensitivity of a motion sensor.
Basic and formal
SmartThings offers a minimalistic and quite basic interface for your home. Everything you need when it comes to operating your devices is there, but due to the many lists that are being used to show the options, the app feels a bit formal — making it less fun to use.
Automation
Automation is where the real magic happens. This is where your home turns on the lights for you, sets the temperature, and even secures it when you’re away. All that — and so much more.
Flows
Flow cards are the building blocks of your automations. With every new device, new Flow cards become available. All it takes to connect your devices is finding the right cards for your use case. You can even add Flow cards from apps like Twitter or Weather — giving you more flexibility when it comes to automating your home.
Scenes & Automations
SmartThings’ automations rely on a simple ‘If-Then’-principle. This works well for simple automations, but quite limiting when want to create automations that are less self-evident. You might find yourself at the limits of SmartThings automation capabilities quite quickly.
Logic & Variables
With Homey Pro, you can customize your Flow cards using tags, logic, and variables. The ability to do this, adds a lot of freedom for automating your home — enabling you to get more creative with your Flows.
SmartThings doesn’t have something similar.
Monitoring
Your devices gather a lot of valuable information. This data can be used to improve your home’s health conditions, lower energy costs, and increase durability.
Homey Energy
Homey Energy offers real-time insight into your home’s energy consumption. It shows the current energy usage per zone and helps you uncover all the power guzzlers. Based on this information, you can even create new Flows to reduce the power consumption.
SmartThings doesn’t have something similar.
Homey Insights
Homey Insights gives you the power to make data-driven decisions for your smart home. Here you can find all relevant data that your devices collect for you.
SmartThings doesn’t have something similar.
Family
Share your home with others that also want to enjoy the benefits of a smart home.
User & Roles
With Family Sharing, Homey Pro users can invite family members to Homey and manage what they can do. A special guest account is available for friends, household helpers, and temporary guests. Depending on the role, family members may or may not have certain permissions.
Multiple Users
With SmartThings you can invite new members to your home. They’ll be able to control devices in that location. However, they do not have different roles or rights. This means that everyone can add or delete devices and create or edit automations. Make sure you only invite people you trust!
Privacy & Security
Your home is probably your most private place on earth. Your smart home system should respect that.
Privacy is built in. Secure by design.
Homey Pro is designed with privacy and security in mind. That is why all connections are secured and encrypted. Homey can only access your data when you explicitly allow it to. You decide who gets access to your data and who doesn’t.
SmartThings Policy
SmartThings collects the data that you generate. That means when you arrive or leave home when a door opens when you move in a room, or when an alarm goes off. This is governed by a relatively broad privacy policy – it can all be used, for better or for worse, by SmartThings or its parent Samsung.
Voice Assistant
It’s hard to imagine a smart home without any voice assistant. We think they’re here to stay, so we might as well embrace them.
Amazon Alexa
Use simple voice commands to control devices and start Flows. Even triggering Flows with custom voice commands is possible. This makes it possible to activate your Security Flow just by saying: 'Hey Alexa, good night'.
Amazon Alexa
Use voice commands to control devices and start automations.
Google Home
Use simple voice commands to control devices and start Flows. You can also make custom phrases to trigger a Flow. E.g. Activate your security Flow by saying: 'Hey Google, good night'.
Google Home
Use voice commands to control devices and start automations.
Siri Shortcuts
Thanks to Siri Shortcuts, you can use Siri voice commands to start your favorite Flows. In addition, you can use iOS-specific triggers in combination with Flow cards to enhance your Flows.
SmartThings doesn’t have something similar.
Scripting
For those who are interested in it, scripting brings ultimate power and freedom. Yes, power users… we’re talking to you.
HomeyScript
When you want to do even more with your smart home that isn’t possible with the Flow editor, HomeyScript offers unbounded possibilities. Write your script in JavaScript and have direct access to Homey’s Web API.
SmartThings doesn’t have something similar.
Community
Awesome communities help to create a better smart home every day.
Open Platform
Homey Pro has a completely open platform. Integrations with devices and services are all 'Homey Apps', just like on your smartphone.
The Homey App Store is loaded with apps from Homey itself, partner brands, or developers from the Homey community. As a result, new options are being added to Homey at an inimitable pace. Apps are approved and then published in the Homey App Store. This way everyone can enjoy it, even if you can't program yourself.
Closed Platform
Integrations with SmartThings are done / managed by SmartThings, or if you sign up as a brand to ‘Work with SmartThings’. You can imagine, this approach does create a bottleneck, meaning that less devices and services are supported compared to open platforms, and innovation is slower.
Conclusion
Homey Pro & SmartThings both offer a good platform to operate a modern smart home. The question is: do you want to keep things basic, or are you looking for a future proof and more versatile hub for your smart home?
The SmartThings experience offers a more simplistic approach to a smart home. From connecting devices to creating scenes, SmartThings keeps things easy. The largest drawback to this approach is the lack of flexibility when creating Scenes & Automations, this creates limitations for your smart devices and ultimately, your home. Odds are you encounter the limits of the SmartThings system quite quickly.
Homey Pro offers a more playful design and easy-to-use experience, inviting you to get creative with your smart devices. The intuitive interface allows users of any experience level to create Flows that connect and automate your home, while Homey Pro also offers a wider range of tools to those more experienced smart home users. Its software is more powerful and versatile, making sure there are no limitations where you don't want them.
With the added benefits of Energy, Insights, and the power of Logic, Homey Pro is the platform of choice for users that are looking for a privacy aware, future-proof, and more versatile hub to design and create their perfect smart home.
Try Homey now.
We're convinced that you'll love Homey Pro. That's why we offer a 30-days money-back guarantee, so you can try it out without any risk.
