Smart home hubs & gateways

Smart home hubs & gateways act as the central point that lets sensors and switches on different wireless protocols work together under one automation system.

A single hub commonly bridges Zigbee, Z-Wave, Bluetooth and Thread while exposing everything as Matter devices to third-party apps, removing the need for a separate app per brand. An Ethernet uplink gives a more stable connection than Wi-Fi-only models, and some gateways process automations locally rather than relying on a cloud service.

• Supported protocols — check which of Zigbee, Z-Wave, Thread, Matter and Bluetooth the hub bridges before buying sensors
• Uplink — Ethernet gives a more reliable connection to the router than Wi-Fi-only gateways
• Processing — local automation keeps working during an internet outage, cloud-dependent hubs do not