A few years back, if you'd peeked into my living room, you'd have sworn I was singlehandedly keeping the smart home industry afloat. Picture five hubs on one shelf, cables snaking behind the couch, and me frantically whispering wake words at a herd of voice assistants. Spoiler: It wasn't pretty. Today, after endless trial and error (and a couple of smart devices that still haunt my dreams), I'm finally ready to admit—there's no perfect one-size-fits-all solution, but a well-chosen pair of systems can get you dangerously close. Here's how I went from overwhelmed to orchestrated, and what you should know before jumping in feet-first.
Section 1: From Tower of Babel to Two-Way Harmony—Why One System Isn’t Enough (And My Family Nearly Staged a Coup)
If you’ve ever tried to answer the question, “What’s the best smart home system?” you’ll know it’s not as simple as picking the latest gadget off the shelf. After five years of testing, tweaking, and—let’s be honest—sometimes tearing my hair out, I finally have an answer. But it’s not the one most people expect.
Let me set the scene: For years, my house was a living experiment. Up until recently I was using five different smart home systems at once—five! Mainly because I run a smart home YouTube channel, but still, way too many. Imagine the chaos: lights that only responded to one app, a thermostat that ignored voice commands, and a security camera that sent alerts to the wrong phone. My family was not amused. In fact, there were moments when I thought they might stage a full-blown coup if I asked them to download one more app or remember one more wake word.
Chaos in Every Corner: The Five-System Mayhem
Why did I end up with so many systems? Partly for research, but also because every platform promised to be the best smart home solution. Each one had its own strengths—some were super easy to use, while others offered powerful home automation features. But none could do it all. The result? A digital Tower of Babel, where devices and family members alike struggled to communicate.
One system was great for quick voice commands, but couldn’t handle complex routines.
Another offered deep automation, but the interface was so confusing my family avoided it entirely.
Some platforms played nicely with certain brands, but ignored others completely.
It was clear: running five smart home systems was not sustainable. The confusion and clutter were overwhelming. Something had to give.
User-Friendly Platforms vs. Automation Brains
As I tried to bring order to the chaos, I realized that all smart home systems fall into two main camps:
User-Friendly Platforms: These are designed for simplicity. They’re easy to set up, intuitive for everyone in the house, and great for basic controls—turning on lights, adjusting the thermostat, or checking the front door camera. But when it comes to advanced home automation, they hit a wall.
Automation Brains: These systems are the powerhouse hubs. They let you create complex routines, integrate with a wide range of devices, and really customize your smart home experience. The downside? They often require a steep learning curve and can be intimidating for less tech-savvy users.
This split is where most people get tripped up. Naturally, we want a single system that does it all. But the reality is, most platforms excel at either being user-friendly or being powerful—not both.
The “One Ring to Rule Them All” Trap
At first, I tried to pick just one platform—the “one ring to rule them all” approach. I thought if I could just find the best smart home system, I could simplify everything. But every time I committed to a single system, I hit a wall. Either my family was frustrated by the complexity, or I was limited by what the system could actually do.
This is a common problem in the world of smart home systems. Many people believe that choosing one platform will make life easier. In reality, it often leads to more frustration, as you’re forced to accept the shortcomings of that system—whether it’s lack of device compatibility, limited automations, or a clunky user interface.
Why the Solution Is Adding, Not Subtracting
So, what’s the answer? Surprisingly, it’s not to ditch everything and start over. Instead, the solution is to add another system—a complementary one. By combining a user-friendly platform with a powerful automation hub, you get the best of both worlds. Your family can enjoy simple controls, while you can geek out with advanced routines and integrations.
Just hear me out: I’m going to pick two systems and have them work together. That way, I’m taking the best traits from each system and I can skip all that they’re bad at.
This two-system approach finally brought harmony to my home—and, more importantly, kept my family from staging that coup.
Section 2: Tech Giants vs. Tinkerers—Cutting Through the Noise (and Monthly Fees)
When I first started building my smart home, the main questions were simple: What system should I use, and what should I skip? Back then, I mostly compared features and prices. But the smart home landscape has changed dramatically in the last few years. The biggest shift? Tech giants like Amazon, Google, and Apple are changing their strategies—sometimes in ways that frustrate long-time users. Monthly fees are popping up for features that used to be free, and some companies are even removing resources from improving their platforms. As a result, many power users are reconsidering their options, and even exploring open-source or privacy-first alternatives.
Amazon: From Smart Home Leader to Monthly Fee Machine
Let’s start with Amazon. For years, I relied on Alexa and Echo devices to control my smart home. But lately, Amazon has made a series of decisions that have left me—and many others—questioning their direction. There have been massive cuts in the Alexa voice assistant department, and more importantly, a wave of new monthly fees for basic smart home features.
Ring Alarm: Once a standout for its simplicity, it now requires a monthly subscription for features that used to be free.
Echo Show 8: Want an ad-free experience? That’s now a paid feature. Yes, you read that right—there’s a monthly fee just to keep ads off your own device.
Alexa Guard: Previously free, now locked behind a subscription wall.
These changes have real consequences. As I put it:
"I've removed most of my smart home functionality from [Amazon devices]. It's kind of sad… but I don't like where they're headed."
While I still have a few Echoes around the house, they’re no longer the backbone of my smart home. It’s a tough goodbye after so many years, but the direction Amazon is taking—prioritizing recurring revenue over user experience—just doesn’t work for me anymore.
SmartThings: Still Friendly, But Missing the Power
Samsung’s SmartThings deserves an honorable mention. It’s a great entry point for beginners, thanks to its easy setup and broad compatibility with Zigbee, Z-Wave, and Matter devices. I used SmartThings for years and even made some fun videos about it. But as the platform evolved, it lost some of its advanced features—especially after third-party tools like WebCoRE were phased out. For power users who want deep automation, that’s a dealbreaker.
Removing all my devices from SmartThings wasn’t easy, but it was necessary for the kind of flexibility and control I wanted. Still, I’d recommend it for anyone who wants a simple, reliable way to get started with smart home devices.
Apple HomeKit vs. Google Home: Privacy, Flexibility, and Ecosystem Loyalty
With Amazon and SmartThings out of the running, my focus shifted to Apple HomeKit and Google Home. Both have their strengths, and your choice often comes down to which phone you use:
Google Home: If you’re on Android, Google Home is the obvious choice. It’s easy to use, supports a wide range of devices, and Google has recently added features like a script editor, improved routines, and even AI-powered automation. It’s flexible and lets you grow from basic to advanced setups without much hassle.
Apple HomeKit: If you’re in the Apple ecosystem, HomeKit is hard to beat. My main reasons for choosing it are:
Long-term support: Apple has a strong track record of supporting devices and software for years, which gives me confidence I won’t be left behind.
Privacy concerns: Apple’s approach is privacy-first. Siri may not be the smartest assistant, but HomePods don’t try to sell me anything or harvest my data. They just work—and sound great doing it.
Local control: HomeKit emphasizes running automations locally, making everything faster and more reliable. The Apple Home app is also clean and intuitive.
For me, these factors made Apple HomeKit the best user-facing system. But if you want more flexibility or use Android, Google Home is a fantastic alternative.
Why Goodbye Isn’t Always Forever
Even though I’ve moved most of my smart home devices away from Amazon and SmartThings, I haven’t cut them out completely. Echo devices still handle a few tasks, and I keep an eye on SmartThings for future improvements. The smart home world changes fast—sometimes for the worse, but sometimes for the better. Staying flexible is key.
As tech giants chase new business models and recurring revenue, it’s more important than ever to choose platforms that respect your privacy, don’t nickel-and-dime you, and let you control your own devices. That’s why, for now, I’m running two smart home systems—and watching the landscape closely.
Section 3: The Secret Sauce—Power and Simplicity Without Losing Your Mind (AKA Why Home Assistant Changed Everything)
If you’ve ever felt overwhelmed by the idea of running your own smart home hub, you’re not alone. When I first heard about Home Assistant, I’ll admit—I was intimidated. The stories about endless configuration, cryptic dashboards, and the risk of losing entire weekends to troubleshooting were everywhere. But here’s the truth: the learning curve is real, but it’s absolutely worth the climb. No other smart home hub I’ve tried—whether it’s SmartThings, Hubitat, or Homie—comes close to the flexibility and power that Home Assistant brings to the table.
What makes Home Assistant stand out isn’t just its massive list of supported devices (from Zigbee and Z-Wave to the latest Matter protocol and even Bluetooth toothbrushes). It’s the way it puts you in control. With Home Assistant, everything runs locally. That means your automations are fast, reliable, and private—no cloud lag, no outages because some server somewhere went down. And if you’re worried about the hardware, don’t be. As I like to say,
“Home Assistant is not very resource intensive... unless you’re doing something crazy like advanced voice assistant processing.”
I run mine on a Raspberry Pi 4 with 8GB of RAM and an SSD for extra reliability, but you can use even less powerful hardware if you’re just getting started.
One of the biggest game-changers for me has been the device and automation history that Home Assistant tracks. Imagine being able to see exactly when your garage door opened, when your washing machine finished, or the temperature in your living room at 10:00 p.m. last night—all in a couple of clicks. This historical data isn’t just cool to look at; it’s essential for troubleshooting. If an automation doesn’t run when you expect, you can dig into the logs, see what conditions passed or failed, and fix things without guesswork. With other hubs, you’re often left in the dark, wondering why something didn’t work. With Home Assistant, you get clarity.
Now, let’s talk about the elephant in the room: the dashboard. Yes, Home Assistant’s default dashboard can be a mess, and building your own from scratch takes time. But here’s where my two-system approach comes in. Instead of wrestling with the dashboard, I use Home Assistant as the powerful engine behind the scenes, and then I import only the devices I want into Apple HomeKit (or Google Home) using HomeBridge. This keeps everything local, fast, and secure. My family gets the clean, simple interface of Apple Home, and I get the robust automations and integrations of Home Assistant. It’s the best of both worlds—power and simplicity, without compromise.
The beauty of this setup is that it’s family-approved. My partner and kids don’t need to learn a new app or memorize complex routines. They just use the Home app or Siri, and everything works. Meanwhile, I can tinker, automate, and expand in the background to my heart’s content. And if you’re not technical, Home Assistant Yellow and Green now make setup easier than ever—just plug in and go.
But perhaps the most important reason I’ll never give up my Home Assistant setup is that it’s open source. I own my digital home. There’s no risk that a company will pull the plug, change the rules, or shut down the servers. Home Assistant is supported by a massive community and is currently the second most active open-source project in the world. That gives me confidence it’ll be around for years to come, and that my investment in time and hardware is safe.
In the end, Home Assistant changed everything for me—not because it’s perfect (we’ve had our share of fights!), but because it gives me the freedom to build the smart home I want, with the tools and devices I choose. Paired with a simple front end like HomeKit, it’s the ultimate combination of power, flexibility, and ease of use. That’s the real secret sauce—and why two smart home systems are better than one.
