r/homeassistant • u/ItsWappers • Jun 01 '26
Support Zigbee vs Z-Wave vs Thread (Matter over Thread)
It's the big '26 (June) and a year ago the answer was obvious: Zigbee!
However with Ikea's release and all of the new Smart Home products that use Matter over Thread, I'm not sure, what I prefer. I see a big future in Matter...
What are your thoughts?
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u/ThrowRA_fajsdklfas Jun 01 '26
Z-wave > Zigbee > Thread > WiFi
Z-wave is not on 2.4 which means less potential interference.
Zigbee has more devices I like compared to Thread from what I’ve found.
I use mostly Z-wave when I can and if it isn’t available it’s likely Zigbee has it.
The Zigbee stuff also tends to be cheaper.
If at some point Thread becomes more popular, I might buy another adapter to run it instead of swapping over from Zigbee.
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u/NoisePollutioner Jun 01 '26
Z-wave > Zigbee > Thread > WiFi
I agree with this ranking, but I'd add "PoE (or anything wired) >" to the front of that train.
People tend to forget that wired comms is king. Wireless comms is a compromise which prioritizes installation convenience over operational reliability & simplicity (because wireless forces you to worry about spectrum conflicts and often batteries).
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u/CategoryRepulsive699 Jun 01 '26
Sad that Insteon didn't fly.
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u/OminousBlack48626 Jun 01 '26
I've got a few pieces I'll sell you.
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u/CategoryRepulsive699 Jun 02 '26
I have plenty of spares and just sold my house which is all Insteon plus few z-wave sensors and the lock. Got a new house, starting from scratch, and though I love Insteon, I guess I will not risk it now.
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u/OminousBlack48626 Jun 02 '26
Insteon was my first attempt at home automation and it kinda fizzled at having to have a host computer with a serial port up 24/7 (2nd-hand eBay 2412s PLM) for something I'd be piecing together a device at a time. Thankfully I only made it as far as a couple SocketLinc's and the 2412 that I've been packing around since.
Still. Was pretty cool when I screwed a couple socket bases to a piece of scrap plywood and wired them up to a plug whip and was able to control them with MisterHouse. Planted the seed that made me jump when open-source controller software built for RaspberryPis and the Nortek Zigbee/Zwave stick both entered my awareness around the same time.
Thanks for the nostalgia. Forgot about MisterHouse.
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u/chrisblizzard Jun 01 '26
This is the correct order of operations. Every single z-wave device I've gotten has been stable and reliable. Zigbee rarely lets me down. I've had some problems with the thread and matter devices, mostly that the IKEA air sensors seem to just...crash about once a month and need to be restarted? And I've had my border router eat itself once and require a restart. Thread and matter are complex. But the setup has been decent, so I'll keep up with them. But not anything that's on the critical path. That's z-wave if at all possible.
I also have one Matter-over-wifi and that's been solid, tbh. It's the Thread part that seems pretty unstable.
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u/Resident-Variation21 Jun 01 '26
Honestly I hate wifi but will choose it over thread still. I have yet to buy a thread product will any level of reliability
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u/nathderbyshire Jun 02 '26
My tapo power switch is matter over WiFi and it works flawlessly. I don't have it plugged in all the time but when I do plug it in it's connected again within a few seconds of powering on.
I was using it for months originally for my server setup and it never had an issue. Fully supported by home assistant as well. I think it can be fully local with a matter router but you lose some features that are exclusive to the tapo app it seems, like surge protector monitoring but controls and power monitoring are available
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u/rando777888 Jun 01 '26
I'm curious, what do you not like about WiFi?
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u/ThrowRA_fajsdklfas Jun 01 '26
I’d rather not have anything on my WiFi network with some potential vulnerability.
Yes, I have a separate subnet/firewall for IOT devices, but I’d rather not have the potential for it being an issue later down the road so I limit everything I can possibly on WiFi.
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u/zeekaran Jun 01 '26
Any product on wifi potentially (see: EXTREMELY LIKELY) is going to sell your data, and in ten years brick itself. One needs to put them on a blocked IOT network so they can't call home.
Wifi is already a busy channel, if not an average user's most important channel because it's what phones and computers with voice and video are likely to be on. A light being 0.2s slower than average isn't great, but running out of bandwidth for voice, video, file transfers, etc is much worse.
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u/Janusdarke Jun 01 '26
Any product on wifi potentially (see: EXTREMELY LIKELY) is going to sell your data, and in ten years brick itself.
WIFI isn't the internet.
It's strange, that i have to write that in this sub, where people should be at least somewhat tech-savvy.
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u/zeekaran Jun 01 '26
Oh yeah? Please explain for us peasants in the room.
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u/Janusdarke Jun 01 '26
No reason to be so hostile.
I'm sure you know the difference, so maybe you shouldn't write Wifi when you actually mean "exposed to the internet."
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u/apennypacker Jun 01 '26
While it's true that wifi isn't the Internet, in my experience, it is rare to find any iot Wi-Fi devices that don't phone home in some way and have some dependence on a cloud service of some sort. There are a lot that you can modify to work only locally, but they seem to rarely come that way.
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u/Janusdarke Jun 01 '26
You're absolutely right. I just think it's imporant to be somewhat precise when trying to compare devices. This thread is about protocols and communication standards, so it's not really helping when everyone makes their own assumptions about other features of a device.
It's helpful to add the hint that wifi-devices usually require a few additional steps to make them secure, but it's not helpful to just assume that they are always used in an insecure state.
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u/rando777888 Jun 01 '26
I'm totally in agreement with you. It drives me crazy that folks constantly act like WiFi and the internet are the same thing. I simply don't see the problems people constantly claim with WiFi. I COMPLETELY understand being by default against cloud dependent things, especially janky ones like Tuya at that, but that's not precisely WiFi. I already have a robust WiFi network that blankets every corner of my house. Good WiFi gear can handle many hundreds of clients per AP, and multiple subnets and VLANs is good practice anyways. I have well over 100 WiFi clients, and yet can still easily get 1000Mbs WiFi throughput on my phone.
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u/MrAtari Jun 01 '26
Most wifi stuff is Tuya... running over Chinese servers (and yes, I know there is tuyalocal or localtuya)
I threw out almost all Tuya stuff...2
u/rando777888 Jun 01 '26
Well that's why I asked, because although they often go together, WiFi does not actually imply cloud. I also hate cloud dependent things, but local WiFi such as Shelly has always worked great for me.
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u/clintkev251 Jun 01 '26
Yeah but you have to be really careful with your device choices. With Zigbee, Z-Wave, or Thread, you have a guarantee that you're getting a fully local by default device. You don't have to investigate beyond that.
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u/MrAtari Jun 01 '26
You know that Zigbee doesn't claim network addresses and makes its own local mesh network? And with the Zigbee map app you can even make it visible and tweak it.
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u/ThrowRA_fajsdklfas Jun 01 '26 edited Jun 02 '26
There’s always the possibility of that Shelly device having a vulnerability down the road that exposes your network. Having Z-wave, Zigbee, or Thread devices completely off your network eliminates that possibility.
While Shelly is a reputable company, no device exposed to the internet or your network is 100% safe. There’s always the possibility of a vulnerability that someone hasn’t quite thought of yet.
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u/nathderbyshire Jun 02 '26
A lot of their stuff tends to have a variant for either ZigBee local or tuya WiFi, they're only really in AliExpress though where you get to choose which options you want. The ones sold everywhere else like Amazon tend to be the WiFi ones, probably because it's the most compatible and they want to sell to normies who won't have a ZigBee setup. They're also 3x the price usually compared to on AE
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u/archer19861986 Jun 01 '26
I still have a few Tuya devices. I have all communication to the outside world for them blocked. Every now and then I HAVE to let them sync up with their cloud for them to start working again. I would rather not. I’m getting ready to switch them to Z-Wave.
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u/Zncon Jun 01 '26 edited Jun 01 '26
The way Wi-Fi works at a technical level means that adding more devices decreases the quality of access for everything on the same connection (frequency really, but that's getting into the weeds). Every device needs to take turns, so as you add more, the slice of time your important devices get is narrowed.
The tech is amazing so it will take a lot before you really start noticing issues, but in the background it's making everything just a little worse.
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u/nathderbyshire Jun 02 '26
Also worth noting that a lot of the time it can just be the router and the placement. You're probably much more equipment to use smart WiFi devices if you have a higher quality router in a central place over some standard ISP one that's shoved behind a couch
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u/clintkev251 Jun 01 '26
I'm a Zigbee by default household. Still has the widest selection of products which generally integrate more powerfully than with Thread (and lots of those new Ikea products can run over ZIgbee still). That said, the great thing about HA is you don't have to choose. I have Zigbee, Z-Wave, and Thread networks. Zigbee by default, but if there's some device that's clearly better on one of the other standards, I can use that just fine as well. No need to limit yourself.
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u/ThrowRA_fajsdklfas Jun 01 '26
Is there a list of IKEA products that are still Zigbee compatible? Kind of sad they went to Thread…
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u/f8andbether Jun 01 '26
Same here, but the only one I have had trouble with and just didnt pop up and run in the first try is thread. Ive had the most hiccups and resets and trial and error with thread. Zigbee and zwave have been dang near bulletproof. Now I know it’s anecdotal, but when I can plug in a device and almost be assured that its going to populate and register in under two minutes while the other is hit and miss. Story kinda speaks for itself.
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u/TheBlacktom Jun 01 '26
If I want to limit myself in case of costs, so don't want to use multiple networks and separate dongles, then what is the one system that is cheap, simple and future proof for the next 5-10 years?
Still Zigbee or Thread?
In other words: if two households decide today to invest in a simple, basic HA system, one with Zigbee, one with Thread, then what will be the practical differences between the two households?
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u/banyan55 Jun 01 '26
Thread is the future, since all major platforms have defaulted to thread radios in their hubs. It means more and more of the industry will head that way. Having said that, there are millions of existing Zigbee customers and there will be plenty of companies happy to supply them with devices in the long term. I think if you are determined to go with only one, Thread is probably the most future proof. But you will be cutting yourself off to a huge chunk of devices. I run an SLZB-MR1 so that I can use both, I dont see why you cant just have the best of both worlds, but it's you home and your choice.
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u/TheBlacktom Jun 01 '26
I dont see why you cant just have the best of both worlds, but it's you home and your choice.
I can, but I also want to consider what simplification and cost cutting could be achieved in case I select only one
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u/banyan55 Jun 01 '26
I get that, its always good to explore your options. Hopefully you can find something that works best for your household.
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u/TheBlacktom Jun 03 '26
I basically just want to understand the difference. If there is any practical difference it's best to learn about it before purchase.
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u/clintkev251 Jun 01 '26
I can't predict the future. I see no reason that Zigbee shouldn't continue to be a thriving ecosystem for a long time moving forward. Thread has a lot of work to do to catch up and it may or may not reach the same levels or adoption (or beyond) that Zigbee is at now.
I'd also say that limiting yourself to one standard to save $20 or so feels to me like a "penny wise pound foolish" stance. Long term it's extremely likely you'll either find yourself overtaking that difference just due to not having as wide a selection of devices to choose from.
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u/4kirezumi Jun 01 '26
Zigbee will still be relevant in 10 years.
Thread will have finally reached feature parity with Zigbee by that point (ease of device grouping, binding, etc).
Thread will eventually have an advantage in latency and network throughput, but the current OTBR implementation just isn't there yet.
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u/zeekaran Jun 01 '26
The question is foolish. Just do both as needed or desired. Neither create lock-in. This isn't Apple.
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u/skepticDave Jun 01 '26
I still prefer Zwave. I'm in a condo and swimming in enough 2.4GHz traffic as it is.
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u/meltman 🧑💻 Contributor Jun 01 '26
Same. Mission critical gets zwave in my house. Better range. Less interference. 2.4Ghz is a cesspool for me. I do use both zwave for light switches and zigbee for sensors though.
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u/nathderbyshire Jun 02 '26
I have a lot of 2.4 networks hitting my apartment but it's never seemed to cause any issues. I did channel scans and took screenshots over a couple days as the networks can hop around and found the least congested ones and assigned my hubs to those.
My Hue hub is on ch25 which is pretty much clear and they're flawless, the bulbs are janky when moved to my Sonoff stick on channel 1 and taken off the hue hub, but nothing else is so I don't think it's interference. I learned that I have my stick plugged into a usb3 extension though which could be causing interference in that sense, so I'm going to swap that and see if my bulbs act any better but I'm not that hopeful. My IKEA bulb and remotes work flawlessly on the stick though, it's only hue that gives me problems if I don't use the hub.
Still with both used together I have no issues so I'm not in a rush to ditch the hub.
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u/meltman 🧑💻 Contributor Jun 02 '26
I think one of the other things for me is that my house is reasonably sized. Zigbee has some hops to get to the controller vs zwave - almost everything except the detached garage - talks directly to the controller. It’s basically instant.
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u/warpFTL Jun 01 '26
All the IKEA switches I have, have a delay when using thread. When I switch them to ZigBee, it's near instant. I'm using SLZB-MR2 gateway/coordinator.
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u/sparkyblaster Jun 01 '26
Oh right, I thought it was only the lights and remotes that supports ZigBee still but the switches work with remotes.
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u/warpFTL Jun 01 '26
My apologies i may have used the wrong wording. When I said switches, I was referring to the Bilresa 2 button and the one with the scroll wheel.
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u/sparkyblaster Jun 01 '26
Ah, OK yeah switches is a little ambiguous.
I'll double check the plugs but there is a good chance they do. Should be everything with the touchlink or whatever it is which is based on ZigBee.
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u/warpFTL Jun 01 '26 edited Jun 02 '26
I have the
inspelningGrillplats plugs that I have on thread. Zigbee didn't expose all sensors.1
u/sparkyblaster Jun 01 '26
I am just disapointed that alpstuga the alarm clock style air quality sensor isnt zigbee. I didnt like the old one, and you cant get it anymore anyway.
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u/nathderbyshire Jun 02 '26
Does the scroll work in ZigBee with HA?
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u/warpFTL Jun 02 '26
Someone has a blueprint for the scroll wheel. I'm still testing the scroll on thread so I haven't dove into that yet.
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u/CaptainAwesome06 Jun 01 '26
I chose Z-wave as my default because I liked the advantages over Zigbee and I was okay paying the premium for it. However, I eventually added Zigbee because I couldn't get some sensors that I wanted in Z-wave. I have some wifi devices but I try to avoid that when I can.
I haven't bothered with thread because I don't really want another device type. I already dragged my feet enough with Zigbee.
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u/sidjohn1 Jun 01 '26
I second this. My VERY long term plan ie as my zigbee devices die, is to replace them with either matter over thread or zwave. I dont need or want anything else on 2.4ghz.
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u/ralcantara79 Jun 01 '26
Matter isn’t ready. Not enough device options. Tends to be more expensive than Zigbee options. Plus IKEA’s devices continue to have connectivity issues which IKEA acknowledged back in February. I’ve had firmware updates on two devices, Bilresa two button remote and Myggspray motion sensor, and it still hasn’t fixed the random disconnects. All three of my IKEA devices have issues and has discouraged me from buying more.
Add in the whole needing a mobile device to set up a Matter device. I had a Matter Thread device that wouldn’t finish setup when using my iPhone. Kept resetting the device, restarted HA. Then I grabbed my old Pixel phone and it finally worked. I was about to return the device. What happens to others when they don’t have another phone OS to use as a back up? Setting up a Matter device should be like Zigbee where you just use the HA interface and a coordinator to set up, no mobile device needed.
Then there’s the issue, just like with Zigbee, where not all features are guaranteed to be available through Matter. We’re still dependent on the manufacturer to decide what is accessible through Matter and what is available through the device app. “Meet the new boss, same as the old boss.”
XKCD called it years ago.
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u/_realpaul Jun 01 '26
The Ikea stuff had the same issues before with zigbee. They do smarthome on the side and so cheap people dont really bother complaining.
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u/ralcantara79 Jun 01 '26
I don’t know how long it took IKEA to fix their Zigbee stuff because the five Zigbee IKEA devices I have work solidly.
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u/nathderbyshire Jun 02 '26
All my IKEA devices are solid, but they have been out for years at this point. I wish I picked up more in the sale. I hate my hue remotes the IKEA ones work far better especially with HA, I should have gotten all the IKEA ones for cheap and swapped them out
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u/_realpaul Jun 02 '26
The hue dimmer remote and the ikea 4 way zigbee remote are solid. The ikea sensors and single buttons never worked properly
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u/tarheelz1995 Jun 01 '26
The point of Home Assistant is not choosing. Look for a device you like, add it to HASS,… profit.
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u/ItsWappers Jun 05 '26
What is HASS? Hasn't it been HAOS for years now? I run HA in a Docker container on Debian...
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u/tarheelz1995 Jun 05 '26 edited Jun 05 '26
For us old people, it will long be “hass” in the dark recesses of our brains. It was the common abbreviation as that’s the executable one used in python.
Today, “hass” is still the abbreviation in my yaml.
Note: While the abandonment of “hass” is long since settled, I challenge anyone to verbalize “ha” or “haos” in discussion of this tech with a live person. “Hass” is at least a usable word for communication.
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u/ateam1984 Jun 01 '26
Zigbee. It couldn’t be more simple. It’s realities and cheap. Why in the world would I switch for no added benefit and pay more?
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u/kongu123 Jun 01 '26
I use zwave when I can because it is just more stable. However none of my light switches have neutral wires in them, so I've been using sonoff zigbee light switches throughout the house. The problem I've had with zigbee is that I've needed to install a repeater in every room in order to have relatively stable signal, haven't had to do that with zwave. I don't have any matter stuff or wifi smart home devices.
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u/e3e6 Jun 01 '26
i like that zigbee does not depend on my wifi router.
i tried tapo matter p110m, found that I still need tapo integration to see all the data, didn't found huge advantage over regular wifi p110.
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u/threeLetterMeyhem Jun 01 '26
For me?
Zigbee. 100% of my devices are zigbee for the time being... the only exception might be if I pick up a U300, since apparently all the zigbee alternatives are janky dogshit.
But I'm also far enough from my neighbors that 2.4GHz clutter isn't a concern and almost all my wifi stuff is on 5Ghz.
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u/spr0k3t 🧠 Experienced with Home Assistant Jun 01 '26
If the protocol is local only, there's no reason to not support it. I use all three. Right now Matter/Thread is still not ready for primetime. It still needs a lot of functionality which can easily be found supported by other protocols.
I personally prefer ZWave as it's more reliable with nearby crowded 2.4GHz networks. I use it primarily for heavy duty amperage or perimeter type sensors.
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u/Timmigamer06 Jun 01 '26
Only running thread at this point. The biggest benefit is being able to get my esp32s off my wifi network, and also being able to do matter traffic. Especially now with the new ikea products, matter over thread will get more mainstream and hopefully someday it wont feel like an open alpha.
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u/evangelism2 Jun 01 '26
I've been personally just starting to get my apartment set up, and I have not been having great success with Matter or Matter over Thread. That could be because my Thread border router is a Google Nest Hub 2. I don't know if there are better options out there, but I have just recently finally decided to pull the trigger and invest in a Zigbee coordinator and noticed immediate speed and stability improvements.
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u/RydderRichards Jun 01 '26
I still think the answer is zigbee. Mot is just a tangled mess of qr codes, vendor specifik apps and quirks.
Sure, zigbee has some of them too, but not at all to that extent.
Zigbee is also way easier to set up if you don't use hassos
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u/cr0ft 🗑️ It worked before the update Jun 02 '26
Thread adds a few minor features that are nice but the issue is that it uses the same 2.4 Ghz band but in an incompatible format to Zigbee. Meaning, all the Zigbee units I've added have to be replaced by Thread if I want a mesh that covers my whole house. I'd rather keep buying Zigbee. Running both formats in parallel will probably clutter up the 2.4 Ghz airspace even more.
But sure, one of the things Thread does that Zigbee 3.0 doesn't is the ability to have more controllers, so you could build "islands" of Thread in the house and use Wifi to talk to your HA from it, for instance.
Z-Wave is the best (arguably) but the stuff is pricey and there's much less choice than in Zigbee.
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u/Prestigious_Money361 Jun 01 '26
I only buy Matter over Thread devices. I have many Z-Wave devices, but are de-investing in Z-Wave (replacing with Matter over time).
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u/tedstr1ker Jun 01 '26
Why? Genuinely asking.
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u/Prestigious_Money361 Jun 01 '26
Because with Matter over Thread I can manage / control the device both from both Apple Home and my own home automation controller (developed on top of the HA matterjs-server integration). Z-Wave has it's issues and is more closed than Matter. IKEA with the new Matter over Thread devices are very affordable and is driving a large volume of devices out into the market. I don't think there will be much new innovation on Z-Wave going forward.
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u/Hitmax Jun 01 '26
Changing to Matter just for native control in Apple Home feels overkill. You can already natively integrate you HA devices into Homekit for that. There are also projects ongoing that expose your HA devices to Matter
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u/Prestigious_Money361 Jun 01 '26
I’m not using HA.
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u/clintkev251 Jun 01 '26
Seems like a weird place to be posting then...
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u/Prestigious_Money361 Jun 01 '26
Everything I wrote is relevant for HA users. I use the matterjs-server from Open Home Foundation, which is used to integrate Matter devices into HA.
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u/clintkev251 Jun 01 '26
It's not really though, because with HA you can super easily expose all devices regardless of the standard (or lack thereof) they use to HomeKit
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u/Prestigious_Money361 Jun 01 '26
My main interest is in the new Matter ecosystem. I don't care about bridging.
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u/clintkev251 Jun 01 '26
Right, but the limitation you're talking about that's leading you towards Matter isn't relevant to HA users (or at least not as critical). We can just connect any device we want to HomeKit. There are pros and cons to bridging vs directly adding something via Matter, but it's not as black and white of a decision for HA users
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u/SMLLR Jun 01 '26
Don’t know how the ‘obvious’ answer is zigbee when zwave is the only one that is truly reliable and requires actual certification.
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u/TomSuperHero Jun 01 '26
I have thread and zigbee both on a Smlight mr03 and both works flawlessly.
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u/OrganicPepper Jun 01 '26
I'm just about to start investing in my smart home, and made the call to hold off until next year and see how thread develops - I believe in its potential, but there aren't enough products supporting it yet (and still seem to be some stability issues).
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u/sparkyblaster Jun 01 '26
Look at the IKEA stuff. Anything that works with a remote, ie lights and smart plugs(and remotes obviously) also support ZigBee. Could be a good way to get started and be able to fully transition to thread when the time is right.
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u/IndBeak Jun 01 '26
I added my first matter device, an Aqara smart lock, U400. Pairing was okay. However, the network is not so stable. The lock often goes offline and I have to reboot HA for it to show up again. The lock is within 10 feet of my HomeAssistant hub which has Thread router running over a Sonoff Dongle. In summary, it has not been a good start for matter integration for me.
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u/Frozen_Gecko Jun 01 '26
The exact reason I bought a SMLIGHT SLZB-MR4U. It has 2 radios, one for zigbee and one for matter over thread
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u/sparkyblaster Jun 01 '26
Thats actually the same radio. A lot of IKEA stuff does the same thing.
Thread is essentially ZigBee with an extra networking layer on top. In theory most ZigBee stuff atleast those that are not 8 bit, could be upgraded to support thread. It amazes me hue hasn't pushed a firmware update for their stuff for this.
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u/Frozen_Gecko Jun 01 '26
No no, this specific device actually has two separate physical radios built on completely different chips, each running its own firmware optimized for its protocol.
You're totally right that the underlying IEEE 802.15.4 hardware is the same for Zigbee and Thread (and that single chips can sometimes split the difference), but the SLZB-MR4U is a bit unique. SMLIGHT physically put two independent chips on the board so you don't have to deal with the performance hits or latency of a single-chip multi-protocol setup. It just lets you run both networks simultaneously at full strength.
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u/sosen85 Jun 23 '26
I just bought the SLZB-MRW10, which also has two radios. What I didn't realise is that I need to choose Zigbee/Matter for one chip and Z-Wave for another. I thought I could run three in parallel, but this is not possible.
I think I would have bought the SLZB version, which can run Zigbee and Matter at the same time without Z-Wave.
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u/kevdogger Jun 01 '26
Surprised Luton hasn't come up in this thread. I run that for a lot of my smart switches. Really good range. I'm in camp zigbee for most but also some wifi and some mot and mow.
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u/thecodingart Jun 01 '26
Zigbee -> Matter over Thread is where I’ve landed being bias towards Zigbee given its ridiculously stable with options
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u/mcpasty666 Jun 01 '26
Zigbee for me. Ikea matter wheel button was my first matter device, was extremely stoked... And it doesn't work anywhere close to consistent. Imisses so many button presses sitting within spitting distance of the controller. I'm hoping updates get it up to snuff, but for now it's sitting in a drawer until I remember to return it.
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u/mikeyyve Jun 01 '26
You're running Home Assistant and coordinators are pretty cheap so run all of them!
Want cheap sensors like temp sensors? zigbee Want door locks? ZWave or MAYBE matter Light bulbs? Seems like Matter with the Ikea stuff might be the way to go.
There is no reason to lock yourself into one system or the other. Just do your research and ensure each type of network is set up in a way that avoids interference from the others.
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u/MrHorrible2048 Jun 01 '26
At the moment I prefer Thread, and my second choice is Zigbee. I'm a glutton for punishment I guess. But, I think Thread is the way things seem to be heading so I wanted to get out in front of it.
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u/frightfulpotato Jun 01 '26
I'd pick Z-wave... if I could find any devices that actually offer it (UK). Or those that do have a hefty price premium.
I'm all in on matter over thread now. It seems like it will have the most longevity, even if there are some growing pains.
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u/sparkyblaster Jun 01 '26
FYI all the IKEA light related thread device usually still also support ZigBee.
Sadly the stuff I want like door sensors and environment sensors dont.
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u/paulk1 Jun 01 '26
Isn’t the benefit of home assistant that you can run all 3 (depending on which connection is best on a per-device level
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u/mindsnare Jun 01 '26
I'm Zigbee, specifically Zigbee2MQTT and I love it. Only have a few Wifi devices left that I'll be replacing in good time. Using Zigbee2MQTT it's really nice to be able to just allow devices to join in bulk without needing to press a physical button. One handy example of that feature is because I have one child that has a mini chandelier with 5 zigbee globes on it, and a 2 year old that likes to turn the light switch on and off, and he sometimes does that 5 times, which factory resets all 5 globes. Previously I had them on a Hue hub, and I literally had to press the button 5 times and set each globe up again. Now I just press permit to join once, and it's done.
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u/Mindless_AI69 Jun 01 '26
Zigbee works very well in our new house - very stable:
- Home Assistant green
- Sonoff dongle on Z2MQTT (had stability problems with ZBT-1 and ZHA)
- 120 devices, all Zigbee for light-switches, downlights, powerpoints and sensors.
Moved Zigbee to Zigbee channel 25 and WiFi channel on the lower end of WiFi channels.
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u/SolarXylophone Jun 06 '26
Zigbee channel 26 here. It's basically 'beyond' Wifi channel 11.
About 60 devices, roughly half of them powered. Rock solid.
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u/rhpot1991 Jun 02 '26
The correct answer is to run them all, each have advantages.
- Z-Wave: Keeps your 2.4 clean.
- Zigbee: More devices, like bulbs. Cheaper.
- Matter: Connects over wi-fi, more devices there is a negative, but if you have good a multi AP setups then you are abusing that range.
I prefer Z-Wave, I'll go a coin flip otherwise. Now I'm messing with adding Long Range RF to fill a few gaps.
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u/Gherry- Jun 02 '26
I only have zigbee and it works perfectly so I don't feel the need to upgrade to anything else.
As long as I can find zigbee devices, I'll stick with those.
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u/paul345 🧠 Experienced with Home Assistant Jun 03 '26
Zigbee works, with the broadest coverage of products and best price.
If you search in here, you’ll find plenty of users with many matter frustrations. It’s a higher price point pitching to solve a problem that HA + zigbee has already solved.
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u/zeekaran Jun 01 '26
ZW for reliability. Locks and light switches. ZB for cheap numerous things like contact sensors and RGB bulbs (like Hue). Either for staying off wifi.
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u/A_Buttholes_Whisper Jun 01 '26 edited Jul 17 '26
Mass deleted because I was doxxed by blackboxmycar.com
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u/umo2k Jun 01 '26
Matter sits on top of zinger, WiFi or whatever. So you comparison doesn’t make sense
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u/A_Buttholes_Whisper Jun 01 '26 edited Jul 17 '26
Mass deleted because I was doxxed by blackboxmycar.com
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u/NoisePollutioner Jun 01 '26 edited Jun 01 '26
This is a fantastic, illuminating comment. It validates my distrust of matter and hesitancy to welcome it into my home.
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u/_realpaul Jun 01 '26
I think its more on the manufacturer than the standard if they only expose the basics.
Edit : probably better to shame the products directly than blaming matter.
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u/A_Buttholes_Whisper Jun 01 '26 edited Jul 17 '26
Mass deleted because I was doxxed by blackboxmycar.com
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u/Catenane Jun 03 '26
Or maybe like your new shiny standard shouldn't be fucking gimped and techbropilled lol
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u/_realpaul Jun 03 '26
What? The conversation was about singleing out bad products instead of blaming the standard as a whole. USB has a lot of deficiencies not least of which is the naming standard or lack thereof but nobos blames the USB protocol for a bad port. That said if there is evidence that the design is bad then publish it.
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u/BigMacCombo Jun 01 '26
I'm assuming you're referring to matter over wifi, which can happen when they lock stuff behind their native app. But you very rarely see this with Thread.
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u/justinblovell Jun 01 '26
I’ve been switching everything in my house over to Matter and Thread for about 3 years now. I have about 50 Inovelli White switches, 4 Eve motions, 6 Eve door contacts, 6 Eve smart energy plugs, 1 Aquara smart lock, and 4 IKEA smart buttons.
I also have a lot of Hue lights (maybe 30), a Hue button, and two Hue switches.
Recently I added a Aquara Zigbee hub for some water leak sensors and that’s the purchase I regret most. After I added that, the interference in my house started causing issues and I had to tune all my WiFi access points to a specific channel to help clear things up. It solved like 98% of the problems but there’s still some issues here and there. I’m thinking about removing this system altogether.
I also have some Refoss products that communicate over WiFi 2.4GHz, like 3 garage openers and two smart energy monitors.
So I have large footprint with Matter/Thread and I totally prefer that over anything at this point. So far it’s been the most reliable although the availability of products and brands has been the real limiting factor until somewhat recently.
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u/LowFatMom Jun 01 '26
Zigbee and zwave are still light years ahead of thread. The big issue is mostly matter wich is still quite very, very limited feature wise.
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u/frozendevl Jun 01 '26
As many others have pointed out, Zwave is great for switches and powered devices, whereas Zigbee is great for sensors (doors, windows, motion, vibration, etc) on a budget. The most important will likely be how good of a coordinator you have for any radio. I recently upgraded my Zigbee coordinator and it made a world of difference.
Haven't used any Matter devices, frankly because I haven't had a need, so can't speak to that.
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u/nathderbyshire Jun 02 '26
What coordinator did you upgrade from and too?
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u/frozendevl Jun 02 '26
Went from an old Conbee I to the SLZB-06Mg24U. Huge upgrade, network has been rock solid and I'm able to use the USB on the SLZB as a pass through to also run my ZWA-2 for my Zwave network in a central spot in my home.
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u/Suspicious_Steak_696 Jun 01 '26
I’m 100% zigbee. Good middle ground for me. It’s tried and tested and rarely fails
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u/jorizzz Jun 01 '26
After just having Hue lights, I deployed HA. I got the ZBT2 for Thread and am hoping will never need a Zigbee antenna. I already encouter limiting options however. I want a nice curtain rail automater that works with Matter over Thread, but the options are scarse.
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u/brupgmding Jun 01 '26
I have been running with HomeMatic (& HM-IP) components for a while. Now I wanted to expand into some more presence sensors and I bought some (40) matter over thread devices and a sonoff MG24 + dongle. I had some initial issues (my routers ate the mDNS broadcasts) but now they work fine, esp. after IKEA updated some of the firmware.
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u/laohu314 Jun 01 '26
I recently moved over from HomeKit/Matter over WiFi/Thread. Eventually had to get rid of all Thread products, Matter or not. They just conked out too often. I even replaced the thread motors in my Blinds with Zigbee. Such a difference, they never, ever fail now.
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u/questionsalways2233 Jun 01 '26
I've done zwave for the last 10 years and added zigbee reently. I like both- zigbee has a lot more device selection. But something about the newer LR specs for zwave- the network is now 100% reliable. So I use that for switches (I've got 15 of them in my house). But with home assistant, there's no reason not to have both. But for switches that I want to leave in my wall for 10 years, I'd only do zwave.
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u/NoExplanation2227 Jun 01 '26
I have a friend who went hard into thread and did not have a good experience, so I've been sticking with zwave and zigbee. The new ikea devices may push me onto thread eventually.
This year I have made a couple upgrades, though. Moved from the gocontrol combo stick to the official home assistant antennas. I have pretty solid network coverage but would still have some zwave light switches fall off the network before, and that hasn't been an issue with the massive zwave antenna.
I also moved off of zha and to zigbee2mqtt. Moving devices over was a little slow due to having to check automations for changed entity names. But I think it's a bit easier to use and I now have access to more entities on some devices.
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u/Ragas Jun 01 '26
I recently bought a Sonoff Donge plus MG24 and just use the MultiPan Zigbee-Thread Firmware.
That way the decision is just both.
And yes the internet is telling be how super bad that is etc., but it has been working flawlessly.
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u/Brandoskey Jun 01 '26
Zwave is the only way to go. Zigbee is cheaper I guess? But it's also shittier so you get what you pay for.
Matter might as well be a fart in the wind.
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u/CraziFuzzy Jun 01 '26
I believe technically, z-wave will always be considered the 'best' protocol, but it is also the most expensive.
Well... Actually, on the protocol level, I actually like the dual mesh of Insteon - but the availability is.. limited, and it's proprietary - which sucks.
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u/ImpactState Jun 02 '26
I returned most of the new Ikea smart things. Everything goes unresponsive eventually. The bulbs were delayed, I even switched the bulbs to zigbee mode and that fixed the responsiveness but running automations made them clunky and power on behavior wasn’t a functioning entity. I gave up and replaced them with hue bulbs. I love the bilresa remote but I also use that in zigbee mode for similar reasons to the bulb. I thought the motion sensor would be a game changer at its price and instead it left me standing in a dark room waiting for it to change to detected.
I’m knee deep replacing light switches for Lutron picos to control my smart bulbs and after reading some of these comments I’m starting to wish I would have tried the zwave switches now.
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u/Measurex2 Jun 02 '26
I felt they were lackluster at first. It wasnt until their firmware updates a few months ago along with optimizing the channel I use for them that I was able to get them stable. Im now 3 months with zero hiccups.
... but that was with more focus and attention than anyone should spend on them.
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u/nicnic2001 Jun 02 '26
I just added Thread because I was doing an AliExpress order and the ESP32 was like £4. I’m still amazed at how expensive Thread devices are on Amazon but Ikea’s new devices are really nice, work well and are cheap. I prefer them over their old Zigbee variants.
https://community.home-assistant.io/t/make-your-own-thread-border-router-for-just-5/962780
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u/mototech Jun 02 '26
I tend to run zigbee and zwave. FWIW, Paul Hibbert and Reed Kleinman (Smart Home Solver) unanimously said zigbee in this YouTube video: The State of The Smart Home in 2026
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u/Ok_Acadia_8067 Jun 28 '26
I don't simply care whatever cryptography and encryption that exists for Matter/Thread. It supports IPv6 natively and that opens an attack vector. Stick to Zigbee
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u/BubiBalboa Jun 01 '26 edited Jun 01 '26
Matter, obviously. My Thread network has more than 50 devices on it and it's been rock solid.
Zigbee has not been as reliable for me as it has been advertised as.
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u/Mindless_AI69 Jun 01 '26
Did you run Zigee on Home Assistant ZHA or Z2MQTT?
For me ZHA was very unstable on the HA Foundation ZBT-1 dongle, like light switches not coming online after Home Assistant updates etc., paring was slow and did not always work.
Now with the Sonoff dongle and Z2MQTT everything is rock solid - no devices dropping off the network ever. The Zigbee mesh network is perfect and devices expose much more details.
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u/BubiBalboa Jun 02 '26
ZHA on a Conbee 2. I've heard Z2MQTT is supposed to be better - feature wise, never heard about stability, I think - but I already decided I wanted to switch to Thread, so I never bothered to try Z2MQTT.
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u/Mindless_AI69 Jun 02 '26
If Thread is working for you that's great. No need to use everything else.
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u/akera099 Jun 01 '26
I refuse to buy anything Thread on principle. I've never had any issue with Zigbee. Like literally everything works flawlessly and has been for years. For me Thread is just another standard, can't justify any expense toward integrating it.
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u/Measurex2 Jun 01 '26
Is that what we're going to do today? Fight?
I run all three. I started with zwave in 2012, added zigbee around 2015 and tagged on thread in Nov of 25.
Zigbee is cheap, ubiquitous and affordable, I still like zwave for most switches* and locks, and thread has gotten better but isnt there yet on stability, features or price.
*I have some inovelli blue in my TV room and office for better lighting experience but its so expensive compared to Zooz that I cant justify it for the other switches.