Zigbee Z-Wave Home Automation

Comments strongly recommend Zigbee and Z-Wave protocols, often with Home Assistant, for reliable local smart home devices like lights and plugs, preferring them over WiFi or cloud-dependent alternatives.

➡️ Stable 0.5x Hardware
2,826
Comments
19
Years Active
5
Top Authors
#8930
Topic ID

Activity Over Time

2008
2
2009
3
2010
6
2011
4
2012
37
2013
20
2014
83
2015
110
2016
99
2017
103
2018
73
2019
165
2020
187
2021
195
2022
396
2023
506
2024
380
2025
451
2026
6

Keywords

ZB ADT KNX ABB MQTT AliExpress HomeAssistant ELI5 IKEA MikroTik zigbee wave home assistant wifi devices assistant home dongle matter thread

Sample Comments

jrockway Jul 18, 2014 View on HN

Uh, just use Zigbee or something similar?

tehlike Jul 29, 2025 View on HN

Homeassistant + zigbee/matter or local wifi is the way to go...

tehlike Aug 30, 2018 View on HN

Almost all ha devices use zigbe/zwave. You only need node in main ui, not a big problem

TheCoelacanth Jan 7, 2020 View on HN

Wouldn't something like Zigbee or Z-Wave better for a lightbulb or plug?

darkwater May 17, 2025 View on HN

Just buy the ZigBee versions, they work beautifully with HA

sgt Jun 24, 2024 View on HN

Doesn't it also need a Zigbee gateway?

wyager Jun 26, 2022 View on HN

Ikea uses zigbee. Better for this purpose than wifi or BT (but sadly not much).

noamchomsky1 Sep 21, 2023 View on HN

you still need a hub for zigbee connectivity right?

Semaphor Mar 9, 2022 View on HN

Either the switches, or, usually easier, the bulbs. As sibling said, Zigbee, but there is also Z-Wave (z-Wave is bigger in the USA, stricter. Zigbee, bigger in Europe, is more open, but you can get devices that suck in some way if you do no research). There is some new thing that’s related, Thread/Matter something, but I didn’t look into that yet.

vardump Dec 15, 2022 View on HN

I'm using no cloud Zigbee home automation. Seems to be very reliable and has really great range thanks to the mesh networking. It's also really simple.Zigbee allows using multiple vendors with ease, not tied to just one manufacturer.Again, no internet connection required.