The best Matter devices to expand your smart home network

A few days ago I had a problem with my Home Assistant setup. Long story short, what happened is that the hard drive’s file system got corrupted, most likely due to a Home Assistant update that didn’t complete properly, but the fact is I had the whole system down for quite a while. I already talked about it on the podcast and in the corresponding blog post, but in the end it took me about 1 hour to fix it… and during that hour, the 35 devices that depend on Home Assistant were inaccessible. However, from the Home app on HomeKit, I could still see the rest of the native HomeKit devices and, of course, the Matter devices since they’re able to connect to both platforms simultaneously, both HomeKit and Home Assistant. The other 35 devices were zigbee devices or devices that don’t support HomeKit, which I publish in the Home app using Home Assistant as a universal bridge, so when the bridge goes down… well, they simply don’t show up anywhere, even though the devices themselves keep working as usual.

What would have happened if the setup had broken completely?

Imagine if the NUC where I have Home Assistant installed had completely died. I don’t know… say the processor or the RAM fries, or any kind of physical failure you can’t fix in 1 hour. I could have bought the original bridges for the zigbee devices I own, basically Aqara and Philips Hue, and paired the devices again with their respective bridges, which are indeed compatible with HomeKit. Or I could have considered replacing those 35 devices with Thread or Wi-Fi devices, but either in their Matter version or in versions compatible with HomeKit.

Why don’t Matter-compatible zigbee devices exist?

Basically it’s because zigbee devices need a specific antenna, which is why manufacturers like Aqara or Philips Hue need to use either their own bridge or a compatible 3.0 bridge, which is the function Home Assistant performs. However, modern devices like Apple’s HomePods, the Apple TV 4K, the latest Amazon Echoes, and even the Google Nest Hub already have a Thread antenna, so we don’t need any other bridge to link those devices.

And what about Matter-compatible bridges?

It’s a way for us to have a bunch of old devices with zigbee connectivity (which are cheaper than Thread and Wi-Fi ones, let’s be honest) that can connect to several platforms simultaneously, regardless of whether it’s HomeKit, Home Assistant, Google, etc. If you have a bunch of zigbee devices that work perfectly fine… you’re not going to go and replace them all (I am going to do it, but only because I’m an idiot), so the easiest thing is to swap the bridge for one that’s Matter-compatible, and that way the bridge can link to any platform and publish all the devices connected to it there.

And you’ll say: but Shellys aren’t Matter

This topic really gets me fired up. The folks at Allterco, who make Shelly, said back in late 2023 that we’d have Matter support… but no, we’re still waiting… buuuut, if we flash the Shellys with the HAA firmware, we get extra-pairing, a feature unique to this firmware that lets you link the Shelly to several devices simultaneously, so we can have it linked to both HomeKit and Home Assistant with no problem at all. That said, remember that Shellys don’t have Thread connectivity and connect via Wi-Fi. We’ll go into more detail about that later. Well then, it seems pretty clear, doesn’t it? To avoid this happening to us again, when a bridge like Aqara’s, Hue’s, or the universal bridge that both Home Assistant and Home Bridge provide fails, the most ‘reliable’ approach is to use Matter devices, so we can have them in Home Assistant and in the Home app simultaneously but with independent connections, so that neither platform depends on the other. With that in mind, I’m going to recommend some Matter devices to expand our smart home network. Let it be said upfront that there are plenty of brands jumping on the Matter bandwagon, some cheaper and some pricier than the ones I list here… but these are the ones I have experience with. I tend to avoid super cheap brands (the typical Matter-compatible Chinese bulbs from super obscure brands) as well as manufacturers that cost an arm and a leg, like Legrand, which has a whole platform to make your home lights smart but is extremely expensive and strays from the ‘homey’ idea.

Lights

During the Smart Home Consultations, I’ve noticed there are a lot of LED strip fans out there. That’s not really my case; at home we usually keep a soft, always-warm light, and I don’t even bother changing the bulb temperature throughout the day because I really don’t like white light except in the kitchen. Either way, there are interesting Matter-compatible products that let you expand as needed (you can connect LED strips to each other): The Nanoleaf Matter Essentials, which you can buy directly on Amazon for €64 for the 5-meter strip. I really like this brand; I’ve had some ‘essential’ bulbs for years and honestly they work really, really well, although mine, despite being Thread, were never updated to Matter. In any case, the LED strip connects via Thread and is Matter-compatible with no issues. And then there’s the Govee LED strip, also available on Amazon, which is somewhat pricier but has the feature of being very ‘moldable’, which is why people use it to make shapes and drawings on the wall. I don’t know, I’m not a big fan of this… but maybe you’d be interested in making a heart on the wall that lights up red when you say «Hey Siri, make me fall in love», the way my friend Luis does it 😀 Why didn’t I include the Eve or Aqara strips here, given that you already know they’re my favorite brands? Simply because they’re not Matter! Eve’s is HomeKit-compatible but not Matter… and Aqara’s needs its own bridge. It’s true that Aqara’s bridge is Matter and you can connect it to both Home Assistant and HomeKit simultaneously, but that’s not the point, since if the bridge fails you won’t be able to access the devices behind it. And… that’s it. If you were waiting for Matter-compatible bulbs, we could talk about the ones from Nanoleaf and Linkind, which are a bit cheaper… even Ikea’s! But honestly, I think that unless you need a bulb to change color at a specific moment, it’s no longer worth putting in smart bulbs. My recommendation is to keep good old conventional bulbs (which are much, much cheaper) and put a smart relay like the Shellys we talked about earlier, or Sonoffs (see next section), behind the switch so you can turn the light on and off from your phone, with a voice assistant, or with whatever automation you want. You’ll save a lot of money, get the same effect, and on top of that simplify the network, since if the Wi-Fi, the connection, or all the devices fail, the switch will keep working like a good old regular switch.

Smart switches

Right now there are no Matter-compatible smart switches. There are some Thread ones, like Eve’s, which I’m obsessed with despite its €100 per switch price tag, but it’s not Matter yet (they say it will be), so I’m not including it in the list. We also have Tapo’s (TP-Link), which ‘claim’ to be Matter-compatible… but that’s actually not true; they say that because they require TP-Link’s switch, which is Matter-compatible, so you can connect it to whatever platforms you want… but we still need the bridge, which isn’t great at all, so we’re not including it either. Also, smart switches tend to be flimsier than the traditional ones. In my house I have Simon switches that have been installed since it was built with no issues… but the Aqara ones, on the other hand, have already given me problems and I’ve had to replace many of them because the internal contact pins break, since they’re made of plastic: Buuuut, there’s a much cheaper solution: putting a smart relay behind the switch. And here we do have some interesting options! First of all, focusing on the native option, we have the Sonoff MINIR4M, which goes for around €17 on Amazon. It’s a relay that requires a neutral wire and connects via Wi-Fi, though since it’s Matter-compatible you can link it to all your platforms. It works really, really well and installation is super simple (as long as you have a neutral wire behind the outlet; otherwise you’ll have to install it in the junction box) And then there’s my favorite option, Shelly’s smart relays, which I really love. As you know, I’ve been using this brand for years, and not only have they never given me any trouble, but I also keep discovering new things about them every so often. In fact, a few days ago I talked about this on the podcast, but if we flash the Shellys with the Home Accessory Architect firmware (HAA for short), we can link it to multiple environments just like I mentioned before! The flashing process is really, really simple, but I won’t go into it in this post since that’s not its purpose 🙂

To buy Shellys, you can do so at https://shellyspain.com, and with the code SAHUQUILLO you’ll also get an extra 10% off.

Others, like Philips Hue’s or Aqara’s, ‘claim’ to be Matter but they’re not, since they need the manufacturer’s original bridge or a universal bridge like Home Assistant.

Presence and motion detectors

Here we need to distinguish between a traditional motion sensor, like the ones in bar bathrooms where the light turns off as soon as you stand still, and presence sensors, which know whether you’re in the room even if you’re not moving. I think that for our everyday needs, like turning lights on and off, arming the alarm, locking the door, etc., a motion sensor is more than enough… but it’s true that during the smart home consultations, situations sometimes come up, like my dog being in the living room but asleep, so I don’t want the heater to turn off just because there’s technically someone home and I need the house to stay warm… and a motion sensor wouldn’t detect that. Also, presence sensors allow for silly things like having the reading light turn on if I sit down in the corner of the living room where I usually read! In other words, they’re able to know which area of the room we’re in and automate things accordingly. Like I said, kind of silly—maybe I’ll just walk through that part of the living room without intending to read. Oh, and they can also detect falls, which can be important if you have elderly people at home or something like that. Needless to say, they’re MUCH pricier than motion sensors. Either way, the motion sensor I like the most is Aqara’s new P2, available on Amazon for €33. It’s true that the previous model was practically identical but used Zigbee technology and was much cheaper… but hey, the current one is Thread and Matter and doesn’t need the bridge, so you’re saving money on that front instead. The folks at Eve also have a Thread and Matter motion sensor available on Amazon for 49 little euros. As you know, I love this brand… but it does exactly the same thing as the Aqara one, and the Aqara is even smaller and cheaper, so I’ll stick with Aqara’s. Heads up: the ONVIS sensor I’ve mentioned before is Thread but not Matter! That means it will connect without issues to a Thread border router without needing a bridge, but we won’t be able to link it from 2 different platforms, like Home Assistant and HomeKit, or HomeKit and Alexa if you have Echo Dots or whatever. And as for presence sensors, if that’s really what you need, Aqara’s FP2 model costs €82 on Amazon, though it’s always on some sort of discount and right now goes for €72… but honestly, I’m not a fan at all. Not only do I not see it as necessary, but on top of that presence sensors consume more power and need to be plugged into the mains… and they have to be placed at mid-height to detect zones and falls… I don’t know, it all seems way too complicated. Right now I have 2 motion sensors, one inside a closet that detects when the door opens to turn on the light, and another one by the entrance above the doorbell box, but in neither case could I put a presence sensor there, plus it wouldn’t give me anything extra for what I need.

Plugs

To control some small lamps or the bathroom heater, the kids’ console, and stuff like that, I have Eve plugs, which are also Thread and Matter. Even so, you can find Eve’s smart plug at Macníficos for €39, which I think is a great price 😀 There are some cheaper options that are just as interesting, for example the Meross, which is also Matter (though over Wi-Fi, not Thread) and costs less than half, at €19… but I’ll stick with Eve because none of mine have ever failed and I find it a bit nicer-looking. What we’re looking for are Matter devices that let us do away with bridges, so if a device is Thread but not Matter, it’s no good for our purposes… but if it’s Matter and not Thread because it connects via Wi-Fi, then it works fine. Eve, for example, has plenty of Thread devices that aren’t Matter (at least for now), so I haven’t included them in this roundup.

Door and window sensors

Since I’m an idiot, on my front door I have 2 open-door sensors: the Eve one, which works wonderfully and is Thread and Matter—you can also find it at Macníficos for €49—and it features Thread and Matter technology… and the new Aqara P2, which costs €32 on Amazon and is also Thread and Matter. As you can see, both work equally well, so go with the Aqara one and save yourself a few euros.

Smart buttons

We have the Onvis, which you can find for €39 on Amazon with a 15% discount, and which is also Thread and Matter for automating some quick actions. In my case I use them for the small lamps, since I put a smart bulb in them, so I can turn them on and off from the button without cutting power, and set it up so, say, at night it turns on at 20% and during the day it turns on at 100%. Aqara, Shelly, Sonoff, and even Philips Hue also have their own buttons—some nicer looking than others—but they’re all zigbee for now, so we can’t include them in this list.

Smart locks

As you know, in the Telegram group we collaborate with a locksmith who adapts the Tedee smart lock and puts together a package with the cylinder and shield for you, so you can keep your home as secure as a castle with one of the best smart locks out there… but it’s not Matter, so this time we won’t be talking about the Tedee… in fact, the company isn’t even registered on the official Matter alliance page, so it doesn’t look like their locks are getting updated anytime soon. However, the 4th-generation Nuki Pro is now Thread and Matter compatible, which is awesome! You no longer need the Nuki Bridge to open your house remotely when someone arrives. You no longer need to link it through its own app. You no longer need the workarounds that used to be required to differentiate between opening the door and unlocking the door. Honestly, all of this has improved a ton! It’s true that the Tedee’s battery lasts a lot longer and it’s a bit quieter, but in terms of security there’s no difference at all, and the Nuki is Matter-compatible, so I’d go with this one. It’s on sale on Amazon for €229, which is a really great price.

Smart vacuums

Surprised by this section, aren’t you? There’s actually a catch, because when version 1.2 of the Matter standard was released, the folks at Switchbot said they were launching the K10+ model, Matter-compatible. In reality the vacuum itself isn’t Matter-compatible… but Switchbot’s small Bridge or Hub is, so if you have the bridge, then the vacuum becomes Matter-compatible. Sure, and if my grandma had balls she’d be my grandpa. In the end you’re depending on a bridge, which is exactly what we’re trying to avoid, so it’s left out of the recommendations. And then there’s Roborock, with their top-tier model, the S8 MaxV Ultra (they went a little overboard with the name; I would’ve called it «16-valve turbo super saiyan Blue»), which you can find for 1500 little euros on Amazon… and which will at some point be Matter-compatible without needing a bridge, according to the product page, but at the moment it still isn’t. It seems compatibility will arrive via a firmware update… but as I said, at the moment it’s still not there, so it doesn’t quite deserve a spot on this list either… but hey, if you need to buy a top-tier vacuum right now and can’t decide which one to get, it might be a good idea to buy this Roborock model knowing it’ll be compatible soon.

Security cameras

We’ll reserve this section, but at the moment there’s no Matter-compatible camera 🙁

Smoke detectors

None here either; we’ll reserve the section and keep expanding it.

Water leak sensors

There are zigbee ones, but no Matter ones yet. Anyway folks, the thing is, a while back I told you I didn’t think it was worth replacing zigbee devices with Matter devices… I’m not going to say otherwise now, since manufacturers are taking the opportunity to raise prices under the excuse of standard compliance—just look at Aqara’s sensors, which have gone from costing under 15 euros to just under 40—so if a device works fine, I wouldn’t replace it… but what I do recommend is that any devices you buy from now on, whether to expand your network or to replace one that stops working, should always be Matter.