Ecobee thermostat
Smart thermostat in Networking & smart home
Recommended for local control with Apple Home and Home Assistant and for automating HVAC settings. Critics point to vendor cutting support for older devices and showing ads.
Recommended for local control with Apple Home and Home Assistant and for automating HVAC settings. Critics point to vendor cutting support for older devices and showing ads.
17 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 5
- criticize it
- 12
- approval share
- 29%
Recommended in 4 of 13 months
- November 2025: recommended
- December 2025: recommended
- January 2026: not recommended
- February 2026: not recommended
- March 2026: not recommended
- April 2026: not recommended
- May 2026: not recommended
- June 2026: not recommended
- July 2026: recommended
- August 2026: not recommended
- September 2026: not recommended
- October 2026: recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it doesn’t carry the badge
- 5 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, not met.
- 0.4 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, not met.
- Recommended in 4 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Works with Apple Home and Home Assistant
“Ecobee allows local control via Apple Home without using their app.”
Comment from 30 Dec 2025 in “What tech purchase did you regret even though reviews were great?” “I am happy with the ecobee and its HA integration.”
Comment from 4 Nov 2025 in “NoLongerEvil-Thermostat – Nest Generation 1 and 2 Firmware” “they work nicely with homekit”
Comment from 4 Nov 2025 in “NoLongerEvil-Thermostat – Nest Generation 1 and 2 Firmware” Automates HRV and away mode settings
“we use it to automatically drive our HRV”
Comment from 4 Jul 2026 in “The bottleneck might be the air in the room” “It should set away mode how you need.”
Comment from 6 Nov 2025 in “IKEA launches new smart home range with 21 Matter-compatible products”
What people warn about
Each mark is one comment
Vendor cuts support for older devices
“They've done the exact same thing as Google Nest by bricking their older hardware.”
Comment from 4 Nov 2025 in “NoLongerEvil-Thermostat – Nest Generation 1 and 2 Firmware” “Ecobee killing their developer portal. Very sad.”
Comment from 4 Nov 2025 in “NoLongerEvil-Thermostat – Nest Generation 1 and 2 Firmware” Shows ads and banners in app and device
“Ecobee has a banner that shifts everything down most of the time that you open the app.”
Comment from 18 Jul 2026 in “TP-Link Kasa cameras leaked home GPS via unauthenticated UDP for 6 years” “today they showed me an ad ON MY THERMOSTAT.”
Comment from 16 Oct 2026 in “New Withings Users Must Pay $99/Year for Apple Health Syncing”
What people recommend instead
The same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Criticize | Approval | Months | Owned | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nest Thermostat | 11 | 53 | 17% | 4 | 10 yrs5 owners | — |
| Ecobee thermostatThis page | 5 | 12 | 29% | 4 | — | — |
What people said
20 of the 22 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“almost all "smart" appliances have this flaw”
“you should try to return them”
“today they showed me an ad ON MY THERMOSTAT.”
“I immediately questioned why anyone would want it”
“they added the feature on purpose some years back”
“The two that I have run into so far that I can't change are OpenRouter and Ecobee.”
“the downside being that it's way more expensive than OP's solution”
“Ecobee has a banner that shifts everything down most of the time that you open the app.”
“we use it to automatically drive our HRV”
“Ecobee locked HomeKit and some other stuff behind their Security+ Subscription”
“the worst is that it doesn’t show up immediately, but after a second and it’s location is where I just went to tap to enter my thermostat”
“Ecobee allows local control via Apple Home without using their app.”
“I'm the only one in the family that knows how to change the temperature now.”
“Their air quality sensor is horribly inaccurate.”
“It should set away mode how you need.”
“They've done the exact same thing as Google Nest by bricking their older hardware.”
“they work nicely with homekit”
“Ecobee killing their developer portal. Very sad.”
“the Ecobee has no way to command them, it's just a binary call to the Taco pump for heat / no heat”
“I am happy with the ecobee and its HA integration.”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.