IKEA Alpstuga air quality sensor
Hacker ApprovedAir quality sensor in Networking & smart home
A cheap CO2 and PM2.5 monitor that people find good for spotting ventilation trends. Critics say its CO2 sensor is indirect and drifts, so the absolute values are unreliable.
A cheap CO2 and PM2.5 monitor that people find good for spotting ventilation trends. Critics say its CO2 sensor is indirect and drifts, so the absolute values are unreliable.
18 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 15
- criticize it
- 3
- approval share
- 83%
Recommended in 5 of 13 months
- November 2025: not recommended
- December 2025: not recommended
- January 2026: recommended
- February 2026: not recommended
- March 2026: recommended
- April 2026: not recommended
- May 2026: 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 carries the badge
- 15 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, met.
- 5 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 5 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
Low price for CO2 and PM2.5
“Teardowns confirm that ikea has been able to put a great quality sensor for such a low price.”
Comment from 19 Mar 2026 in “IKEA Alpstuga Teardown” “Ikea makes a reasonably priced CO2 and 2.5 micrometer particle air quality monitor.”
Comment from 15 Jan 2026 in “Ask HN: What did you find out or explore today?” “Ikea now makes the most affordable PM2.5+CO2 sensor, at $35 a no-brainer”
Comment from 4 Jul 2026 in “The bottleneck might be the air in the room” - Comment from 4 Jul 2026 in “The bottleneck might be the air in the room”
- Comment from 4 Jul 2026 in “The bottleneck might be the air in the room”
Good enough for ventilation trends
“the sensor is fine to get a general feeling of the CO2 trends”
Comment from 16 Jan 2026 in “Ask HN: What did you find out or explore today?” “it's well good enough to see if the room is ventilated enough”
Comment from 4 Jul 2026 in “The bottleneck might be the air in the room” Teardowns show a good sensor
“Teardowns confirm that ikea has been able to put a great quality sensor for such a low price.”
Comment from 19 Mar 2026 in “IKEA Alpstuga Teardown” “You can also get the IKEA one which uses a good sensor”
Comment from 4 Jul 2026 in “The bottleneck might be the air in the room” Reported as fairly accurate
“in my experience it’s much more accurate than that”
Comment from 4 Jul 2026 in “The bottleneck might be the air in the room” “I found from dhh that are quite accurate.”
Comment from 24 Oct 2026 in “Air Purifiers as White Noise Machines”
What people warn about
Each mark is one comment
Thermal conductivity sensor, indirect CO2 method
“it uses a thermal conductivity sensor, which is a very indirect method of measuring CO2”
Comment from 4 Jul 2026 in “The bottleneck might be the air in the room” “It is a thermal conductivity sensor, which is a very indirect way of measuring CO2”
Comment from 4 Jul 2026 in “The bottleneck might be the air in the room” “I would avoid the Ikea ALPSTUGA, it uses a thermal conductivity sensor”
Comment from 4 Jul 2026 in “The bottleneck might be the air in the room” Drifts, so values are unreliable
“So the trend will be correct and the values will not be.”
Comment from 4 Jul 2026 in “The bottleneck might be the air in the room” “it continuously drifts, so it's not like you can use a particular offset.”
Comment from 4 Jul 2026 in “The bottleneck might be the air in the room”
What people said
23 of the 24 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“I found from dhh that are quite accurate.”
“You can get a decent CO2 meter from stores like IKEA.”
“the ikea one is a great option”
“So the trend will be correct and the values will not be.”
“Ikea now makes the most affordable PM2.5+CO2 sensor, at $35 a no-brainer”
“You can also get the IKEA one which uses a good sensor”
“A price of 30 EUR makes this sensor really easy to pick up.”
“it continuously drifts, so it's not like you can use a particular offset.”
“in my experience it’s much more accurate than that”
“ALSTUGA does not work with Zigbee.”
“It is a thermal conductivity sensor, which is a very indirect way of measuring CO2”
“it uses a thermal conductivity sensor, which is a very indirect method of measuring CO2”
“I would avoid the Ikea ALPSTUGA, it uses a thermal conductivity sensor”
“It's much cheaper and smaller because the CO2 sensor in it is using different (newer) technology”
“it's well good enough to see if the room is ventilated enough”
“There are worse devices for less like the IKEA alpstuga.”
“remarkably cheap ($35) air quality monitor”
“after leaving them in the bedrooms for a few days”
“There are better cheap sensors available now, like the one in the $30 IKEA Alpstuga”
“Teardowns confirm that ikea has been able to put a great quality sensor for such a low price.”
“the sensor is fine to get a general feeling of the CO2 trends”
“That’s exactly the CO2 monitor I have ;)”
“Ikea makes a reasonably priced CO2 and 2.5 micrometer particle air quality monitor.”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.