Samsung SmartThings
Ranked 6 of 6 smart home hubs by recommenders
Recommended as the best off-the-shelf smart home platform, especially inside its own ecosystem. Critics mainly object to new API fees and missing local control.
Recommended as the best off-the-shelf smart home platform, especially inside its own ecosystem. Critics mainly object to new API fees and missing local control.
12 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 5
- criticize it
- 7
- approval share
- 42%
Recommended in 4 of 13 months
- November 2025: recommended
- December 2025: not recommended
- January 2026: not recommended
- February 2026: recommended
- March 2026: not recommended
- April 2026: not recommended
- May 2026: not recommended
- June 2026: recommended
- July 2026: not 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.
- 0.7 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
Best off-the-shelf smart home platform
“Samsung probably has the best "off-the-shelf"”
Comment from 13 Oct 2026 in “Apple HomeView” Works best within SmartThings ecosystem
“Hybrid approach; still best when used inside SmartThings”
Comment from 6 Nov 2025 in “IKEA launches new smart home range with 21 Matter-compatible products” TV can act as home hub
“Use the TV as a HUB for all IOT”
Comment from 24 Oct 2026 in “Root shell on Samsung TV”
What people warn about
Each mark is one comment
Paid subscription and API fees
“Imagine paying a Korean company five bucks a months so you can get a notification on your phone”
Comment from 31 Aug 2026 in “It takes 5 cloud services to hear my doorbell” “upcoming Samsung SmartThings API pricing means things will have to change soon”
Comment from 25 Aug 2026 in “It takes 5 cloud services to hear my doorbell” “now charging $5/month to use smarthings with no local control”
Comment from 22 Jul 2026 in “LG to Ban Residential Proxies from Smart TV Apps” - Comment from 22 Jul 2026 in “Samsung to remove free SmartThings API usage, soon to be 4,99 for individuals”
Limited features and lost local control
“certain things I want to do are just not possible with SmartThings”
Comment from 6 Dec 2025 in “Self-hosting my photos with Immich” “now charging $5/month to use smarthings with no local control”
Comment from 22 Jul 2026 in “LG to Ban Residential Proxies from Smart TV Apps”
Other smart home hubs people recommend
The four most recommended other smart home hubs, with 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Home Assistant | 298 | 75 | 80% | 13 | 2 yrs17 owners | Approved |
| Apple HomeView | 95 | 149 | 39% | 6 | — | — |
| Zigbee2MQTT | 16 | 2 | 89% | 6 | — | Approved |
| Homebridge | 13 | 1 | 93% | 7 | — | Approved |
| Samsung SmartThingsThis page | 5 | 7 | 42% | 4 | — | — |
What people said
11 of the 12 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“Use the TV as a HUB for all IOT”
“Samsung probably has the best "off-the-shelf"”
“Imagine paying a Korean company five bucks a months so you can get a notification on your phone”
“upcoming Samsung SmartThings API pricing means things will have to change soon”
“now charging $5/month to use smarthings with no local control”
“that button in Apple home is not worth 5€/month for me”
“Samsung owns SmartThings, a smart home platform.”
“certain things I want to do are just not possible with SmartThings”
“Samsung broke the integration about a year ago and there still isn't a solution”
“Then it went down hill couple of years after the acquisition.”
“Hybrid approach; still best when used inside SmartThings”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.