Zigbee Gateway Hubs and Apps Explained
Why do I need a Zigbee hub?
You need a compatible Zigbee gateway hub to set up and use the smart features of your Zigbee lights, switches and sensors. Once they’re connected, you can control your lights from your phone, set them to turn on at certain times, or have a motion sensor turn on the hallway light as you walk past.
What does a Zigbee gateway hub do?
When you add a new device it's called pairing. It’s like a host introducing two guests at a party. If you are adding a light, you use the app to introduce your new zigbee light to the hub. They do a quick digital handshake, and the hub remembers the light so you can control it from your phone or set it to come on automatically. The hub is also a gateway to the internet allowing you access from outside the home.
Buying your first Zigbee lights or switches?
Start with the Basic Zigbee Hub. It’s our pick if you just want to control a few lights or switches from your phone with the Smart Life app and you can get one free when you spend over $99 (just add it to your cart).
Add the Basic Zigbee Hub to my cart
Looking for something a bit better?
- Use Apple HomeKit? We recommend the Zemismart M1.
- Fitting out a larger home? Choose the X5 Super Gateway for a setup with more devices.
- Using Home Assistant? The EyZEE MG24 Gateway connects your Zigbee devices to it.
"If you want to turn a few lights on from your phone, start with one room. Ian’s usual recommendation is the Smart Life app and the basic Zigbee hub. You can add more devices as you go and decide later whether you want a system you can customise further."
Which Zigbee hub should I choose?
| What you want to do | Where Ian would start |
|---|---|
| Control a few lights, switches or sensors from your phone | Basic Zigbee Hub. Start here for your first room or a small lighting setup. Check the product page for the current free-with-purchase offer. |
| Use Apple HomeKit as part of your setup | Zemismart M1. This is the option Ian generally recommends when Apple HomeKit matters to you. Tell us which devices you want to bring across so we can help check compatibility. |
| Plan a large two-storey home or a project with many devices | X5 Super Gateway. Recommended for larger homes or projects. Can handle up to 500 devices in Zigbee or Bluetooth BLE. |
| Add Zigbee devices to Home Assistant the easy way | EyZEE MG24 Gateway. Use EyZEE Core/Home and this hub Auto discovers and connects Zigbee to your Home Assistant to setup Zigbee devices. |
Basic Zigbee Hub · Zemismart M1 · X5 Super Gateway · EyZEE MG24 Gateway
What happens when the basic hub arrives?
Once your lights or switches are installed and powered, pop into our welcome page and let the videos and simple step by step documents walk you through the setup and give you links to the phone app.
When would I choose Home Assistant?
If local control, open source, no lock-in and ability to control miltiple brands on one platform are important to you, then consider Home Assistant. It runs on a small computer in your home that you can setup and configure how ever you like. Normally the learning curve is much steeper however for a simplified Home Assistant experience we have developed EyZEE Core that will install everything needed in a few minutes.
EyZEE Core is software for people who already have Home Assistant setup or want to supply their own equipment. It gives you simple guided screens for adding devices, naming rooms, linking switches and creating routines. Our setup videos walk you through the setup process using a Raspberry Pi. EyZEE Core setup video
EyZEE Home "making smart easy" coming soon as a package for people who want the ease of plug in the power and ten minutes later start controlling their smart devices. EyZEE Home is the central equipment needed to create an open source local first smart home. Simply connect power and a network cable, then follow the setup screens.
Can I start with Smart Life and move later?
Yes. you can move from Smart Life app to Home Assistant at anytime as most of our devices will work on either platform.
If you’re unsure where to start, tell us which room you want to make smarter, what you already own and how you’d like to control it. Call Smart Homes Matter on 04 6806 2390 and we can help you choose.