Last updated: 14 October 2026. I checked every price in this smart home starter kit guide that day.
By Stiv · Design, technology and personal finance
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Apple, Google or Alexa, and 49 things to put in it
A smart home starter kit is one decision followed by a handful of purchases. The decision is whose app you want to open when a lamp will not turn off: Apple Home, Google Home or Alexa. After that, each route needs a speaker, a hub with a screen if you want one, and then the cameras, sensors and plugs that hang off it. Most of that kit now speaks Matter, so a bulb or a plug moves with you if you change sides later. Meanwhile the cheapest way in is an Echo Dot at £79.99, and it is also the only hub in this guide that cannot run battery sensors.
Start here / The hub question
Do you still need a hub for a smart home starter kit?
Yes. Without one, every brand keeps its own app and none of them can talk to each other.
My recommendation is the same whatever you buy: start with the hub, then hang everything off it. Plenty of kit sells itself as needing no hub, and in a narrow sense that is true. A Tapo bulb works from the Tapo app. The trouble arrives at device four, when the lights are in one app, the plug is in a second and the doorbell is in a third, so none of them can trigger each other. A hub turns that pile into one app, one voice assistant and automations that cross brands.
All three platforms require one in any case. Apple's home hub page says you must set one up before the Home app will take a Matter accessory. Google says the same for Google Home. Amazon, meanwhile, publishes a list of which Echo and eero models carry a Thread border router.
Wi-Fi devices and Thread devices
A Matter device talks over Wi-Fi or over Thread. Wi-Fi suits anything plugged into the mains, such as a bulb, a plug or a camera. Thread is a low-power mesh, so it suits battery kit: door sensors, motion sensors and leak sensors. The catch is that Thread devices need a Thread border router, and not every hub has one.
The speaker, the screen and the rest. Each route below starts with its speaker, then its screen hub, then the products that suit it. The three screen hubs are Apple HomeView, Google's Nest Hub and Amazon's Echo Show 8. Everything else I have tested and priced for a smart home sits in my smart home guides.
Ten ways in, and which of them can run battery Thread sensors. Tap or click the chart to open it full size.
Route 01 / Apple Home
Smart home starter kit for Apple Home
The tidiest app of the three, and since 13 October it finally has a screen.
Apple's route changed on 13 October. At its Welcome Home event Apple launched HomeView, a new Apple TV, the HomePod mini 2 and four LG security products built for Apple Home. Every hub Apple now sells has Thread, so there is no longer a cheap box that cannot run sensors. On the other hand, everything costs more than it did, and most of it is on pre-order.
HomePod mini 2, £149 at Apple.
HomePod mini 2
The cheapest box Apple sells that runs a whole Apple Home, and a kitchen speaker on top.
Apple's home hub page names three things that can run Apple Home: HomePod, HomePod mini and Apple TV. The mini is the cheap one. The 2026 model has the S10 chip, Wi-Fi 6E and Thread, so it runs battery sensors as well as plugs and bulbs. As a result, the one £149 purchase covers the speaker and the hub.
I run my own home on Apple Home with HomePods, so this is the route I know best. My HomePod mini 2 page has the full spec, the five colours and the Sound Glow light on top.
The pre-order date. It arrives from 30 October. Siri AI follows later in a software update, so on day one it answers like the old HomePod mini.
£149 at Apple, on pre-order
HomePod in white and midnight, £349.
HomePod
Buy it when the sound matters as much as the automation.
The full-size HomePod does the same hub job as the mini, with much bigger sound. A pair of them runs as a stereo pair, and four HomePods (second generation) can now make a surround system with the new Apple TV 4K. My best smart speakers guide sets it against Sonos and the Echo Studio on sound alone.
The price per room. At £349 it costs more than twice the mini. For hub duty alone, the mini does the same job.
£349 at Apple
Apple HomeView, £299 for either model.
Apple HomeView
It is Apple's answer to the Echo Show and the Nest Hub.
For years Apple sold no screen for the home at all. HomeView is the first. It is a 7-inch touchscreen with a speaker, and Apple calls it "a central hub for your smart home accessories". It has Thread built in, shows up to nine camera feeds at once and recognises up to six people by their face.
There are two versions at the same £299. The countertop model sits on a domed speaker base. The wall model is 9.8mm thin, but it needs a Schneider Home mount from £54.95 plus a cable and a power adapter, so it costs at least £353.95 once it is up. My Apple HomeView page has both models side by side.
The wait. It arrives from 13 November. Until then, an iPad on a stand running the Home app is the nearest thing to it.
£299 at Apple, on pre-order
Apple TV 4K, £299, from 13 November.
Apple TV 4K
There is one model now, and it carries Thread.
Until 13 October Apple sold two Apple TV boxes, and only the dearer one had Thread. The new Apple TV 4K comes in one version, 128GB with Ethernet, so that trap has gone. It also has three microphones, so you can talk to Siri across the room without the remote.
In practice it suits a house where the TV is in the middle of everything, because it stays plugged into the router and never wanders off to the garden like a speaker. My Apple TV 4K page compares it with the 2022 model.
The £100 jump. The cheapest way into a new Apple TV is now £299, against £199 the day before the event.
£299 at Apple, on pre-order
LG Video Doorbell Wired, £229.95.
LG Video Doorbell Wired
Apple's own pick for the front door, from the new Apple Home Collection.
Apple chose LG to make the cameras and doorbell for its Home Collection, and they pair with one tap of an iPhone. The doorbell has a 2.5K camera facing out and a second camera pointing down at parcels on the step. Meanwhile it runs off existing 16 to 24V doorbell wiring rather than a battery.
I covered the whole range in my Apple Welcome Home event guide.
Not on sale yet. Apple's UK store shows it as coming later, with the collection due from December. Wired also means it needs existing doorbell wiring.
£229.95 at Apple, coming later
LG Indoor Cam Plug-in, £179.95.
LG Indoor Cam Plug-in
A camera that physically looks away when someone is home.
It is my favourite of the four LG products. It tilts up to watch the room when everyone is out, then tilts down when the first person gets home, so you can see at a glance that it is not recording you. It comes in Essence White.
Not on sale yet. Like the rest of the collection, it is listed as coming later on Apple's UK store.
£179.95 at Apple, coming later
LG Outdoor Cam Plug-in, £279.95.
LG Outdoor Cam Plug-in
It covers the garden or the drive, in colour after dark.
The outdoor camera has colour night vision and plugs into the mains, so there is no battery to charge on a ladder. Like the doorbell, it sets up from an iPhone over NFC and appears straight in the Home app.
The plug socket. Plug-in means you need an outdoor socket or a cable run near where it goes.
£279.95 at Apple, coming later
LG Floodlight Cam, £349.95.
LG Floodlight Cam
It puts a camera, a 1,780-lumen light and a siren in one box.
The floodlight camera adds a siren you can set off from the Home app. It is the one to fit over a back door or a side return, where a light that comes on by itself does as much work as the camera.
The price. At £349.95 it is the dearest camera in this guide, and it is not on sale yet.
£349.95 at Apple, coming later
Aqara Camera G100, £36.99.
Aqara Camera G100
HomeKit Secure Video for under £40, while the LG range is still on its way.
If you want a camera in Apple Home before December, this is the cheap way in. The G100 records 2K video, works indoors or outdoors, and supports HomeKit Secure Video, so the footage goes through Apple's own end-to-end encrypted system. It also takes a microSD card of up to 512GB for local recording.
The iCloud+ plan. HomeKit Secure Video needs a paid iCloud+ plan: £0.99 a month covers one camera and £2.99 covers up to five. Clips do not count against your iCloud storage, but Apple records them at up to 1080p rather than the full 2K.
£36.99 on Amazon UK
Eve Energy, £39.95.
Eve Energy
The Thread plug that Apple households tend to end up with.
Eve built its range for Apple Home first, and the Eve Energy is a UK plug that talks Matter over Thread. That means it joins the mesh your HomePod runs, rather than adding one more thing to your Wi-Fi. It also measures the power the thing plugged into it uses. I use Eve Energy plugs myself.
For the full plug comparison, including the Tapo and the Aqara, see my best smart plugs guide.
The price. At £39.95 it costs more than twice the Tapo P110M further down this page.
£39.95 on Amazon UK
Aqara Smart Lock U200 and keypad, £199.99.
Aqara Smart Lock U200
Tap your iPhone or Apple Watch on the door, the way you pay for a coffee.
The U200 fits over the inside of your existing lock, so you keep your door and your key. It supports Apple Home Key, which turns an iPhone or Apple Watch into the key, and it talks Matter over Thread. Aqara lists European mortise locks as compatible and rules out rim locks, the nightlatch type on many UK front doors, so check your lock against its list first.
The multi-point door. Many UK uPVC doors lock by lifting the handle, and a retrofit lock cannot lift the handle for you. Check your door before you buy.
£199.99 on Amazon UK
Route 02 / Google Home
Smart home starter kit for Google Home
Thread comes as standard, and Google sells very little hardware of its own.
Google's route is the cheapest way to get Thread from day one. Its own range is small, though: the Google Store UK's smart home section lists a speaker and two cameras, and the Nest Hub screen was out of stock when I checked. So a Google house leans on other brands sooner than the other two routes.
Google Home Speaker, £99.99.
Google Home Speaker
The one Google box that does speaker, hub and Thread in one.
Google publishes two lists of hubs: those that handle Matter over Wi-Fi only, and those that handle Wi-Fi and Thread. The 2026 Home Speaker sits on the second list. So a single £99.99 purchase covers bulbs, plugs and battery sensors.
On 14 October the smart home section of the Google Store UK still held just three products: this speaker and two Nest Cams.
The subscription push. Gemini in Google Home needs Google Home Premium, which is £8 a month or £80 a year for the standard tier.
£99.99 at the Google Store
Nest Hub (2nd gen), £89.99 at Google.
Google Nest Hub (2nd gen)
Google's screen for the kitchen, and the cheapest of the three screen hubs.
The Nest Hub is a 7-inch screen with a speaker, and it is on Google's Wi-Fi and Thread hub list, so it runs battery sensors too. At £89.99 it costs less than the Echo Show 8 and less than a third of Apple HomeView.
The stock. The Google Store lists it at £89.99, but every colour was out of stock. A third-party seller on Amazon UK has it at £229.99, more than twice Google's price, so check its plug type and returns terms if you cannot wait for Google to restock.
£89.99 at the Google Store, out of stock
Google TV Streamer (4K), £99.
Google TV Streamer (4K)
It costs the same as the speaker and sits on the same Thread list, but it lives by the TV.
At £99 the Streamer replaces a Chromecast behind the television and carries the hub job at the same time. Equally, it is the better choice in a house with thick walls, because it sits by the router and stays plugged in.
The streaming box you may not want. As a hub alone it is a large thing to buy for a job the speaker also does, and it has no speaker of its own.
£99 on Amazon UK and at the Google Store
Nest Cam Indoor (wired, 3rd gen), £62.99.
Nest Cam Indoor (wired, 3rd gen)
The camera that looks most at home in the Google Home app.
It is £89.99 at the Google Store and £62.99 on Amazon UK. It drops straight into the Google Home app with almost no setup, with a live thumbnail on the Favourites tab.
The subscription. Video history needs Google Home Premium, so price the plan over three years before you buy two cameras.
£62.99 on Amazon UK
Nest Cam Outdoor (wired, 2nd gen), £89.99.
Nest Cam Outdoor (wired, 2nd gen)
It records 2K outdoors and costs £30 less on Amazon than at Google.
The wired outdoor Nest Cam is £119.99 at the Google Store and £89.99 on Amazon UK. It runs off a cable, so there is no battery to bring in and charge every few weeks.
The same plan. It leans on Google Home Premium for history, exactly like the indoor camera.
£89.99 on Amazon UK
Tapo D235 battery doorbell, £89.99.
Tapo D235
It costs half as much as Google's own doorbell, which was out of stock.
Google's own Nest Doorbell (battery) is £179.99, and the Google Store listed it as out of stock. The Tapo D235 is the cheaper alternative: a 2K battery doorbell from the brand behind the plug further down, and TP-Link says it works with Google Assistant and Alexa.
The Tapo app. It is not a Matter doorbell, so setup and recordings live in the Tapo app, with Google Assistant on top.
£89.99 on Amazon UK
The £79.99 Echo Dot is the only hub in this guide that cannot run battery Thread sensors.
Route 03 / Amazon Alexa
Smart home starter kit for Alexa
The cheapest way in, the widest hardware range, and one split to plan around.
Amazon sells more of its own smart home kit than Apple and Google put together, from the £29.99 Blink Mini 2 to a ten-piece Ring alarm. The split to plan around is Thread: the plain Echo Dot does not have it, and every other Echo hub here does.
Echo Dot, £79.99. No Thread radio.
Echo Dot
It is the cheapest way into any of the three routes, with one gap.
£79.99 buys a smart speaker and a Matter controller, which is enough for bulbs, plugs and cameras. It cannot run Thread sensors, though. Amazon's own Thread border router list names 20 Echo and eero devices, and the Echo Dot is not one of them.
The Thread gap. Battery sensors need Thread. If you expect to add door or motion sensors, buy the Dot Max now rather than a Dot twice, or get Thread from an eero router.
£79.99 on Amazon UK
Echo Dot Max, £119.99.
Echo Dot Max
It costs £40 more than the Dot, and it runs battery sensors.
The Dot Max is on Amazon's Thread list, so it covers the sensor job the plain Dot cannot. It is also louder, so the upgrade buys better sound as well as Thread.
The small speaker. It is still a small speaker. If music is the point, the Echo Studio below is the one to buy.
£119.99 on Amazon UK
Echo Studio, £219.99.
Echo Studio
It is Alexa's big speaker, with Thread built in.
The 2025 Echo Studio has a more compact design, plays spatial audio with Dolby Atmos and is on Amazon's Thread list. My Echo Studio page has the full spec and the Alexa+ details.
The price against the Dot Max. For hub duty alone, the £119.99 Dot Max does the same job for £100 less.
£219.99 on Amazon UK
Echo Show 8, £199.99.
Echo Show 8 (2025)
Alexa's screen hub, and the closest thing to Apple HomeView for two-thirds of the price.
The 2025 Echo Show 8 has an 8.7-inch screen, a camera for video calls and a Thread border router, according to Amazon's list. It shows camera feeds, recipes and your devices as buttons, so it does the same job as HomeView and the Nest Hub.
The price gap. At £199.99 it costs more than twice the £89.99 Nest Hub, although the Nest Hub was out of stock when I checked.
£199.99 on Amazon UK
Echo Hub, £169.99.
Echo Hub
It is a control panel you screw to the wall, and you can buy it today.
An 8-inch touch panel that mounts on the wall and shows your devices as buttons rather than a voice command you have to remember. It carries Thread, so it covers the sensor job too. Apple's HomeView has a wall version now, but the Echo Hub is £129 cheaper and you can buy it today.
The power cable. It wants a power cable run to wherever you hang it, and it is a control surface rather than a speaker you would play music on.
£169.99 on Amazon UK
Blink Battery Doorbell 2K+, £69.99.
Blink Battery Doorbell 2K+
The easiest doorbell to set up in an Alexa house.
Amazon owns Blink, which is why setup is the simplest of any doorbell here and why the price is low. It comes with the Sync Module Core and shows head-to-toe video. I have written up living with the Blink doorbell, and my Blink doorbell page has the plans.
Blink's Alexa-only lock-in. Blink is Alexa kit, not Matter kit. If you move to Apple Home or Google Home later, the cameras do not come with you.
£69.99 on Amazon UK
Ring Battery Video Doorbell 2K, £79.99.
Ring Battery Video Doorbell 2K
It is Amazon's other doorbell brand, for £10 more.
Ring is also owned by Amazon, and its 2K battery doorbell is the one to pick if you want the Ring app and Ring's wider range of cameras and alarms. Otherwise it does the same job as the Blink.
The same lock-in. Ring, like Blink, stays behind if you leave Alexa.
£79.99 on Amazon UK
Blink Mini 2, £29.99.
Blink Mini 2
The cheapest camera on this page.
A plug-in camera with a spotlight, two-way audio and colour night view, for under £30. It shows up on an Echo Show when you ask Alexa to show you the room.
The plan. Smart notifications need a Blink subscription plan, so check the plan price before you buy three.
£29.99 on Amazon UK
Blink Outdoor 2K+, £89.99 with the Sync Module Core.
Blink Outdoor 2K+
A battery camera for the drive or the garden.
Wireless, weatherproof and 2K. The camera needs a Blink Sync Module to connect, so this listing includes the Sync Module Core. If you already own a Sync Module, the camera on its own is £79.99.
The batteries. It runs on batteries, so it needs a ladder trip when they run down.
£89.99 with the Sync Module Core on Amazon UK
Ring Alarm Pack L, £289.99 for 10 pieces.
Ring Alarm Pack L
A whole burglar alarm in one box.
The 10-piece pack has a base station, a keypad, four contact sensors, three motion detectors and a range extender. Amazon pitches the large pack at two and three bedroom homes. It is the closest thing on this page to a starter kit in a single box.
The size of the box. £289.99 is a lot to commit before you know whether you want an alarm at all. Contact sensors on the doors cost far less.
£289.99 on Amazon UK
Buy once / Works with all three
Smart home kit that works with all three
Everything here works in Apple Home, Google Home and Alexa, except where I say otherwise.
This is the part that makes the whole thing cheaper than it used to be. Pick the hub for the app you like, then buy Matter kit underneath it. If you change your mind in two years, it costs you one box rather than a houseful.
eero 7, £169.99 for one unit.
eero 7 mesh Wi-Fi
A router that doubles as a Thread border router, which fixes the Echo Dot problem.
Every device on this page talks to your Wi-Fi, and a smart home starter kit adds a dozen of them in a weekend. A weak router therefore shows up as a plug that drops out, not just as slow Netflix. I have lived with eero mesh at home, and my eero review covers the day-to-day.
eero lists the eero 7 as a Thread border router, and Amazon's Thread list names it too. As a result, an Alexa house on a plain Echo Dot gets its Thread radio from the router instead.
The Alexa-only Thread network. Apple's and Google's hub lists do not include eero. In those houses, keep the HomePod mini or the Google speaker as the border router and treat the eero as very good Wi-Fi.
£169.99 for one unit on Amazon UK
Aqara Hub M100, £34.99.
Aqara Hub M100
A USB stick that brings Aqara's cheaper sensors into any of the three apps.
Some Aqara sensors, including the leak sensor and the smoke alarm below, use Zigbee rather than Matter. The M100 is a Zigbee hub and a Matter bridge, so it can pass Aqara Zigbee devices through to Apple Home, Google Home or Alexa; check Aqara's list for the sensor you want. It is also a Thread border router.
One more box. It is a second hub behind your main one, and it needs a USB power socket.
£34.99 on Amazon UK
Aqara G410 doorbell and chime, £129.99.
Aqara Doorbell Camera Hub G410
A doorbell that is also a Matter controller, a Thread border router and a Zigbee hub.
It is a 2K doorbell with HomeKit Secure Video, and it brings Aqara's sensors along with it, because it is a hub as well. Face recognition runs on the device rather than in a cloud account.
The iCloud+ plan. HomeKit Secure Video needs a paid iCloud+ plan, from £0.99 a month for one camera, and it records below the doorbell's full 2K.
£129.99 on Amazon UK
Hue Bridge and two Essential bulbs, £55.99.
Philips Hue starter kit
One bridge, and the lights answer to Apple, Google and Alexa at once.
Hue lists Alexa, Apple Home, Google Home, SmartThings and Matter, which is the widest support of anything here. The entry kit is the Hue Bridge plus two Essential B22 bulbs, and the Bridge is what makes the rest of the range work properly rather than over Bluetooth. I reviewed the newer Bridge Pro separately if you are weighing the upgrade. For which bulbs, strips, switches and sensors to buy room by room, my smart lighting guide goes much further.
The third box. The Bridge sits on the shelf next to the hub you already bought.
£55.99 on Amazon UK
Hue Essential colour bulb, £19.99.
Philips Hue Essential colour bulb
The bulb to add room by room once the Bridge is in.
Hue's Essential range is its cheaper line, and this bulb does white and colour. It works over Bluetooth on its own, then joins the Bridge for automations and the other apps.
The fitting. This Amazon listing is the E27 screw-in bulb. For B22 bayonet lamps, Hue sells the B22 version for the same £19.99 on its own store.
£19.99 on Amazon UK
Hue Go, £65.
Philips Hue Go
A rechargeable lamp you can move from room to room.
The Hue Go is rechargeable and does white and colour. Hue rates this version for indoor use only, and the outdoor-rated Hue Go table lamp is a different, dearer model. It needs no wiring, so it is the easiest way to put a smart light somewhere a bulb cannot go.
The seller. On Amazon UK it was sold by a third party when I checked, rather than by Amazon itself.
£65 on Amazon UK
Hue Lightstrip Plus v4, £98.70.
Philips Hue Lightstrip Plus
It puts light behind the TV, run from the Bridge you already have.
Nothing sells a smart home to a doubtful household faster than a strip of light behind the television or under a kitchen unit. The Lightstrip Plus v4 is two metres long and joins the same Bridge as the bulbs.
The price per metre. Hue's strip is expensive per metre, the extensions add up, and the Amazon listing was a third-party seller.
£98.70 for two metres on Amazon UK
WiZ RGBIC strip, ten metres for £32.50.
WiZ RGBIC LED strip, 10 metres
It is five times the length of the Hue strip for a third of the price.
WiZ is Signify's other brand, its strips carry Matter, and ten metres is £32.50. It is the one to buy for under a bed or along a shelf.
The colours. WiZ needs its own app for setup, and its colours are less exact next to a Hue bulb in the same room.
£32.50 on Amazon UK
Tapo P110M, £14.98.
Tapo P110M
Matter certified, and it tells you what the thing plugged into it costs to run.
This is the cheapest way to make something ordinary behave, and the energy monitoring turns it into a measuring tool as well as a switch. It is the pick in my best smart plugs guide, and there is a longer P110M review.
The 2.4GHz-only radio. TP-Link's specification says 2.4GHz Wi-Fi only, so a phone on the 5GHz band can make setup fiddly. Switch bands for two minutes and it behaves.
£14.98 on Amazon UK
Aqara Door and Window Sensor P2, £26.99.
Aqara Door and Window Sensor P2
Open the front door and the hall light comes on.
Sensors are what turn a set of remote-controlled lamps into a house that does things by itself. The P2 is a Thread device, so it runs for months on a battery and joins the mesh instead of your Wi-Fi.
The Thread border router. On an Echo Dot alone it will not work. It needs a HomePod, a Google speaker, an Echo Dot Max or an eero.
£26.99 on Amazon UK
Aqara Motion and Light Sensor P2, £33.99.
Aqara Motion and Light Sensor P2
Lights that come on when you walk in, and only when it is dark.
It senses motion and light level together, so an automation can switch the landing light on at night and leave it alone at midday. Like the door sensor, it is Matter over Thread.
The same Thread rule. It needs a Thread border router, exactly like the door sensor above.
£33.99 on Amazon UK
Aqara Climate Sensor W100, £35.99.
Aqara Climate Sensor W100
A room thermometer with a screen and three buttons.
It shows temperature and humidity on the wall, and the three buttons can each trigger an automation. It works over Thread or Zigbee.
The hub it needs. In Thread mode it needs a Thread border router, and in Zigbee mode it needs an Aqara hub.
£35.99 on Amazon UK
Aqara Water Leak Sensor, £19.99.
Aqara Water Leak Sensor
It alerts your phone the moment water reaches the floor under the washing machine.
A small round sensor that sits on the floor and alerts your phone when water touches it. Put one under the washing machine, the dishwasher and the boiler.
The Aqara hub. This is a Zigbee sensor, so it needs an Aqara Zigbee hub. Check Aqara's compatibility list for the hub you plan to use before you order.
£19.99 on Amazon UK
Aqara Camera Hub G350, £125.99.
Aqara Camera Hub G350
A 4K indoor camera that records to a card instead of a monthly plan.
A dual-lens 4K indoor camera that is also a Matter controller and a Zigbee and Thread hub. It records to a microSD card in the camera, and it works with Apple Home, Alexa and Google Home, which a Nest Cam or a Blink Mini cannot claim.
The Aqara app. The app is denser than Google's or Amazon's, and cloud backup still sits behind an Aqara plan if you want it.
£125.99 on Amazon UK
Nuki Smart Lock Pro, £229.
Nuki Smart Lock Pro
A Matter lock with Wi-Fi built in, for Euro profile doors.
The Nuki Pro fits over the key on the inside of your door, has Wi-Fi built in so it needs no bridge, and supports Matter, so it lands in any of the three apps.
The UK oval lock. Nuki's own listing says it fits Euro profile cylinders only, not UK oval locks, so check your cylinder before you order.
£229 on Amazon UK
Tapo RV30 Max Plus in its dock, £179.99.
Tapo RV30 Max Plus
A robot vacuum that turns up in Apple Home and Alexa.
I gave Dyson's robot a zero in my Dyson Spot+Scrub Ai review, so it has no place here. Instead, the Tapo RV30 Max Plus vacuums and mops, maps each room with LiDAR, and its dock empties the bin for you.
TP-Link's Matter guide for its robot vacuums names it and lists Apple Home and Alexa as places it appears.
The Google Home gap. The same guide says Google Home does not yet support Matter robot vacuums, so in a Google house you run it from the Tapo app or by voice through Google Assistant.
£179.99 on Amazon UK
Heating, in one paragraph. Heating deserves more room than a starter kit can give it, so thermostats, radiator valves and what they save have their own page. My best smart heating controls guide compares them properly. The one heating pick here is a single radiator valve, because it is the cheapest way to try heating control in one room.
Aqara W600 radiator valve, £49.99.
Aqara Smart Radiator Thermostat W600
One radiator valve that lands in whichever app you chose.
The W600 speaks Matter over Thread or Zigbee, so it works with all three routes. Fit it in the room you actually sit in and let the schedule run for a fortnight before doing the rest of the house.
The boiler. A valve controls one radiator, not the boiler, so it needs a thermostat alongside it to do the whole job.
£49.99 on Amazon UK
Levoit Core 300S, £127.47.
Levoit Core 300S
A HEPA purifier you can switch on by voice.
The Core 300S has three-stage HEPA filtration and a sensor that shows the air quality on the unit and in the VeSync app. Levoit's own listing shows Alexa and Google Assistant voice control through VeSync.
No Apple Home. It is not a Matter device, so Apple Home users run it from the VeSync app.
£127.47 on Amazon UK
Honeywell TurboForce, £35.32.
Honeywell TurboForce on a smart plug
Matter fans are an American ceiling-fan category, so this is the UK answer.
In practice the certified Matter fans are American ceiling fans, and a British flat does not have one. So the answer for a UK reader is a smart plug and an ordinary fan. A plug can only cut the power, and a fan with electronic controls comes back off or at the wrong setting.
That is why the Honeywell TurboForce is the one I would put on the plug. Honeywell's manual has a control knob with three speeds, so it comes back exactly where you left it.
The size. It is a desk fan. For a bedroom in July you may want something bigger.
£35.32 on Amazon UK
Safety / Smoke and carbon monoxide
Smart smoke and carbon monoxide alarms
An alarm that reaches your phone when you are out of the house.
These three sit alongside the mains alarms a house is meant to have, rather than replacing them. What they add is a notification when nobody is home to hear the siren.
Aqara Smoke Detector, £44.99.
Aqara Smoke Detector
A smoke alarm that tells your phone when you are out.
An 85dB alarm with up to ten years of battery, which pushes a notification to your phone and can switch every light in the house on. Through an Aqara hub it reports into Apple Home, Google Home or Alexa.
The Aqara hub. It needs an Aqara Zigbee hub, so check Aqara's compatibility list before you order. Fit it alongside your mains alarms, not instead of them.
£44.99 on Amazon UK
X-Sense SC07-WX, £34.95.
X-Sense SC07-WX
Smoke and carbon monoxide in one alarm, with no hub.
It joins your Wi-Fi directly and alerts your phone through the X-Sense app. X-Sense lists it to the British and European standards for smoke alarms (EN 14604) and carbon monoxide alarms (EN 50291). My X-Sense page has the full detail.
No smart home app. It works in its own app only, so it will not trigger your lights or appear in Apple Home, Google Home or Alexa.
£34.95 on Amazon UK
Netatmo Smart Carbon Monoxide Alarm, £86.78.
Netatmo Smart Carbon Monoxide Alarm
A carbon monoxide alarm that shows up in Apple Home and Google Home.
Netatmo lists a ten-year battery, and the alarm works with Apple Home and Google Home. If you have a gas boiler or a wood burner, this is the alarm to put near it.
The price. At £86.78 it costs more than twice the X-Sense, which covers smoke as well.
£86.78 on Amazon UK
Side by side
The three routes compared
Thread support comes from each platform's own published hub list.
| Apple Home | Google Home | Amazon Alexa | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Speaker hub | HomePod mini 2, £149 | Home Speaker, £99.99 | Echo Dot, £79.99 |
| Cheapest hub with Thread | HomePod mini 2, £149 | Nest Hub, £89.99 (out of stock) | Echo Dot Max, £119.99 |
| Screen hub | HomeView, £299 | Nest Hub, £89.99 | Echo Show 8, £199.99 |
| Wall panel | HomeView wall model, £299 plus mount | None | Echo Hub, £169.99 |
| Doorbell | LG, £229.95 (coming later) | Tapo D235, £89.99 | Blink 2K+, £69.99 |
| Cheapest camera | Aqara G100, £36.99 | Nest Cam Indoor, £62.99 | Blink Mini 2, £29.99 |
| Camera subscription | iCloud+ plan for Secure Video | Home Premium, from £8 a month | Blink or Ring plan |
| What you rebuy if you switch | The hubs | The hubs and the Nest Cams | The hubs and the Blink or Ring kit |
Read first
Before you buy a smart home starter kit
Four things that decide whether this costs you £100 or £400, and none of them are on the box.
What you rebuy if you switch
Five years ago, picking Alexa meant your lights, plugs and sensors were Alexa's. Today a Matter bulb is a Matter bulb, so what you really commit to is the app and the hub that runs it. Buy Matter kit underneath and you can change your mind for the price of one box. Blink, Ring and Nest Cams are the exception, because they answer only to the company that made them.
Wi-Fi or Thread decides which hub you need
Mains-powered things are usually Wi-Fi, so a bulb, a plug or a camera works on any Matter hub. Battery things are usually Thread, and Thread needs a border router. So if you want sensors, you need Thread, which means skipping the plain Echo Dot.
Camera subscriptions cost more than the cameras
Most of the hardware here costs between £14.98 and £299, and a camera plan quietly outruns all of it. Google Home Premium is £8 a month or £80 a year, so two years of it costs more than a Nest Cam. Apple's Secure Video uses an iCloud+ plan you may already pay for. The Aqara G350, by contrast, records to a card in the camera.
Check your router before you start
Google's setup page warns that without IPv6 switched on, Matter devices can appear to set up and then fail later. Check the setting before you blame the device. Equally, most cheap Wi-Fi kit, Tapo included, is 2.4GHz only, so a phone locked to the 5GHz band will refuse to find a plug a metre away. If your router is the one your broadband provider posted, the eero pick above is the upgrade I would make first.
Buying from Apple? Get 2% back first
I buy Apple Gift Cards in the JamDoughnut app, then spend them with Apple. JamDoughnut paid 2% instant cashback on Apple Gift Cards when I checked on 13 October 2026. The card covers hardware from an Apple Store or apple.com, plus App Store purchases and iCloud+. I top up my Apple account this way each month to pay for my iCloud+ family plan, and I pre-ordered my HomeView with it too. Apple takes up to eight gift cards per order, but not alongside PayPal or Apple financing.
Rates can change, so check the app before you buy. My JamDoughnut page uses a referral link.
Frequently asked questions
Do I need a hub in 2026 if everything is Matter?
Yes. Apple, Google and Amazon all require a hub before their app will accept a Matter accessory. What changed is that one hub now serves every brand, so you need one box rather than one per manufacturer.
Which ecosystem should I pick for a smart home starter kit?
Pick the app that matches the phone in your pocket, because that is the app you will actually open. Alexa is cheapest to start at £79.99 and has the widest hardware range. Google has Thread from £89.99, although its Nest Hub was out of stock when I checked. Apple starts at £149 and is the tidiest to use.
What is the Apple equivalent of an Echo Show or a Nest Hub?
Apple HomeView, announced on 13 October 2026. It is a 7-inch screen with a speaker, it costs £299 and it arrives from 13 November. There is a countertop model and a wall model at the same price, but the wall model needs a mount from £54.95.
Do the new Apple TV and HomePod mini 2 have Thread?
Yes. Both list Thread in Apple's specifications, and so does HomeView. The old £199 Apple TV 4K that lacked Thread is no longer sold.
What happens if I switch from Alexa to Apple Home later?
Your Matter devices move across. A Tapo plug, a Hue light or an Aqara sensor is added to the new app with a pairing code, and it can answer to both during the changeover. Blink and Ring cameras do not come with you, and neither do Nest Cams in the other direction.
How much does a sensible starting set cost?
On 14 October 2026 an Echo Dot Max at £119.99, a Hue starter kit at £55.99, a Tapo plug at £14.98 and a door sensor at £26.99 came to £217.95. That gives you lights, a switch, an automation trigger and voice control. The same list costs £197.95 with a Google Home Speaker and £246.96 with a HomePod mini 2.
Will a smart lock fit a UK door?
It depends on the lock. Aqara lists European mortise locks as compatible with the U200 and rules out rim nightlatches, while the Nuki Smart Lock Pro fits Euro profile cylinders only. Many uPVC doors also lock by lifting the handle, which no retrofit lock can do for you.
More things like this:
- Gifts for homebodies - presents for people who would rather stay in, now the house does more of the work.
- Cheap broadband deals UK - a smart home is only as reliable as the line coming into it.
- TopCashback - cashback when you buy kit direct from the brand.
- Cut your household bills - where the energy-monitoring plugs above start paying their way.
- eufy L60 robot vacuum - a cheaper robot vacuum if you do not need it in your smart home app.
Disclaimer. Prices and stock change, so check the retailer before you buy. Matter and Thread support comes from each manufacturer's own documentation. This article contains affiliate and referral links, which are paid links. If you click one and buy or sign up, I earn a commission or referral bonus at no extra cost to you. Brands don't choose what I feature or what I say about them.
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