The 4 Best Smart Thermostats For Your Household, According To Reviews

While the Amazon Alexa, Google Home, and Apple Home are probably the most popular smart home devices, smart thermostats are pretty commonly used as well. These devices have replaced the clunky plastic panels with dim LED screens and difficult-to-navigate interfaces. Instead, smart thermostats are worth the hype, as they often have touch screens, are easier to control, and offer some key benefits like being able to adjust your home's climate from anywhere in the world with just a smartphone app. Many types can also help you significantly reduce energy costs with auto-adjustment settings and AI capabilities. 

While there used to only be a few legitimate smart thermostats available, the market is now saturated with these devices, and the quality and price points are all over the place. To help you decide which model is best for your home, we've put together this buyer's guide with our top recommendations. For a well-rounded guide, we selected a choice for the best overall, best premium option, best budget, and best self-learning capabilities. Our primary methodology for choosing these devices was product reviews from customers, though we also considered external reviews and the features available.

Although ecobee3 lite may not have all the bells and whistles, with thousands of 5-star ratings on Amazon, it's clear that this product is well-liked. The lite model is a pared down version of ecobee's Premium (and more expensive) option, but it still has the major features we all look for: It can help you save up to 23% on heating and cooling costs per year, offers remote control via smart app, and is compatible with most smart home systems such as the Apple Home and Amazon Alexa. 

Purchase the ecobee3 lite from ecobee for $149.99. 

While the ecobee3 lite version won our overall pick for its price and capabilities, you may be looking for a thermostat that does more. If so, you may want the ecobee Smart Thermostat Premium. This souped-up model comes with a SmartSensor to detect if a room is occupied and adjusts the temperature accordingly. The device also has a built-in Siri or Alexa, Spotify and Bluetooth streaming, intercom capabilities, an air quality monitor, a smoke detector, and an alert for possible intruders.

You can purchase an ecobee Smart Thermostat Premium from ecobee for $249.99. 

For those looking for a basic smart thermostat that has a couple of bonus features like energy reduction, automatic temperature adjustments, and being able to control the device remotely from an app, the Amazon Smart Thermostat is an ideal choice. Customer reviews speak highly of the ease of installation and like that it integrates with the Alexa. Perhaps its best feature is that it is approximately half the cost of most of its competitors, making this a great pick for the budget-conscious customer. 

Purchase the Amazon Smart Thermostat from Amazon for $79.99. 

Many think of Nest as the OG smart thermostat, and it's now leading the way in AI capabilities. The newest Nest model is called Learning because it collects data and finds ways to save energy costs. The Nest app includes a history of your energy use to see how much you're saving. This device also comes with a Nest Temperature Sensor to detect cold and hot areas and make your house a smart home. 

The Google Nest Learning (4th Gen) is available to buy on pre-order from Google for $279.99. 

The primary way we made our selections was through customer ratings and positive product reviews. We were impressed to see many of these products on a number of best smart home product lists, but that isn't all we considered. Instead of being swayed by the impressive technology or hype from the media, we wanted to ensure that these products were well-liked by everyday consumers.

We also focused on the features and value offered to the consumer. Of course, all of these smart thermostats share at least a few things in common, like being able to adjust the thermostat from a smartphone. But we also ensured that these products offered more than that, like reduced energy costs, ease of adjusting, smart home and security system integration, and more. Additionally, we looked for thermostats at a variety of price points that could fit into both small and large budgets.