I’m using Home Assistant for all home automation. It runs on an Intel NUC with several sensor network options:

  • Zigbee: SonOff 3.0 USB-stick
  • Z-Wave: AEON Labs Z‐Stick Gen5 USB Controller
  • 433MHz: RFXCOM RFXtrx 433MHz transceiver, Somfy RTS transmitter

Most devices are either Zigbee or Z-Wave:

  • Zigbee
    • LED lights are Philips HUE with a 2nd generation hub, running a separate Zigbee network. This way, lighting can still be controlled using the Hue app, even if Home Assistant is unavailable.
    • ‘Aqara’ Zigbee sensors for climate, door/window etc. These are all connected to the SonOff Zigbee network.
    • TuYa Zigbee power plugs - these are cheap, but only support polling e.g. every 60 seconds.
  • Z-Wave
    • Fibaro FGWPF-102 Z-Wave power plugs - these are expensive, but they provide continuous data.

Custom sensors are based on ESPHome - they use the proprietary HomeAssistant API, but they can also be configured to use MQTT over WiFi.