Replaces Apple HomeKit

European alternatives to Apple HomeKit

Home automation without a single vendor ecosystem

Browse the category: Home automation platforms

Apple HomeKit is Apple's smart home framework, controlled through the Home app on iPhone, iPad and Mac and by voice through Siri. It works with accessories that carry the relevant certification, supports scenes and automations, and can use a HomePod or Apple TV as a hub so routines keep running when nobody is at home.

Even a carefully designed home platform ties the house to one manufacturer's ecosystem and roadmap, and the accessories you can buy follow from that choice. People who prefer European suppliers, and automation that does not depend on a single vendor, have alternatives. A European alternative to Apple HomeKit brings its own hub. Homey and Home Assistant work across brands and protocols, while Netatmo and tado° make devices for climate and monitoring.

European options 5

Our pick

Homey

Smart home platform from the Netherlands

Homey is a smart home platform from Athom B.V. in Enschede, the Netherlands, founded in 2014. Homey Pro is a local hub that speaks Zigbee, Z-Wave, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, Thread and Matter, infrared and 433 MHz, with thousands of community apps for individual brands; Homey Cloud is the variant that works without a hub. Automations are built visually with Flows and Advanced Flows, and Insights charts energy use.

Netherlands

Netatmo

Connected home devices from France

FranceFree plan

tado°

Smart heating control from Germany

GermanyFree plan

Somfy TaHoma

Smart home hub for shutters and blinds from France

France

Self-hosted and open source

Open source projects you can run yourself. Not necessarily made in Europe, but nobody else holds your data.

Home Assistant

Open source home automation you run yourself

Open sourceOpen source

Questions

Can I keep my HomeKit accessories?

Many accessories speak more than one standard and can be adopted by another platform, but not all of them. Check your specific models against the compatibility lists from Homey or Home Assistant.

Can I still control everything from an iPhone?

These platforms offer their own mobile apps for iOS as well as Android. Netatmo and tado° also publish apps for their own devices.

Does anything run locally rather than through a cloud?

Home Assistant and Homey put a lot of weight on local execution, so automations do not have to make a round trip to a server. How far that extends depends on the individual devices involved.