Replaces Google Home
European alternatives to Google Home
European smart home platforms and devices
Browse the category: Home automation platforms
Google Home is Google's smart home platform: an app and a voice assistant that pull speakers, displays, lights, cameras, thermostats and plugs into one system. People use it to control devices by voice, to group them by room and to build routines that run at a set time or on a spoken command. It ships on Google's own speakers and displays.
Home automation gathers an unusually intimate record: when you get up, when the house is empty, which rooms are occupied and what is said near a microphone. Keeping that inside the EU, and preferably inside your own network, is a reasonable position to take. A European alternative to Google Home covers both the hub and the devices. Homey and Home Assistant act as central platforms, while Shelly and FIBARO supply hardware to control from them.
European options 7
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
Shelly
Smart relays and sensors from Bulgaria
BulgariaFree plan
Homematic IP
Smart home system from Germany
GermanyFree plan
Bosch Smart Home
Smart home system from Bosch in Germany
GermanyFree plan
Netatmo
Connected home devices from France
FranceFree plan
FIBARO
Z-Wave smart home hardware from Poland
PolandSelf-hosted and open source
Open source projects you can run yourself. Not necessarily made in Europe, but nobody else holds your data.
Open sourceQuestions
Can automations keep running without an internet connection?
Local control is a design goal for Home Assistant and Homey, so many automations continue when the connection drops. How much works offline still depends on the individual devices you use.
Will my existing smart devices still work?
These platforms support a wide range of brands and wireless protocols, so much of an existing setup can usually be adopted. Check the compatibility lists from Homey or Home Assistant for the devices you own.
Is there voice control?
Voice is not the centre of gravity for these platforms the way it is for Google Home. Look at what Homey and Home Assistant currently support before assuming a spoken command will replace an app.