At CNET, we’re here tests smart thermostats years, so it’s always surprising to hear, “What is a smart thermostat?” But only a fraction of American households, about 17%, use smart thermostats. That’s too bad, because they’re one of my new favorite smart home gadgets, and giveaways The advantages of cutting almost everyone.
So, what’s the difference, other than the new touchscreen designs? I’m going to show you what’s new about these thermostats and how your heating and cooling will never be the same (so will your energy bills).
Programmable heating and cooling
Thermostats like the Ecobee allow for easy remote programming.
Both smart and traditional thermostats have programmable settings, allowing you to set temperature thresholds for certain hours and days of the week, and change them as the seasons change. The big difference is that smart thermostats make this much easier.
With older programmable thermostats, you’re pretty much stuck programming with the thermostat’s manual controls. Smart thermostats allow you to set schedules from the app, wherever you are, and you can save and switch between schedules later, making the process much smoother.
Read more: Do Not Place Your Thermostat In These Locations
Costs
You can get a regular programmable thermostat without any bells and whistles under $20 from brands like Honeywell Home (although those with fancy touchscreens will cost more), so they’re an easy way to save money if you need to replace them. Smart thermostats, with all the added features, are more expensive. Amazon has a very cheap one for under $100but for something like Nest’s 4th-gen Learning Thermostat, you’ll have to pay around $300.
If you are concerned about initial costs, conventional thermostats are much less expensive than smart thermostats.
Energy saving
Programmable thermostats will save you money, as long as you stay within tight temperature settings at certain times of the day and night. Smart thermostats don’t save more, but they make saving money so easy that households often save more as a result, since fewer users have the time to constantly adjust a regular thermostat to save more.
With settings such as eco modes and monthly energy saving reports, smart thermostats tend to save significant amounts of household money. Google Nest research has estimated that the average user saves about 15% on energy bills annually, while Ecobee says users can save up to 26% in the end. That’s easily enough to cover the initial cost of a smart thermostat in a year or two.
Some smart thermostats are great, but their control options are critical.
Remote control operation
A standard thermostat does not have an app connection and, usually, will have a remote control that you can use throughout the house. Smart thermostats, on the other hand, have Wi-Fi connectivity and apps. That means as long as you have your phone and a connection, you can make thermostat adjustments.
For some people, this is an important feature — they can adjust the temperature while on vacation or if they forget while away from home. Others are good at making changes only when they are at home.
Automatic learning and correction
A standard thermostat will heat or cool your home exactly when and how you tell it to. So does a smart thermostat — unless you enable its smart features. Smart thermostats include learning algorithms and sensors that learn household activity, such as when people wake up in the morning and start walking around.
With basic data like this, smart thermostats can start making adjustments about when to turn up the heat or start cooling, and when to hold back because no one is home. In fact, they can organize themselves and respond to significant changes in habits.
Also, many new smart thermostats come with satellite sensors that you can place in certain rooms that traditional thermostats may not be able to “read” very well, increasing their temperature sensing accuracy.
An Ecobee thermostat with its own sensor.
Energy saving
Programmable thermostats will save you money, as long as you stay within tight temperature settings at certain times of the day and night. Smart thermostats don’t save more, but they make saving money so easy that households often save more as a result, since fewer users have the time to constantly adjust a regular thermostat to save more.
With settings such as eco modes and monthly energy saving reports, smart thermostats tend to save significant amounts of household money. Google Nest research has estimated that the average user saves about 15% on energy bills annually, while Ecobee says users can save up to 26% in the end. That’s easily enough to cover the initial cost of a smart thermostat in a year or two.
Installation
Both smart and standard thermostats are installed the same way — by connecting various wires to the thermostat’s base plate. Both offer professional installation services, so there is no major difference here.
The main difference is that smart thermostats will not work well with all home systems. For example, smart thermostats won’t make much of a difference if you use radiant floor heating as your primary heat source (they’re slower to respond and don’t affect the thermostat’s sensors the same way), so you might as well save money with a simpler thermostat.
Thermostat sensors can go anywhere to monitor specific temperatures.
Links to other devices
Smart thermostats can often be connected to other smart home technologies, including security zones and customized triggers, through platforms such as IFTTT or the HomeKit Controller. Since smart thermostats often have additional sensors for humidity or air quality, they can activate things like air purifiers, fans, blowers and more. Some smart thermostats even come with voice assistants built in, while at least they support voice control via Alexa, Google voice assistant and more.
Conventional thermostats don’t have this connection, so you can’t connect them to home appliances or set heat triggers on other devices.
Many smart thermostats can work with voice assistants as well.
Bottom line
Smart thermostats make saving money much easier than traditional thermostats and come with a lot of extra bells and whistles, including opportunities to connect them to voice assistants and other smart home devices. They’re also smart, smart devices that display personal information about your home and climate, while learning your habits and automatically adjusting heating or cooling — little control required. And, unlike conventional thermostats, you can control them from anywhere.
Conversely, the biggest challenge with smart thermostats is that they are more expensive than replacing a regular thermostat, although they usually pay for themselves within a year or two. However, not everyone is comfortable using an app to program or let the smart thermostat make changes on its own, so some users may find themselves uncomfortable with the change.
Ready to learn more? See our guide to the best settings to use on your seasonal smart thermostat, easy steps to save on heating and cooling costs, and the best smart home devices overall.