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A smart thermostat can help you save a considerable chunk of money by reducing your heating and cooling costs while allowing for convenient app and voice controls. However, not all smart thermostats are equally capable; some that work with simple heating and cooling systems just offer basic scheduling and programming options, while others that support complex multi-stage systems can control heating, cooling, dehumidifier, and ventilation systems. At PCMag, we have been reviewing smart thermostats for over a decade, since the original Nest Learning Thermostat debuted in 2012. Our top pick, the Ecobee Smart Thermostat, not only controls your heating and cooling but also serves as a voice assistant, an air quality monitor, and a home security device. If it doesn't suit your needs, rest assured that our list of the best smart thermostats includes plenty of alternatives we confidently recommend for every budget.
Our Top Tested Picks
Ecobee Smart Thermostat Premium
Nest Learning Thermostat (3rd Generation)
Nest Thermostat
Amazon Smart Thermostat
Sensi Touch 2 Smart Thermostat ST76
Honeywell Home T9 Smart Thermostat With Sensor
Sensi Smart Thermostat ST55
Sinope TH1123WF Smart Wi-Fi Thermostat
Best Prime Day Smart Thermostat Deals This Week*
- Amazon Wi-Fi Smart Thermostat — $51.99 (List Price $79.99)
- Google Nest Smart Home Thermostat (2020 Edition) — $122.49 (List Price $129.99)
- Sensi Touch 2 ST76 Smart Wi-Fi Touchscreen Thermostat — $151.99 (List Price $209.99)
- Honeywell Home RTH6580WF Wi-Fi Thermostat — $69.99 (List Price $119.99)
- Emerson Sensi ST55 Wi-Fi Smart Thermostat — $97.99 (List Price $129.99)
- Honeywell Home T9 Wi-Fi Smart Thermostat With Room Sensor — $143.00 (List Price $209.99)
*Deals are selected by our commerce team
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Best Overall
Ecobee Smart Thermostat Premium
- Supports Alexa, Google Assistant, HomeKit, IFTTT, and SmartThings
- Doubles as a home security device and smart speaker
- Monitors air quality
- Dual-band Wi-Fi
- Beautiful design
- Pricey
- Some features require a subscription
The Ecobee Smart Thermostat Premium is one of the most full-featured smart thermostats out there. It supports five different smart home platforms (Amazon Alexa, Apple HomeKit, Google Assistant, IFTTT, and Samsung SmartThings), monitors air quality, and can work as a home security device and a smart speaker. And when it comes to controlling your HVAC system, it does that really well, too.
This is a premium thermostat that covers almost all of the smart home bases for easy automation. While it lacks Matter integration, its broad third-party device support means it should still work with all of your other connected gadgets. It's a bit on the pricey end, though, and keep in mind some of its features require a subscription.
Best for Google-Centric Homes
Nest Learning Thermostat (3rd Generation)
- Sleek design.
- Easy to install.
- Loaded with features.
- Interacts with other Nest and third-party devices.
- Support for Alexa, Google Home, and IFTTT.
- Lacks remote room sensors.
- Pricey.
Nest was one of the first major smart thermostat brands, and it's still one of the best. The third-generation Nest Learning Thermostat is eight years old, but it still works well enough for Google, which owns Nest, to sell it as the high-end model in its lineup. It doesn't support Matter, but it works with Amazon Alexa, Google Assistant, and IFTTT. It supports external temperature sensors, and most importantly, it can intelligently learn your temperature preferences to efficiently control your heating and air conditioning.
Even if it's not the newest entry on this list, the Nest Learning Thermostat is one of the best for its ease of use and effective energy-saving automations. It's ideal if you have a smart home built around Google Assistant, especially if you use any other Nest devices since they all are designed to work together.
Most Affordable Nest Thermostat
Nest Thermostat
- Affordable
- Attractive design
- Works with Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant voice commands
- Supports scheduling and routines
- Lets you monitor your energy usage and suggests ways to cut back
- Warns you about potential HVAC issues
- No touch screen
- Geofencing can be finicky
- Can't automatically set schedules
The Nest Thermostat is, somewhat confusingly, a completely different device from the Nest Learning Thermostat. Unlike its pricier sibling, it doesn't actually learn how you adjust your home's temperature settings to automatically create a schedule based on your preferences. It can still save you money in the long run, since it can walk you through the process of manually setting up a less dynamic schedule based on your habits. It lacks the Nest Learning Thermostat's touch screen and it isn't quite as compatible with HVAC systems because it only supports one- and two-stage heating, but it does work with Matter.
This is an excellent budget smart thermostat, and the only Nest choice if you have a Matter (or HomeKit or SmartThings) smart home. Be aware of its limitations, like a lack of support for three-stage heating systems, but it's a solid value that can help you save on your energy bill.
Best for Alexa Users
Amazon Smart Thermostat
- Affordable
- Supports Alexa voice commands
- Reports energy usage
- Does not work with Google Assistant, HomeKit, or IFTTT
- Lacks remote sensors
It was inevitable that Amazon would add smart thermostats to its extensive lineup of smart home devices, and the Amazon Smart Thermostat is a solid budget pick. At $80, it's one of the cheapest options out there, and if you use Alexa to control your smart home, it has you covered. It doesn't work with Google Assistant, IFTTT, or Matter, though.
The Amazon Smart Thermostat is for budget-minded users who already have a home built around Alexa (and Ring) devices. It doesn't play well with anything else, but if you have an Echo, it's an affordable choice that works well.
Best Touch Screen
Sensi Touch 2 Smart Thermostat ST76
- Responsive color touch screen
- Works with room sensors
- Dual-band Wi-Fi
- Supports Amazon Alexa, Google Assistant, and SmartThings
- Generates energy usage reports
- Doesn't work with Apple HomeKit, IFTTT, or Matter
If a dial and simple temperature display is too old-fashioned for you, the Sensi Touch 2 relies entirely on a 4.3-inch color touch screen to control your heating and air conditioning. It has the biggest touch screen we've seen on a smart thermostat, and its interface is designed around it. It can also work with up to 15 room sensors for whole-home temperature monitoring.
If you're a tap-happy user of Alexa, Google Assistant, or SmartThings, the Sensi Touch 2 is a change from the rounder and less informative interfaces of most of the other thermostats on this list. However, it doesn't support HomeKit, IFTTT, or Matter.
Best for Remote Room Monitoring
Honeywell Home T9 Smart Thermostat With Sensor
- Easy to install
- Remote room sensor
- Works with Alexa, Cortana, and Google voice commands
- Dual-band Wi-Fi
- Doesn't integrate directly with other Honeywell smart devices
- Limited IFTTT functionality
Honeywell has been making thermostats for longer than computers have used electricity, and it shows. The company's high-end Home T9 Smart Thermostat is packed with features, including a remote room sensor in the box so you can monitor two parts of your house at once without buying additional sensors. It's also easy to install, and has a big, friendly touch screen.
The Honeywell Home T9 makes it easy to maintain uniform temperatures throughout your home. You can add up to 20 remote room sensors that can help reduce heating costs by telling the T9 if a room is occupied or unoccupied. It's fairly flexible for smart home integration and can work with Alexa, Google Assistant, and IFTTT, though its triggers for the latter are a bit limited.
Best Affordable Thermostat for HomeKit
Sensi Smart Thermostat ST55
- Affordable
- Works with multiple home automation platforms
- Compatible with Alexa, Google, and Siri voice commands
- Supports geofencing
- Ho-hum design
- Doesn't support IFTTT
The Sensi ST55 is the rare budget-friendly smart thermostat that supports Apple HomeKit. While it doesn't look particularly advanced (or like a smart thermostat at all, with its flat, rectangular face and monochrome LCD), it can work with HomeKit as well as Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant, and it even supports geofencing.
If you're a dedicated Apple fan and you want to use Siri to control your home's temperature, the ST55 is one of the more affordable options. It's also the best choice if you want a model that looks like a traditional thermostat.
Best for Line-Voltage Heating Systems
Sinope TH1123WF Smart Wi-Fi Thermostat
- Reasonably priced
- Works with Alexa, Google Assistant, and HomeKit
- Easy to install
- Doesn't work with gas or oil systems
- Installation requires work with electrical wiring
The Sinope TH1123WF is a smart thermostat designed specifically for line-voltage electric heating systems. If that doesn't dissuade you, it's an inexpensive way to add Wi-Fi control to your home's heat, along with Alexa, Google Assistant, and HomeKit support.
This is for line-voltage electric heating systems only. If you use that type of system and don't want to spend a lot of money for a smart thermostat, you should check it out.
How to Choose a Smart Thermostat
Smart thermostats offer a variety of features that can not only help keep your home comfortable but can reduce heating and cooling costs. The most basic models are relatively inexpensive but still have Wi-Fi radios that allow you to connect the device to your home network and the internet. You can control them remotely from a mobile device, and sometimes even from a web browser.
Basic controls allow you to raise and lower the temperature, create a seven-day heating and cooling schedule, override the schedule if you or a family member plans to return home early or late, and turn the system on and off. The Nest Learning Thermostat takes scheduling a step further; it can create a heating and cooling schedule based on when you are usually home or away, factoring in what temperature you prefer during those times.
As is usually the case, you get more features if you pay more. A bright, colorful touch display makes it easy to configure and program the thermostat and gives it a touch of style—these types of screens are also usually legible from across a room. Moderately priced thermostats don't usually display the current time and temperature until you tap the screen, but more expensive devices use motion sensors to turn on their displays automatically when you enter the room.
Many of the latest smart thermostats contain humidity sensors that notify you of high or low humidity levels, and some models even show your local weather forecast. The Ecobee Smart Thermostat With Voice Control comes with a remote room sensor that helps keep temperatures uniform throughout your house, especially in rooms that are far away from the thermostat.
If you want your thermostat to automatically lower the temperature when you leave your house and kick back on when you arrive home, look for a model that supports geofencing technology, such as the Nest Thermostat. Geofencing uses your phone's location services to let the thermostat know when you have entered or exited a virtual perimeter around the house. You can set your preferred Home and Away temperatures via a companion app, and then the thermostat will work to achieve those numbers once it detects you entering or leaving the perimeter. Just make sure you have your phone with you when you leave the house.
Usage reporting is another helpful feature that lets you see historical data on how often your system is running and how long it takes to meet its target temperature. Some thermostats even tell you what the outside temperature was at the time so you can see how it impacted your HVAC system. Other common features to look for include reminders for maintenance and air filter replacements, vacation scheduling capabilities, and power cycle alerts that let you know if your system is acting erratically.
What Else Do Smart Thermostats Work With?
If you have other smart devices in your home, look for a thermostat that works with as many of them as possible. The Nest Learning Thermostat works with other Nest devices, as well as numerous third-party devices including smart switches, fans, and lighting systems. IFTTT support is a popular feature that allows you to configure the thermostat to trigger other compatible devices and services (or vice versa). For example, you can create an applet that turns on a smart air conditioner when your thermostat reaches a certain temperature. Matter is another emerging standard to look out for, as it promises to unite the IoT ecosystem across brands and standards.
Many of the latest smart thermostats support Amazon Alexa, Apple Siri, and Google Assistant voice commands. That means you can change temperature settings and find out the current temperature simply by speaking. Some of the most feature-rich smart thermostats have built-in Alexa voice control and can do just about everything that a smart speaker does; you can ask them to play music, get the latest news and sports scores, find out the weather forecast, change temperature settings, and much more.
Can You Install a Smart Thermostat Yourself?
Smart thermostats are usually easy to install, but it's important to know how your system is wired before you begin. Always make note of your wiring before you remove your old thermostat, and if possible, take a picture. Most of the latest devices come with pre-printed labels that you can attach to the wires to help identify them during the installation. You should also know what type of system you have as that often comes up during setup. Common HVAC system types include gas, oil, electric, propane, forced air, and radiant.
Most smart thermostats work with multi-stage heating and cooling systems, but if you plan to control other components such as whole-house dehumidifiers, heat pumps, and ventilation systems, make sure you select a model that supports those devices. In fact, if you have a complex multi-component HVAC system, it's a good idea to have a professional HVAC technician install the thermostat for you to avoid damage to your system.
Another factor to consider is whether your system contains a C (common) wire, which supplies constant power to the thermostat. Almost all smart thermostats require a C wire to work, but older houses with older heating systems usually don't have a C wire because older thermostats do not require one. Some smart thermostats come with a power extender kit that you can install yourself to supply power to the device. Other devices, including Nest thermostats, can be installed without a C wire, but steal power from the furnace control circuits to provide enough power to keep the internal battery charged. Although this method usually works without issue, it still might cause problems with certain HVAC systems and might actually cycle on the system to steal power. If you prefer not to take a chance on frying your furnace's circuit boards, hire a professional technician to run a C wire for around $150 or so.
Between installation and the device itself, the cost of a smart thermostat can carry a significant premium over a traditional model. But keep in mind that it can save you money on heating and cooling costs over time, not to mention the flexibility it provides when you're both in and out of the house.
