Site index
The whole site on one page.
Matter, explained by what it actually does
- What Matter is, in plain terms
- How Matter works: fabrics, nodes and clusters
- Every Matter version, and what shipped in each
- Which device types Matter supports
- Matter pairing explained: QR, BLE and NFC
- Sharing a Matter device across ecosystems
- Matter bridges and what you lose through one
- What Matter still cannot do
- Matter vs Thread, and why the difference matters
- Works with Matter vs Matter certified
- Matter cameras in 1.5: what is actually real
- Matter for energy: EV, solar, batteries, tariffs
Thread, explained
- What Thread is, and why it exists
- Thread border routers: the complete guide
- Why you have three Thread networks
- Designing a Thread mesh that holds up
- Thread troubleshooting, in order
- Thread vs Zigbee: same radio, different stack
- Thread vs Wi-Fi for smart home devices
Smart home radios, compared by what breaks
- Which radio for which job in a smart home
- Zigbee in 2026: what it is and what changed
- Z-Wave and Z-Wave Long Range explained
- Wi-Fi smart devices: the hidden costs
- Bluetooth and BLE in the smart home
- 2.4 GHz interference and channel planning
- Zigbee vs Z-Wave: how to actually choose
- Proprietary radios: Lutron, Hue, Tuya, 433 MHz
Smart home platforms, honestly compared
- The seven smart home platforms compared
- Apple Home: what it does well and where it stops
- Google Home: best voice, weakest offline behavior
- Amazon Alexa: widest support, least local control
- SmartThings: the fastest platform to new Matter
- Home Assistant: local control and what it costs
- Hubitat Elevation: the local automation appliance
- Homey Pro: every radio in one box, at a price
- Running two smart home platforms on purpose
- Switching smart home platforms without rebuying
- Apple Home vs Google Home: which one fits
- Alexa vs Google Home: voice, hubs and outages
- Home Assistant vs SmartThings: local or easy
Smart home hubs, explained
- Do you need a smart home hub?
- Hubs compared by the radios they carry
- Hub, bridge, controller, border router
Smart home devices, chosen for compatibility
- Smart lighting that stays compatible
- Smart switches, dimmers and the neutral wire
- Smart plugs and energy monitoring
- Sensors: motion, contact, temperature and leak
- Smart locks, Matter and the Aliro standard
- Smart thermostats, the C-wire, and Matter
- Cameras and doorbells: the hardest category
- Blinds, shades and garage doors
- Robot vacuums in a smart home
- Solar, batteries and EV charging at home
Reliability: keeping a smart home working
- Local vs cloud control, explained properly
- What still works when the internet goes down
- When a smart home company shuts down
- Smart home privacy without the paranoia
- Securing a smart home network
- The network setup a smart home wants
Practical smart home guides
- Your first five smart home devices
- Naming and room structure that scales
- Automations people do not turn off
- Smart home for renters
- Moving out and moving in
- The pre-purchase checklist
- Upgrading an old smart home
Smart home troubleshooting, by symptom
- Matter pairing fails: the full diagnosis
- A smart device shows as unresponsive
- Thread devices dropping, or a split network
- The device will not join 2.4 GHz Wi-Fi
- Automations run late: where the seconds go
- Removing and re-pairing devices cleanly
Smart home tools and calculators
- Smart home platform picker
- Smart home compatibility checker
- 2.4 GHz channel planner
- Internet outage audit
- Thread border router finder
- Platform exit cost calculator
Original smart home research
- The Local Control Index 2026
- Matter feature gap tracker
- The Thread fragmentation report
- Twenty years of smart home standards
Site
Machine readable#
- XML sitemap for crawlers
- RSS feed of recently updated pages
- Datasets as JSON: local control, border routers, Matter versions, protocol comparison, platform matrix