What would it cost to leave your platform?
Lock-in is measurable. Enter what you own and see how much of it moves with you, how much needs rebuying, and how long the work takes.
The four classes#
Every device falls into one of these, which is the model documented on our methodology page:
- Portable. Standards-based and multi-admin capable. Remove it from the old fabric, commission it into the new one, no purchase. Most Matter and Z-Wave devices, and Zigbee devices that will join a new coordinator.
- Portable with a bridge. Works elsewhere through a hub or bridge, either one you already own or one you buy once. A Hue Bridge full of bulbs moves as a single unit for the cost of nothing.
- Re-pairable but degraded. It moves and loses features: vendor scenes, camera event history, firmware update delivery, energy reporting granularity.
- Stranded. Tied to a platform or a cloud with no documented path out. This is where the money is.
What the estimate does not include#
- Your automations. Rebuilding rules is usually the largest time cost and it does not appear as a dollar figure. Budget an evening for a simple setup and a few weekends for a complex one.
- Household tolerance. During a migration the lights behave oddly and voice commands fail. That has a real cost, which is why switching platforms recommends moving one room at a time rather than everything in a weekend.
- Subscription history. Camera clip history rarely transfers. Neither do access logs. Export anything you care about before you cancel.
Reading the result#
A high number is not automatically a reason to stay. It is a reason to stop adding to the stranded pile. The practical response is to buy standards-based hardware from here on, so the number shrinks over time instead of growing, and to make the switch when a device fails rather than replacing working equipment.
If the reason you are calculating this is that you are worried about the vendor rather than the platform, read when a smart home company shuts down first. The warning signs are usually visible a year in advance.
Are the prices accurate?
They are typical US street prices for mid-range replacements, used to produce a range rather than a quote. Prices move, and the calculator is meant to show the shape of the problem, not to budget a purchase order.
Why do Z-Wave and Zigbee devices count as free to move?
Because they are, in hardware terms. Both are open standards, and any hub with the right radio can adopt them. The cost is time: excluding each device from the old hub and including it in the new one, and pressing a button on every battery device.
What is the most stranded category?
Cameras, by a distance. The hardware is often tied to the vendor's cloud, the recorded history does not transfer, and the subscription you have been paying for buys you nothing on the way out. Cameras and doorbells covers what to look for if you want to avoid that next time.
Does Matter make lock-in a solved problem?
It reduces it substantially and does not eliminate it. Matter devices are portable between fabrics, which is the important part. What does not travel is everything the vendor kept in its own app: effects, maps, schedules, event history and firmware delivery. See what you lose through a bridge and Matter's limitations.