Homey Pro Review: Great Potential, Local Control, but Check Your Device Support First

Following the rollout of the $69 Homey Bridge, the $399 Homey Pro has officially arrived in the United States, bringing a robust, privacy-focused smart home hub to consumers looking for an alternative to cloud-reliant ecosystems. Earlier this year, a review of the lower-costing Bridge model yielded a largely positive reception. However, the significantly more expensive Pro model sheds most of the subscription fees and structural limitations that constrained its smaller sibling. Furthermore, it introduces optional ethernet connectivity for an additional $29 and incorporates the promise of upcoming Matter support, including compatibility with Matter over Thread.

Depending on the specific hardware deployed in a modern connected home, the Homey Pro demonstrates immense potential, though it may not suit every enthusiast’s setup. The device represents a powerful iteration of the original 2019 Homey Pro, boasting a manufacturer-claimed 3.5 times increase in CPU performance. Additionally, the Pro doubles down on both storage and memory, offering 8 GB and 2 GB respectively compared to the Bridge. These substantial hardware upgrades serve a critical purpose: unlike the Homey Bridge, which relies heavily on cloud infrastructure, the Homey Pro prioritizes local control for smart home management wherever possible.

This emphasis on local processing yields significant advantages for user privacy. Crucially, it also ensures that the Homey Pro remains fully operational during unexpected internet outages, allowing household members to continue controlling devices and executing local automations provided they do not depend on external cloud servers. From a feature set perspective, both models perform remarkably similar core functions. Users can add, manage, and organize devices alongside setting up automations, and both hubs feature largely identical wireless radios. For the U.S. market, the device includes Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, infrared, Zigbee, and Z-Wave.

Beyond those shared capabilities, the more expensive Pro model expands its hardware footprint by integrating a Thread radio and an 833MHz radio designed to accommodate legacy devices, while successfully bypassing the restrictive five-connected-device limitation imposed by the Homey Bridge. While the lower-cost Bridge requires a monthly subscription fee of $2.99 to add additional devices beyond that initial threshold, the Pro model eliminates device caps entirely. The sole subscription option available for the Pro is a nominal monthly fee—originally $1.99, but adjusted to $0.99—dedicated strictly to optional cloud backups for users who want them.

The initial setup process for the Homey Pro proves straightforward. Powering the hub via the included USB-C cable and charger, downloading the dedicated mobile application, and answering a few foundational questions gets the system running rapidly. The onboarding experience stands out by prompting users for structural details about their living space, specifically inquiring about the number of floors and the distribution of rooms across each level. This thoughtful approach saves considerable time compared to the typical device-by-device configuration workflows found in most competing smart home apps and services.

Once the Homey Pro successfully links to a home wireless network—supporting both 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz Wi-Fi bands—the process of integrating connected devices begins. Homey officially advertises support for more than 50,000 distinct devices, a staggering figure that creates massive initial expectations. In practice, however, real-world testing reveals that compatibility can vary wildly depending on the ecosystem. For instance, integration works seamlessly with hardware like Lutron Caseta switches, Philips Hue smart bulbs, and Sonos wireless speakers, which connect and respond almost instantly to commands issued through the platform.

However, compatibility gaps quickly emerge with other popular brands. Testing reveals that the hub falls short when attempting to incorporate devices such as Schlage door locks, Ecobee thermostats, Nanoleaf bulbs and light strips, Govee electric kettles, Wyze cameras, Eve Home products, Logitech video doorbells, and various smart plugs. While the absence of support for Matter-certified smart plugs initially seems concerning given that native Matter integration is slated for later in the year, clarification from Homey representatives highlights an important technical nuance: Wi-Fi-based Matter devices are generally compatible, but Thread-based Matter devices fail to function until full Thread implementation matures.

Other integration hurdles stem from brand-specific device variations. While many popular smart home brands appear within the Homey application catalog, specific hardware iterations often remain unsupported. For Nanoleaf, decorative lighting panels such as triangles, hexagons, and lines populate correctly within the app, yet standard Nanoleaf bulbs and regular smart lights remain absent. Even older Nanoleaf Essentials hardware fails to appear, a pattern repeated with third-party accessories like the Meross Garage Door opener. Similarly, attempts to link a Schlage Encode Wi-Fi lock result in authentication errors where the system reports finding no devices, while Govee Wi-Fi integrations throw explicit error messages during setup.

Ecosystem fragmentation further complicates the landscape. Non-Matter smart plugs like those from Cync by GE lack any existing integration within the platform. Furthermore, while Ecobee is recognized as a supported brand, the app limits compatibility strictly to older hardware such as the Ecobee 3 Lite and specific room sensors, leaving newer devices like the Ecobee Thermostat Premium unsupported. Users heavily invested in legacy Zigbee and Z-Wave hardware may experience broader compatibility, but modern multi-ecosystem households will likely encounter hurdles. These specific friction points highlight the necessity of verifying compatibility before purchasing, especially since finding a comprehensive master list of supported products directly on the main website can be non-intuitive, though the company maintains an extensive directory cataloged under its applications page. Prospective buyers are best served by downloading the free companion app to search for their exact hardware models ahead of time.

For developers and advanced hobbyists, the Homey Pro offers an alternative pathway around missing native integrations through custom API support. Utilizing the device’s web interface, users can generate an API key and access sample code written in JavaScript and Node.js to construct bespoke integrations. This capability strongly suggests the underlying architecture operates as a Node.js server. While this feature provides immense flexibility for technical users who want to code custom solutions, it remains a niche functionality that mainstream consumers will rarely utilize or encounter.

Leaving aside hardware compatibility challenges, the primary Homey mobile application delivers an exceptionally polished user experience. Sporting a modern, clean visual design that eclipses many competing platforms, the interface exposes both basic controls and advanced management tools. Organizing devices into specific rooms and multi-floor layouts is remarkably simple, though assigning a newly integrated device to a room requires a brief detour into its individual settings menu rather than occurring during the initial pairing workflow.

The application also features intuitive controls and an innovative smart home energy management dashboard. By tracking energy consumption either in real-time or historically, the hub provides valuable insight into household power usage. Because this feature relies on manually entering the wattage ratings for individual devices during setup, it demands a minor upfront investment of time, but the resulting visibility surpasses ecosystems that offer no power monitoring whatsoever. Furthermore, the Homey Pro dynamically adjusts its estimated energy calculations based on real-time device states; dimming connected lights to 50% automatically halves the reported power draw. For users accessing the system via the web interface rather than the mobile app, supplementary environmental data such as local temperatures, barometric pressures, and humidity readings are also displayed, though the system will also pull and display actual electricity usage metrics natively if a connected device supports hardware-level reporting.

When it comes to building automations and routines, the platform utilizes a powerful logic engine known as Flows. Functioning similarly to advanced automation platforms like Home Assistant rather than the simplified routines found in mainstream ecosystems managed by Amazon, Apple, or Google, Flows adopt an IFTTT-style "When… and… then…" conditional framework. This structure accommodates complex multi-layered logic, including "else" conditions and the ability for one Flow to dynamically trigger another. While basic Flows can be built easily within the mobile application, power users can leverage an advanced mode via the web interface to design intricate automation sequences.

Ultimately, the Homey Pro presents a compelling vision for a localized, privacy-conscious smart home hub equipped with virtually every wireless radio an enthusiast could desire. As the broader smart home market has increasingly pivoted toward cloud-dependent services, the introduction of a powerful local hub is a welcome development, backed by a responsive app interface and robust automation tools. Yet, for many consumers, the barrier to entry lies in hardware ecosystem alignment. Investing in a $399 hub only to find that a significant portion of an existing device collection remains unsupported creates a difficult purchasing decision. While native device support will inevitably expand over time, users weighing their options must carefully audit their current smart home hardware inventory to ensure seamless integration before committing to the platform.