There are a lot of factors to consider when it comes to whether or not you need a dedicated hub for your matter smart home. Here are five key factors:

  1. How much space do you need? If you have a small home, you may not need as much space as someone with a larger home who wants to keep all their devices in one place. However, if you have multiple devices that use different protocols and services, it may be more difficult to keep them all in one place.
  2. What type of device do you want to control? If you want to control your lights, thermostat, and security system from one place, then a hub is the way to go. However, if you only want to control one device from within your home, then an individual switch or outlet might be enough.
  3. What type of network do you want? If you only plan on using the hub for controlling devices within your home, then there is no need for a network connection. However, if you also plan on using the hub outside of your home (for example at work), then it might be necessary to have a network connection in order for the hub to work properly.
  4. How often will I need access to the hub? If you only plan on using thehub once per day or per week, then there is no reason for it to come with an annual subscription fee like some hubs do. However, if you plan on using thehub frequently and/or over time (for example over months or years), then it might be worth paying for an annual subscription fee so that thehub can stay up-to-date with new technology and services.

Matter Is Moving Smart Home Beyond the Hub

If you’ve been in the smart home game for any length of time, you’re more than familiar with the smart home hub model.

Hubs both serve as a way of controlling your smart home gear and as gateways for smart home devices to communicate with the rest of your network and the greater internet.

In some cases, a hub is just for a particular ecosystem. You need the Philips Hue Hub, for example, to link together all your Philips Hue smart lights and accessories for neat effects like syncing your lights to your PC or using the Hue Sync Box for colorful real-time ambient lighting while watching TV.

In other cases, hubs aren’t eco-system-restricted and serve to link together multiple products from multiple vendors like the Aeotec Smart Home SmartThings Hub. Because of the versatility of such Swiss-Army-knife type hubs, historically, it’s been quite easy to argue that a proper smart home needs such a hub.

For really serious smart home enthusiasts with very diverse smart home ecosystems (and older smart home hardware in the mix), it’s likely to remain true that a dedicated smart home hub will remain a necessity.

But the Matter smart home protocol is moving the smart home market toward a hubless existence where consumers are no longer required to go shopping for a dedicated hub for their smart homes unless some compelling use case pushes them to do so.

In the Matter home, you’re free to mix and match your hardware, your devices, and even the software interface you use to control them all.

Manufacturers Are Building Matter Hubs Into Their Products

It’s not entirely true to say that there is no hub in the Matter smart home universe. In fact, Thread border routers fulfill the hub function.

The key difference, and one that is both consumer-friendly and bodes well for the widespread adoption of the Matter standard, is that the Thread border routers are built into a myriad of devices that people are already buying on their own merits—and not because they’re actively shopping for a Matter hub.

Google has a similar spread of router and smart speaker offerings. The Nest Wi-Fi routers will function as Matter hubs, as will the second generation Nest Hub and the Nest Hub Max.

Apple’s second-generation Apple TV 4K sports a built-in hub, as does the HomePod Mini.

While different smart lighting companies have signed on to support Matter—the Philips Hue Hub will update to support Matter but won’t be a Thread border router—Nanoleaf has jumped in feet first with Matter hubs built into its Elements, Shapes, and Lines Light Panels.

These are just examples of products that are already prepped for Matter and will have day-one support. As time goes on, we’ll continue to see Matter controllers built into consumer smart home products, all offering a seamless way to introduce Matter into your home—no stand-alone hub purchase required.