You're not always going to be in the room that houses your thermostat. For some homes, that can mean a pretty substantial difference in temperature in every season. There's a fix for this common problem, though: smart thermostats with multiple zoning like our favorite the Ecobee 4. Being able to set the temperature where you are instead of where the thermostat is can be a lifesaver. We've rounded up the best of them for 2019.
Best Overall: Ecobee 4
The Ecobee 4 is the best smart thermostat for multi-zone heating and cooling, and one of the best thermostats you can buy overall. It's compatible with all popular smart home platforms — Amazon Alexa, Apple HomeKit, Google Assistant, Samsung SmartThings, Wink, and Microsoft Cortana — and is fully controlled via an app on your phone. It also has a full-color touch display if you'd rather go hands on.
As a bonus, the Ecobee 4 also has a microphone and is a stand-alone Amazon Alexa device; it's basically a smart thermostat and an Echo Dot in one package.
Pros:
- Acts as an Amazon Alexa device
- Comes with a room sensor
- Compatible with all popular smart home platforms
- Works with Android and iOS
- Easy to install
Cons:
- More expensive
- No learning capabilities that Nest offers
Best Overall
Ecobee 4
Alexa, turn the heat up a bit
The Ecobee 4 is the first smart thermostat with both multi-room sensing and built-in voice control via Amazon Alexa.
Best Value: Ecobee 3 Lite
For a basic smart thermostat that works over Wi-Fi with the rest of your smart home network, the Ecobee 3 Lite is hard to beat. Now that it is compatible with Ecobee room sensors, it's also the base for an inexpensive but very capable system for multi-zone heating and cooling. You'll need to buy a set of room sensors to use it as a multi zoned thermostat or find a bundle that includes them.
The biggest difference between the Ecobee 3 Lite and the Ecobee 4 is the lack of stand-alone voice input, but if you have a more complicated heating and cooling system, there are also some things you should be aware of: it's incompatible with humidifiers, dehumidifiers, HRVs (heating recovery ventilators) and ERVs (energy recovery ventilators). If you have any of this equipment you might want to go with a different model. What the Ecobee 3 Lite does that the 4 doesn't is let you get started on the cheap with just the thermostat.
Pros:
- Inexpensive
- Works with all major smart home platforms
- Works with Android and iOS
- Easy to install
- Apple HomeKit certified
Cons:
- Room sensors not included
- Incompatible with certain equipment
Best Value
Ecobee 3 Lite
Just the basics
If you want to set up a system for multi-zone heating and cooling without any bells and whistles, the Ecobee 3 lite is the best smart thermostat to start with.
Best Smart Thermostat: Nest Learning Thermostat
The Nest Learning Thermostat is a great addition to any smart home, and with multi-zone capability, it makes for an excellent product for anyone with a need for more than one sensor. It also can bear the smart tag in its own right, as Nest's software can learn when you're likely to be at home and adjust the temperatures accordingly. That can lead to substantial savings on your utility bills, and it means you won't ever have to adjust the temperature yourself.
Nest works with all popular smart home platforms with the exception of Apple's HomeKit. The third generation Nest also comes in black, copper, steel, silver or white to match any decor. It's a great thermostat overall and one of our favorites.
Nest thermostats are fully multi-room capable, but neither offering comes with a room sensor. You'll need to purchase one or more in order to control the temps the way you like in a multi-room environment.
Pros:
- Learning ability
- Multiple colors
- Works with Android and iOS
- Compatible with all popular smart home platforms
- Easy to install
Cons:
- No HomeKit certification
- Expensive
- Room sensor not included
Best Smart Thermostat
Nest Learning Thermostat
Learns with you
The Nest Learning Thermostat can learn when you're home and adjust the temps accordingly, which means you save money overtime.
Best Budget Learner: Nest Thermostat E
The Nest Thermostat E may lack some of the features its more expensive sibling offers, like Smart Sense, but it can adjust the temperature when the house is empty to save money on heating and cooling with its Home/Away Assist feature. The E version uses a sensor that detects the movement in the room, and when there is none for a set amount of time, it adjusts. This means it's a good bit less expensive than it's sibling, which has more sensors and a bit of adaption to guess when you're going to head out based on your habits.
It's also compatible with most smart home platforms, excluding Apple HomeKit, and is fully adjustable through Nest's Android and iOS apps as well as the Nest website. you can adjust the temperature or see how much money you're saving from anywhere.
Nest thermostats are fully multi-room capable, but neither offering comes with a room sensor. You'll need to purchase one or more in order to control the temps the way you like in a multi-room environment.
Pros:
- Learning ability
- Works with Android and iOS
- Compatible with all popular smart home platforms
- Easy to install
- Frosted exterior looks great
Cons:
- No HomeKit certification
- Room sensor not included
Best Budget Learner
Nest Thermostat E
Save money from day one
The Nest Thermostat E uses Home/Away Assist to save money. It's also fairly inexpensive and the frosted white display looks great on your wall.
Bottom line
We think the Ecobee 4 is the best smart thermostat for multiple zones overall. You get the convenience of having a multi-zone heating or cooling system without buying any extra equipment, have Amazon Alexa built into the thermostat itself, and it's more future-proof with the addition of HomeKit support. The Ecobee 3 Lite is a great way to get started if you'd rather save a few dollars by excluding Alexa's presence.
If you already use Nest products or would rather not have Alexa and HomeKit support, the Nest Learning Thermostat or Nest Thermostat E and an additional purchase of a Nest Temperature Sensor offers the same functionality with the extra of some stand-alone learning capability that can save a bit of extra money.
Credits — The team that worked on this guide
Jerry Hildenbrand is Mobile Nation's Senior Editor and works from a Chromebook full time. Currently, he is using Google's Pixelbook but is always looking at new products and may have any Chromebook in his hands at any time. You'll find him across the Mobile Nations network and you can hit him up on Twitter if you want to say hey.
Daniel Bader is the Managing Editor of Android Central. As he's writing this, a mountain of old Android phones is about to fall on his head, but his Great Dane will protect him. He drinks way too much coffee and sleeps too little. He wonders if there's a correlation.
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