The best smart thermostats for 2020

In 2019, we saw smart home tech totally rock our world. Ok, fine. We had the Roomba in 2002… but regardless! It felt like no one jumped on the Roomba train until nearly two decades later and now you and roughly 66.4 million other Americans have adopted smart assistants while three out of five Americans buy smart security systems to monitor their house from their smartphone.

Now that it’s new year, new you, I’m here to help you tackle your next smart home purchase—smart thermostats.

On top of letting you control the temperature with your voice or smartphone, smart thermostats either learn or are programmed to automatically adjust itself to maximize individual comfort and utility savings. However, it can be hard to know which one of the many out there is a perfect fit for any one household. But hey, no worries, read on for a quick and dirty compilation of some of the best options on the market.

Google Nest Learning Thermostat – Best investment

As you’d expect from Google, it’s sleek, easy to install and easy to use. Ask Google or Alexa, rotate the outer ring, or use your phone to adjust the temperature yourself. After a few days the AI contained within this beaut catches on and starts adjusting itself automatically. Going out of town? No problem. It knows to prioritize energy savings while you’re away. It even has a safety bonus of alerting you when your furnace is acting up.

If anything, it looks damn good on your wall.

With a hefty price of $249, the Google Nest Learning Thermostat is definitely the most expensive of the lot, and that’s not including add-ons like it’s room sensors. For something more budget friendly, try the simpler but effective Google Nest Thermostat E at $169.

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Ecobee Ecobee3 Lite – Best overall

Although not designed to “learn”, this Alexa-enabled device has created a notable thermostat that runs on algorithms. It takes multiple inputs, such as room sensors, weather data, and your location to adjust itself from a schedule it’s programmed to follow.

That may sound counterintuitive, but remember that 70 degrees feels different inside depending on what it’s like outside. With that in mind, the genius lies in that it adjusts to your preferred comfort rather than stick to a number it was set to.

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Honeywell Home T9 – Best comfort range

What it lacks in any learning capability, it makes up by solving one common problem: different temperatures in different rooms. It does this with room sensors that send information to an app on your phone, letting you manage the temperature of each room by setting a schedule as well as letting it adjust depending on whether a room is occupied or not. The app itself communicates to the T9 when you’re away from home, telling the system to change the temperature to your ‘away’ temp.

The only notable downside is that, at $199, a Honeywell Home T9 with sensor package comes with only one sensor. For a device where its magic mainly relies on its sensor technology, and with a two-pack costing $80, it can quickly become a costly commitment. Other than that, it’s a solid choice for those set on room-to-room comfort.

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Glas Smart Thermostat – Best for air quality

Despite the cool, futuristic design of its translucent OLED screen, this device accomplishes the basics of what you’d expect a smart thermostat to do. It can be controlled by voice, programmed to your comfort and has the option to work with a sensor.

BUT what really stands out is its ability to track your indoor and outdoor air quality. So if smog, pollen and stale indoor air is a top concern for your health, might as well kill two birds with one stone by installing the Glas Smart Thermostat.

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Sensi Touch Smart Thermostat – Best basic control

The Sensi Touch is perfect for those who want familiar functions with a smart home feel. It’s enough to please the eyes and smart enough to get the job done.

Thanks to a step-by-step guide on its app, it’s incredibly easy to install. Once that’s done, it’s simple enough to set up your daily temperature schedule and establish a geofence. To give you that smart home feel, you can tell Siri, Google Home, or Alexa to change the temperature for you.

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Bosch BCC50 Thermostat – Best value

This minimal thermostat is exactly how it looks: simple. Although lacking in more advanced features such as geofencing, usage reports, algorithms, and sensors, it does give users basic functions like in-app temperature scheduling and integration with Alexa and Google Home.

Its basic-ness is also surprisingly very dependable, making the BCC50 the ideal budget-friendly replacement for any old dumb thermostat.

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Mysa Smart Thermostat – Best heater control

Mysa is a Wi-Fi thermostat for heaters. More specifically for high voltage heaters like electric baseboard heaters in old homes and luxe winter cabin getaways. Yes, most of you reading this can skip over this, but for those who do happen to live with such a heater and are looking to level up your home, this is the sleekest upgrade on the market.

Running at $139 and complete with app control, humidity tracking, eco mode, home assistant compatibility, and geofencing, the Mysa is a solid choice for custom comfort.

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Editors’ Recommendations:

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• Whirlpool’s smart thermometer will tell you temperatures and adjust your smart oven
• A new report tells us less than 10% of Americans are buying $1,000+ smartphones

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