Looking to add an Ecobee T-Stat but it's not clear if it is directly supported in Hubitat or if it has to work thru the Ecobee ecosystem. For me I prefer equipment to directly work with the Hubitat framework.... one less thing to deal with.
There are at least three ways that I know to integrate Ecobee Thermostats with Hubitat.
The official Hubitat integration uses the Ecobee Cloud.
The community developed Ecobee Suite, which also uses the Ecobee Cloud. This solution has more functionality than the built-in integration.
The only “local” solution, which is what I now use, is to have the Ecobee thermostat connected directly to Home Assistant via HomeKit. Then, use the community developed Home Assistant Device Bridge to bring the Thermostat into Hubitat. This is a 100% local solution, but does require an always on system running Home Assistant. Also, it may not expose all of the thermostat’s features as it is limited by whatever the Apple HomeKit platform supports.
All three of these solutions will still have the thermostat connected to the Ecobee cloud, and thus allow the Ecobee app on your mobile phone to manage the thermostat’s advanced features, like setting up vacation mode.
Hope this helps. I originally had Nest thermostats, but switched to Ecobee for much more comfortable temperature control in the house, as well as integration options with other systems.
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I use the community developed Ecobee suite and although the T-Stat is cloud based I control everything thru HE. I very seldom open the Ecobee app or connect via the web.
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To what @ogiewon and @terminal3 said, I want to add the following:
It is possible to use more than one integration at the same time. For example, I use the official ecobee integration (which uses ecobee’s cloud) and the fully local integration via Home Assistant.
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I am a delighted Ecobee owner, two very different homes. My choice is to let Ecobee run the HVAC system and have Hubitat deal with occasional user needs. Once set/dialed in Ecobee's comfort settings with their remotes require no adjustments. I integrate Hubitat to set Home/Away and set the system fan to on for a "Cleaning" scene and to turn on the system fan for high humidity in the master bath for a brief time (overcomes Inadequate home bath ventilation design). In five or six years of use I never have had to reboot an Ecobee. It runs perfectly without an active web connection. Worse case for me is if its internet connection is interrupted it will miss a home or away adjustment. My guess is that no one here has not had their Hubitat take an unexpected walk-about. As much as I love my Hubitat I don't want to rely on it for basic functions. For example I wouldn't commit my sump pump or fire alarm system to Hubitat management.
I'll add that the Built-in Ecobee app provides all the control I need. I use the Ecobee suite to display a single attribute -actual temp, Thermostat as a sensor, not average of the sensors- at the thermostat on a dashboard tile.
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