We all put our pants on the same way you do and we all started out with just a few devices too.
I’m remembering my very first real home automation Christmas Back in 2012. That fall I had deployed the Lowe’s Iris system to replace my manual X10 system that was in use since 1988.
That Christmas I had a grand total of 9 devices connected to Iris. 7 indoor smart plugs for Christmas lights and two outdoor plugs for the outside lights.
I utilize Wink to control my RGBW bulbs as the interface is much easier and allows me to do more via app, etc. I have also had issues with bulbs firing or failing to do so every other time when I used Hubitat. No issue utilizing Wink with these Sylvania bulbs.
Everything else is on Hubitat which includes a valve, water/leak sensors, door contacts, motion sensors, outlets, etc..
Use Alexa to create routines if needed outside of Hubitat/ Wink but mainly for voice control of my devices.
I have over 300 devices all running through ST and Hubitat. Below are the interfaces used in order to make it all work. I’m only listing things that are configured “outside” of either Hubitat or ST.
Hubitat
SmartThings
RPi3 (Alarm Server, Host Pinger)
Windows 2011 Sever (Kodi and Event Ghost)
EVL-4 (DSC Alarm)
2X Ecobee 3 (8 Remote Sensors)
3X Blink Modules (8 Cameras)
4X Harmony Hubs
6X Magic Home (Led Strips)
32X Echo Devices (Echo Show for WiFi)
2X Google
2X Ring Pro
All other devices connect directly to either Hubitat or ST and doesn’t need any secondary Hub(s).
I have very few cloud integrations, actually just Alexa and Life360.
We don't use any dashboards.
Lan wise I have 8 Sonos, 2 Onkyo AVR's, 2 Neeo remotes, 2 Lutron Bridges (65 devices) and 4 Nanoleaf devices.
The remainder of the 250 odd devices being 90% zigbee and what's left zwave.
The lighting is almost all Zigbee, consisting of in wall micro dimmers and switches, all the Zigbee bulbs (30) run on their own separate hub, using a hub to hub app I wrote specifically for integrating that.
About 100 app/rule instances run the whole thing, it's not a terribly complicated setup.