Well put! Along the same lines, I'll repost what I tell people who ask me about smarthome options:
Home automation is a young field, and the available solutions on the market don't always map to the expectations/budgets of potential customers. When my friends ask about it, I give them a rundown of the "tiers" I've seen and interacted with:
Entry-level consumer tier: Using an Alexa or Google Home as the hub, or just having devices from one manufacturer (such as Hue) and using their app. Low cost. Generally easy setup and the promise of "it just works". (Though the reality usually ends up less reliable than that.). You hit the limits very quickly. "Can it do this too?" No... no, it probably can't.
Mid-level consumer tier: The other hubs. ST and Wink, etc. A little more expensive. Generally easy to use. More control and power. Ability to actually automate. Each has its own combo of disadvantages, whether it's unreliability of their cloud, lack of device support, or the company ceasing to exist and disabling your house when it's no longer profitable.
High-level consumer tier: A relative has a Control4 system in his house. He's probably spent in the upper 5 figures for it. Possibly into the 6 figures. Mostly it gives him fancy button panels on all the walls. Surprisingly, he has very little automation going on. (though I'm sure it's possible.) It opens and closes the curtains daily, and when he goes in his home theater, it turns on 5 different devices at once, but that's about the extent of it. Any time he wants to change something, he schedules a contractor to come program it, and then pays an invoice.
Sysadmin and hacker tier: The open source frameworks people spin up on Raspberry Pis and home servers. Extremely customizable. Learning curve is steep. I tried them out, and decided I didn't want to be a sysadmin off the clock. It wasn't for me, though from the number of contributions, some folks certainly enjoy it.
From my viewpoint, I see Hubitat fitting into the mid-level consumer tier, but without the disadvantages of cloud reliance, and with the ability to add in some of the hacker tier customizability if you're willing to put in the sweat equity. That's a great fit for me personally. I understand it's not for everyone.
But this is a space where desires and available solutions don't always line up. It's like my old beat up convertible. I would love to turn it into a shiny hot rod, but there are only two ways to get there. Do all the work myself, or pay someone an amount far in excess of its value to do it for me. Neither one is in the cards, so the car remains rusty and slow. (But I have a hot rod smart home! Take that, Randy.)