Long-time ST user and developer, and lately I've been considering switching to Hubitat. The bugs that exist with SmartThings and the slow response of updates has turned me off. I just fixed a bug in webCore that has existed for nearly 2 or 3 years with no fix, and plenty of requests for a fix, which really didn't instill me with a ton of confidence in the platform.
I've been doing my research, compare/contrast, and it seems to me like the biggest con to Hubitat is the breadth of supported devices.
I think I'm mostly looking for someone to sell me on the platform, so, give me your best pitch!
You won't regret it .. Local execution is amazing as long as you maintain a healthy mesh.. I do not miss cloud execution delays and the repetitive cloud outages... Plus the community here is amazing!
All that @bcopeland said, plus you can connect your SmartThings hub to Hubitat using HubConnect and sync any devices that need to stay on ST to Habitat with 2-way communication. Locally run custom code that doesn’t stop working when your internet is down is a big plus.
I'm a recent convert, I wouldn't say don't but do plenty of reading on hear to understand what the cons are.
For example few people having z-wave radio locking it looks like quite a few people do daily (or more) reboots to keep performance up and prevent hub locks.
Also dashboards bit clunky, I used actiontiles in ST and liked the wrap function, but in this layouts take a bit more work to refine
Apart from the z-wave radio issue I'm having it's good, most of the devices I had on custom drivers is st are supported, I never used core but likening what RM can do,
Poll all you want... From my experience .. If you use well written code, and maintain a healthy mesh, you won't have issues.. I have HE @ my office and my home and never reboot and have instantaneous response times...
I have videos showing the amazing response time going from 1 device through a driver then through an app and back to a different driver controlling 3 separate devices all with imperceptible delay
Especially if you stick with z-wave plus devices and zigbee devices that follow zigbee 1.2. Keeping custom cloud automations like Echo Speaks on ST also helps.
To be totally honest here.. I usually just keep my mouth shut on these “slow response” threads.. But on most you can easily spot the issue..
So many are using community apps that are using the events of all or most of their devices and spitting out this data to their dashboards that they have open on a tablet refreshing 24/7.. And some have RM rules that execute at insane time intervals..
My “Dashboard” is Homebridge running on a Skylake Windows 10 machine. I don’t use that very often either. I probably have close to 100 switches/dimmers/button controllers and 13 Alexas to control/override lights and hsm automations. Much faster and less aggravating to my non techie wife than thumbing through a phone or tablet.
Here's an opinion and a straight answer from someone that just simply enjoys the community. I'm not a developer. I have some creative ideas from time to time. I'm just your basic version of JQP. I was on smartthings for about a year or better before I switched to Hubitat. I've been on HE for about two and a half years now. There are benefits to smartthings. I'm not going to knock that. What turned me off was that I strive to create a system that I do not have to interact with. Things just have to happen. I don't use voice commands or a dashboard. So it felt klunky to walk in to a room and have to wait for 15 seconds for a light to turn on. With HE it's instantaneous. It totally makes my house look streamlined. Freaky fast. I also like the fact that hubconnect bridges that gap. Oh my gosh! The possibilities that creates. I've recently dusted off my smartthings hub to install echo speaks. It's true that certain things work better in different placements. Echo speaks is one of those things. But, it does sorely remind me of the latency with smartthings. I will continue to use smartthings as a secondary hub for things that are not expected to be too efficient. It's nothing different than using hue or lightify for integrations. (There are many more). I feel like it's going to be something that will compliment your environment with speed and agility. Since you're into developing, you'll have no problem porting over things that you need to make it work, but also a word of warning in doing that in taxing your hub past it's capabilities. But, mentioning again, hubconnect, you can delegate your environment into a sentient ecosystem to keep things separated into their respective compartments to keep your lights blazing fast and your more taxing automations doing their own things if that's how you set it up.
Wrapping up, I'm just going to say this bluntly. Rome wasn't built in a day. If you expect to put a bunch of custom stuff on your hub and not have any problems, then you'll be misled and disappointed. Some apps are better written than others. If you expect to put some serious thought into what you need local and invest the time to do it slowly so that you know what messes with your environment, then I think you'll be pleased with how Hubitat will compliment what you already have. And, probably become your hub of choice when you consider a server hub. There are lots of large builds here. Those users are well versed and helpful. One other thing that you get here. Respect and guidance. This forum is the tops. Welcome to the community. I look forward to your review after you get set up.
I do think since the OP is a dev, this is an issue he should be made aware of. He may be used to the unlimited processing of the cloud. Hubitat is amazing but it is not resource unlimited like the cloud.
Good point, well made. That's why I feel like he should keep smartthings in his environment for that reason. The point is not to say that HE exceeds every other hub out there. The point is to make an environment harmonious. Put the things you need to be impressive on HE. Keep the not so impressive where they land. That's something I've learned here over time. To be successful in all things, you need to surround yourself with the talent that makes you successful. That is no different with home automation. Compliment your system with what makes it successful.
Smartly Dashboard editor is close to release and welcoming testers/devs. It is going to have additional options, skins, custom tile names, and a very easy to use web interface.
@bjones14 If your having issues with ST, which I don't think you would not be here unless you did, you don't need any of us to sell you. The instability and lack open mindedness there should drive way somewhere else eventually .
Give HE an honest go, and I think it will sell itself. Add this awesome community and a staff that gives a S*!%, why would you look anywhere else?
I am a standard user, I do not code, I use all the standard apps and drivers. HE is so robust! Now it's setup it just sits in the background and never fails. I did have some issues with the hub crashing but once I removed some custom apps/driver's it was fine. Definitely worth the move from ST.
So I've been doing a ton of research and I greatly appreciate all the feedback here. After much consideration I think that I'm going the Home Assistant route with a local server.
I'm a big FOSS advocate, and like I mentioned a software developer, so I am more than comfortable setting up a Linux server and familiar with Python to get the environment set up. This way I can fully utilize server hardware instead of being limited to what a hub can do. It was easy for me to decide this when I realized that I can just buy USB Z-Wave and Zigbee bridges to hook up to my server.
My biggest concern with Hubitat is that the core is closed-source, which speaks to profit motives. Albeit not necessarily bad ones, but motives nonetheless. This was my big issue with SmartThings and to me I want whatever is the complete opposite of that, and it seems like Home Assistant is the best out there for what I'm looking for.
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