Yeah I installed a bunch of both and why some get used and others don't remain a mystery. The aeotecs make nice night lights though!
You can see why I am frustrated with Z-wave. They should be less concerned about security and more about reliability.
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Or perhaps they can have both. My zwave mesh is pretty solid but it does require regular care nd feeding. Kind of like my lawn. Ignore it for a while and it's a mess. Mow, fertilize, aerate, trim, and it looks pretty good.
What is it about zwave that makes it more popular among device manufacturers when most users seem to have better experiences with zigbee? Is there a difference in licensing cost or something?
Maybe Z-Wave's really not more popular than Zigbee anymore... according to this article, Zigbee has a slight lead in the number of certified products on the market (3500 vs 3200) and an overwhelming lead in the number of products sold (300 million vs. 100 million, worldwide).
Granted, probably most of those Zigbee devices are not in the home automation space. Chances are a lot of people are already using Zigbee (in things like set top box remotes, utility meters, etc.) and don't even realize it; whereas Z-Wave never made much headway outside the consumer lighting/automation market it was originally designed for. If the recent lack of momentum Z-Wave has shown relative to Zigbee (in terms of announced industry alliances) is any indication, Zigbee will probably continue to leave Z-Wave in the dust regarding numbers of devices certified and sold.
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Maybe…
Then again, when I think of the the single most popular home automation device that people start with, it is smart light bulbs. They are very easy to add to any existing lamp or light fixture. And, by far, Zigbee dominates Z-wave in the smart bulb market worldwide. Perhaps that explains the large difference in total devices sold? Also, it seems Zigbee is much more popular in Asia versus Z-wave.
I have a bunch of Zigbee devices and zero Z-wave devices, as Z-wave was too problematic and required constant maintenance in my house. I use Lutron for my in-wall switches, dimmers, and fan controllers.
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Maybe this is why my perspective is skewed... the only widely used in-wall zigbee switch/dimmer manufacturer is Jasco, and their product line is a bit lean. I bet they would drop considerably in market share if/when someone like Innovelli or Zooz releases a zigbee line up.
Maybe this is a better way to put the question... Why have companies like Zooz, Innovelli, Ring, Aeotec, etc. chosen zwave over zigbee?
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Good point re:Asia; if browsing AliExpress is any indication Zigbee devices (60 pages of listings) vastly outnumber Z-Wave (15 pages). Still there's a lot of Zigbee used in industrial and commercial settings that probably flies under the radar, perception-wise.
I'm weeding out my Z-Wave devices as they fail (latest victim, Zooz powerstrip. Replaced by 4 Iris outlets, all reporting power, none overwhelming my mesh). The protocol is well past its freshness date; maybe serviceable (but still weird-- there's a good reason why IEEE standards are peer reviewed) when 8-bit 805X MCU's were state of the art (1985?) but it's outclassed by Zigbee. The up-to-date SOC in the 700-series is still saddled with 1999-era Z-Wave baggage and all the tacked-on enhancements needed to handle anything more complex than a dimmer.
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That is the point. I build out high end homes with multiple customers and I can not baby networks all the time. Zigbee just works. I have Z-wave network, Lutron Networks, older Insteon (isy) networks and Zigbee networks.
I have recently found that Lutron is winning the reliability test but Zigbee (GE Enbrighten) is close behind.
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The Jascos are now GE Enbrighten. They are boring and reliable. I have many of these in multiple locations and they are just "forget me's". That is what I need for my business. Z-wave does have the advantage of switches with multi scenes. I can live without that for reliability.
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Inovelli has zigbee switches in development on their roadmap.
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From Innovelli roadmap...
We’ve chosen ZigBee/Matter to target the Mass Market as we believe that is the future right now, whereas we’ll continue to create Z-Wave products for the Tech Enthusiasts and security companies.
That's interesting to see that one of the "insiders" has taken the position that zigbee (or matter?) is where the growth in the industry will be. Especially considering their entire product line is currently zwave. I guess I'll just need to be patient!
EDIT: Read more of the posts in the topic and saw this...
ZigBee is on it’s way out and is actually converting to Matter
WHAT! They make it sound as if a firmware update is all that will be needed to be forward compatible. Can somebody give me the "idiots guide to Matter" and break this down for me...
And why would Z-Wave be better/more desirable for "Security Companies"? LR? 
Power consumption. Z-wave uses very little power; as much as half the power as Zigbee.
That may be true but in practice the battery powered ZW sensors I've used tend to run down faster than the Zigbee ones... but I have not done any real testing to say for sure. Nyce ZB motion sensors claim to have a 5 year lifespan but have not hit that limit yet..
Another good reason maybe the fact that the signal can penetrate further as well being a lower frequency with less interference so less devices required..
The mesh does not seem as resilient or as responsive though.. which is why ZW LR seems compelling.
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I am referring to the protocol and radio. The device also has its own internal usage which can cause power drain based on its design. I am a huge supporter of Zigbee and would use it over anything else but its the radio does use about twice the power as Z-wave.
Which is why it seems so strange the Z-Wave battery devices aren't trouncing the ZB ones in terms of battery life - or at least there are none that I am aware of.
The other issue with ZB is not all devices work for all hubs at least prior to the ZB 3 standard. Kind of all over the place..
It depends on the design. The Ring sensors last a long time so it depends on the company. Lower bandwidth models (ie 300MHZ) use even half that power of Z-wave so that is what is used by most security companies such as ELK and DSC.
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Also Lutron uses lower frequencies and their batteries last 10 YEARS.
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