My Top 5 For 2026

It is time for my traditional Top 5 blog/video. Each year for the past few years I have compiled a list of my top 5 home automation and smart home related things. This year, I am going to mix it up a bit and talk about my top add-ons, integrations, and hardware. Here they are, in no particular order.

Home Assistant ZWA-2 Antenna

This device has replaced my very old Aeotec Gen5 Z-Wave dongle, with a new, long range capable antenna and hub/controller. Prior to this, I didn't have any way to use the new long range capable devices. In addition to the LR capability, the ZWA-2 contains a full wavelength antenna the has exceptional coverage. There was also a firmware update that allowed the antenna to run the z-wave protocol over Wi-Fi so you can unplug the antenna from your device and move it anywhere you have good Wi-Fi coverage. This could be a central location that allows you to have even better coverage for your z-wave network.

Home Assistant ZBT-2

Shortly after the ZWA-2 was released, Home Assistant released the ZBT-2. It does for ZigBee (or thread) what the ZWA-2 did for Z-Wave. It also contains an optimized antenna for increased range. It is built with open source in mind, so you are free to experiment. It is based on an ESP32-S3 chip and has a 460800 baud rate for much faster response time (as compared to the ZBT-1 as 115200 baud).

Frigate NVR

I have been using Frigate for the past few years and I don't think it has ever made it to my "Top" lists. Although it is not directly a Home Assistant or smart home specific device, it definitely has its place in my smart home infrastructure. I run it in separately from Home Assistant, but alerts are generated by Home Assistant automations via MQTT. Frigate NVR is a completely local NVR solution with no subscription required. You can support Frigate by subscribing to Frigate+ and that also allows you to request custom models for your specific environment.

Home Assistant Voice PE

The Home Assistant Voice Preview Edition is a hardware device that is built for Home Assistant by Home Assistant. It allows you to control your smart home devices with voice. It is compact, has advanced audio processing, and allows fully local voice control. If your smart home hardware isn't beefy enough to handle full local control, you can use a limited set of common home control phrases, which Home Assistant calls "Focused processing". You can pair this with the Home Assistant Cloud for full control of your smart home even on low-powered Home Assistant systems. You can even add LLM capabilities to extend responses beyond just home control.

Apollo Automation Sensors and IoT

This year's top 5 is leaning heavily towards hardware and Apollo Automation is in that space making all kinds of sensors and IoT devices. Two examples I personally use are shown above. Of course, those are not the only ones I have used. You can look through my videos to find more. The R-Pro-1 and the M-1 are in use all day long most days as they sit in my home office and display important information as well as trigger lighting as I come and go throughout the day. I also use their Air-1 sensor to monitor air quality in my home office. All of their stuff has been rock solid and just works. It's also all built on open source hardware and 3D printable cases so you can experiment and modify as you want. If you are plant person, you can use their PLT-1 to monitor moisture levels. I even have their TEMP-1B monitoring the temperature of my freezer.

It's always hard to pick my Top things as there are so many that I am using or have at least been able to play around with. This year's list shows just how much hardware has entered the smart home space for me over the past year.

Make sure you subscribe to my YouTube channel and watch this blog for even more exciting smart home and IoT gadgets and software in 2026.