Insteon vs. WeMo

As smart home automation becomes more popular, more companies integrate smart home solutions. Nowadays, it’s easy to control your home remotely from your smartphone. But as it becomes more popular, it gets harder to choose between home automation systems.

Overall, it all comes to compatibility issues and number of options. Before buying a smart home automation system for your home, make sure it’s compatible with all your smart home appliances. So, as a result, you can control everything from one app, instead of downloading apps for each device separately.

Insteon vs. WeMo — Differences

  • Difference #1: Drapery ControlInsteon home automation system (same as Wink) offers remote control over your blinds, drapes, and other window coverings remotely. You just need a Somfy RF Drape Control Kit.

    WeMo home automation system, on the contrary, doesn’t support this feature yet. However, WeMo keeps extending its compatible product list, so we might get the drape control from WeMo soon.

  • Difference #2: Climate Control – When it comes to climate control, each home automation system uses different thermostats. Insteon offers Insteon thermostat, which you can use to control temperature level at your home remotely from your smart phone. Turn the thermostat off when you’re away or at work, and turn it on before coming back home. Insteon allows you to maintain the comfortable temperature with minimal effort.

    WeMo home automation supports Holmes® smart humidifiers and heaters. Also, WeMo has recently updated to be able to talk to Nest thermostat. Basically, this means that you can tell your WeMo switches to turn on/off automatically whenever Nest detects you coming or going. Not only that, but you’re also able to control your Nest thermostat by setting up Home and Away modes, or changing Cooling and Heating modes, as well as adjusting the temperature.

    Speaking of WeMo compatibility devices, WeMo home automation system also supports smart home appliances like and slow cookers.

    WeMo Crock Pot Slow Cooker Review: The Good and the Bad

  • Difference #3: Adjustable Ramp Rates for Dimmers – This difference goes in favor of Insteon. Adjusting ramp rates for dimmers means choosing the speed you want the lights to change the brightness. With Insteon dimmers you can set certain time during which you want your lights to brighten up or fade away. Unfortunately, WeMo has yet to develop dimmer support.
  • Difference #4: Windows Phone App – As of now, you can download WeMo app only from the App Store and Google Play. So, if you have a Windows Phone, WeMo might not be the best home automation system for you.
    On the other hand, Insteon smart home system supports App Store, Google Play, and Windows Phone Store.
  • Difference #5: Water Leak Sensor – Insteon has water leak sensors that’ll notify you whenever there is a leak at your home. You can place it near your washing machine, in the bathroom, under the sink, or any other place where the leak is possible. No wiring is required. This easy-to-use device will warn you as soon as it detect the leak, so you can stop the leak before significant damage to your home occurs.
    There are no water leak sensors supported by WeMo yet. However, it might be on the list of their updates.

Insteon vs. WeMo — Comparison Chart

Insteon WeMo
Climate Control Yes No
Drapery Control Yes No
Energy Monitoring Yes Yes
LED Bulbs Yes Yes
On/Off Plug-In Module Yes Yes
Dimming Plug-In Module Yes No
Motion Sensor Yes Yes
Water Leak Sensor Yes No
Smoke And CO Detection Yes Yes
WiFi Cameras Yes Yes
Adjustable Ramp Rates For Dimmers Yes No
Customizable On Levels For Dimmers Yes No
Multi-Device Scenes Yes No
Windows Phone App Yes No
Communication Radio Frequency + Powerline Radio Frequency
Technology Insteon WiFi
API Yes No
Insteon Starter Kit With On/off Modules
45 Reviews

Insteon vs. WeMo — Our Thoughts

When choosing between Insteon and WeMo, it all comes to checking compatibility with your existing smart home appliances, comparing the price, and checking reviews.
You can choose the right smart home system for you based on what you already have in your home. In case you just begin with smart home automation, it goes without saying that Insteon offers more options. However, you might not need all of them, and WeMo might be more than enough. Plus, a nice thing about the WeMo system is that you actually don’t need a home automation hub. In order to hook up your WeMo automation, all you need is a WiFi network and a smartphone.

Last update on 2024-03-28 at 20:12 / Affiliate links / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API

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