Homey Pro mini review

Homey Pro mini: Introduction

Homey is one of (if not the) best smart home automation platforms, and it’s got even better since LG invested in the parent company, Athom B. V. If there’s one problem, it’s that the barrier to entry for the full experience with a Homey Pro, is high; until today with the Homey Pro mini.

A slightly cut down version of the Homey Pro, the mini gives you all of the essential features you need, with enough power to cope with your average home, all for a much lower price. For most people, then, this is the smart home hub to buy.

Design, installation and protocol support

My original Homey Pro review goes into the main details of what the system can do, and the core way that the system work remains the same with the Homey Pro mini. The difference is down to core specs and supported protocols.

The Homey Pro mini has a 1.5GHz processor and 1GB of RAM. That’s the same processor that the Pro uses, but half the RAM of the original and one quarter of the RAM of the 2026 Pro model.

That reduces the number of apps that you can run: between 20 and 25 on the mini, and 60 on the original Pro and more than 100 on the new Pro. However, for most homes, the limit of the mini is more than enough.

The second difference is in the radios. With the Homey Pro mini there’s support for Thread, Zigbee and Matter; you don’t get Z-Wave, Bluetooth, 433MHz or IR support. Again, these are largely omissions that your average home won’t miss. 

If you do want these protocols, you can add a Homey Bridge into the mix. Impressively, a Homey Pro mini and Homey Bridge are still cheaper than a Homey Pro.

From the outside, the Homey Pro mini looks much like any other smart home hub. Unlike the cylindrical Homey Pro, the mini is a square with rounded edges.

At the rear is the USB-C power port, and an Ethernet port, which even the larger Pro doesn’t have (although you can add Ethernet with the optional adaptor). The flip side is that the Pro has Wi-Fi built-in, while the mini does not, so it’s wired or nothing.

For me, that’s not an issue. I prefer to use Ethernet for my hubs, as I think it makes them more reliable, and I’ve got a cupboard in my house that has an Ethernet switch in it, built for all of my smart home gear.

Underneath, there are a couple of mounting anchors, so you can place the mini out of the way on a wall.

Adding the Homey Pro mini is easy via the app. Once detected and added, the Homey app walks you through creating a home, complete with the rooms you’ve got.

If you did want to run a Homey Pro mini and Homey Pro together, the HomeyLink app lets you see all devices under one interface, with a few minor limitations on the types of automations that you can create.

Features and performance

I last reviewed Homey a couple of years ago, and those years have been kind to the platform. It used to be a bit limited in device support, but this has rapidly improved. And, unlike SmartThings, the changes have come without dumbing the system down.

Matter support has seen a big improvement, with direct control for a growing number of devices. For older devices there’s still cloud-based control, with a growing number of supported companies. 

Overall device compatibility is excellent, whether through official integrations or community apps. For example, previously, I could only add individual Ring Alarm sensors via Z-Wave; now, the official Ring integration includes cameras and doorbells, and thanks to the community’s Ring Security app, I can connect my Ring Base Station through the cloud. This lets me control my alarm through Homey or use it as an automation trigger.

Matter support simplifies adding devices like my Aqara Valve Controller T1; connecting by adding the M200 hub was straightforward. My Tado X devices also integrated easily with Homey.

Homey offers more features than other platforms. Unlike HomeKit, which sometimes provides only basic triggers, Homey lets me use Tado X devices to set automations for on/off, temperature, humidity, and scheduled conditions. For example, I can start a Flow (the platform’s name for an automation) if the temperature is above 18°C for 20 minutes.

With the ‘And’ option, it’s possible to trigger Flows based on multiple inputs, creating more granular control. For example, with a Fiabaro motion sensor, I can turn my Hue lights on only when motion is detected; the luminance level is below a set level; and it’s between sunrise and sunset. That says, turn the lights on if I’m around and it suddenly gets dark during the day.

There’s also the option to do different things depending on the inputs. For example, when my office door locks, I can shut the blinds and turn off the smart plug; but, I can also turn the garden lights on but only if it’s after sunset, so I can see my way through the garden back to the house.

All of this makes Homey exceptionally flexible and more powerful than any other big-brand smart home platform.

Final thoughts

Homey is the smart home platform that I use for day-to-day automation of my home. It’s a brilliant, easy-to-use, yet very powerful platform, and the Homey Pro mini makes it more affordable, while providing enough device and app support for the vast majority of homes.

How we test

When we publish our reviews, you can rest assured that they are the result of “living with” long term tests.

Smart home hubs usually live within an ecosystem, or a range of products that – supposedly – all work in harmony. And they are designed to offer a range of different cleaning options. Therefore, it’s impossible to use a hub for a week and deliver a verdict.

Because we’re testing smart home kit all day, everyday, we know what matters and how a particular smart cleaning machine compares to alternatives that you might also be considering.

Our reviews are comprehensive, objective and fair and, of course, we are never paid directly to review a device.

Read our guide on how we test robot vacuum cleaners to learn more.