Wirecutter

This thermostat has better remote sensors than the Nest, works with more smart-home platforms, and has a built-in speaker so you can talk directly to it via Amazon Alexa.

Ecobee’s SmartThermostat comes with smarter sensors, a sleek glass touchscreen, and a decent built-in smart speaker. It works with most smart-home platforms, including Apple HomeKit and Amazon Alexa.

Ecobee’s newest model comes with a new remote sensor, a better touchscreen, and an improved speaker. And it works with most smart-home platforms, including HomeKit and Alexa.

Consumer Reports

Wiring adapter included: Yes.CR’s take: The Ecobee Smart With Voice Control EB-STATe5-01 blends a simple interface with plenty of bells and whistles for precise programming. The thermostat learns your heating and cooling habits, and adjusts its programming accordingly. It also comes with a wireless remote temperature sensor to place in an area or room that runs hotter or cooler than the area around the thermostat. The thermostat can then either average the temperatures at the sensor and the thermostat itself to heat or cool your home to a uniform temperature, or prioritize the sensor’s temperature over the thermostat’s temperature by using the sensor’s built-in occupancy detection. The thermostat itself also features a built-in occupancy sensor to tell if people are in the room. Other features include vacation scheduling, a touch screen, built-in Amazon Alexa for voice control, and compatibility with Apple HomeKit, Google Assistant, and Samsung SmartThings for app and/or voice control. Ecobee sells additional remote temperature sensors in a two-pack for $80 at Best Buy, Ecobee, and Lowe’s.

CR’s take: The Ecobee Smart With Voice Control EB-STATe5-01 blends a simple interface with plenty of bells and whistles for precise programming. The thermostat learns your heating and cooling habits, and adjusts its programming accordingly. It has a single remote sensor to place in a lesser-used part of the house. When the sensor detects activity, the thermostat averages the temperatures at the sensor and the thermostat itself to heat or cool your home to uniform temperature. This marks an improvement, our testers note, over earlier generations of Ecobee thermostats, where sensing behavior was inconsistent. In addition to supporting Apple HomeKit/Siri, this thermostat also works with Amazon Alexa, Google Assistant, and Samsung SmartThings.

Wiring adapter included: Yes.CR’s take: The Ecobee Smart With Voice Control EB-STATe5-01 blends a simple interface with plenty of bells and whistles for precise programming. The thermostat learns your heating and cooling habits and adjusts its programming accordingly. It also comes with a wireless remote temperature sensor to place in an area or room that runs hotter or cooler than the area around the thermostat. The thermostat can then either average the temperatures at the sensor and the thermostat itself to heat or cool your home to a uniform temperature, or prioritize the sensor’s temperature over the thermostat’s temperature by using the sensor’s built-in occupancy detection. The thermostat itself also features a built-in occupancy sensor to tell if people are in the room. Other features include vacation scheduling, a touch screen, built-in Amazon Alexa for voice control, and compatibility with Apple HomeKit, Google Assistant, and Samsung SmartThings for app and/or voice control. Ecobee sells additional remote temperature sensors in a two-pack for $100 at Best Buy and Ecobee.

Best for Most

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Offering ease of use, great design, and learning capabilities, this thermostat supports a growing number of smart-home devices via the Works With Nest program.

Nest’s most-advanced smart thermostat features a larger, crisper, and more useful display and wide compatibility with HVAC systems.

Nest’s most-advanced smart thermostat is easy to use, and it learns to adjust to your preferred comfort levels.

Nest’s most-advanced smart thermostat features a larger, crisper, and more useful display and has wide compatibility with HVAC systems and smart-home platforms like Alexa.

CR’s take: The Google Nest Learning Thermostat earns one of the top spots in our smart thermostat ratings. It rates Excellent for automating your heating/cooling and offers a wealth of smart features to enhance its functionality, including an occupancy sensor (so it can adjust the temperature based on whether people are in a room) and geofencing, which turns the temperature up or down when you leave home and return by tracking your smartphone’s location. One caveat: Our testers found that the manual controls aren’t the easiest to use.

Wiring adapter included: No; sold separately for $25 at Amazon, Best Buy, Google, and Walmart.CR’s take: The Google Nest Learning Thermostat earns one of the top spots in our smart thermostat ratings. It rates Excellent for automating heating and cooling, and offers a wealth of smart features to enhance its functionality, including an occupancy sensor, geofencing, and voice and app control via Amazon Alexa, Google Assistant, and Samsung SmartThings. One caveat: Our testers found that the manual controls aren’t the easiest to use. Google also makes wireless remote Nest Temperature Sensors for the thermostat, which are sold separately for $39 each at Amazon, Best Buy, Google, and Home Depot.

CR’s take: The Google Nest Learning Thermostat is one of the best smart thermostats in our ratings. While this thermostat is made by Google, it works well with Amazon Alexa.
It rates Excellent for automating your heating/cooling and offers a wealth of smart features to enhance its functionality, including an occupancy sensor (so it can adjust the temperature based on whether people are present in the room) and geofencing (which allows it to use your smartphone’s location data to turn the temperature up or down when you leave and return home).
One caveat: Our testers find that the manual controls aren’t the easiest to use.

CR’s take: The Google Nest Learning Thermostat earns one of the top spots in our smart thermostat ratings. It rates Excellent for automating your heating/cooling and offers a wealth of smart features to enhance its functionality, including an occupancy sensor (so it can adjust the temperature based on whether people are in a room) and geofencing to turn the temperature up or down when you leave home and return. One caveat: Our testers found that the manual controls aren’t the easiest to use.

CR’s take: The Google Nest Learning Thermostat is one of the best smart thermostats in our ratings. While this thermostat is made by Google, it works well with Amazon Alexa.It rates Excellent for automating your heating/cooling and offers a wealth of smart features to enhance its functionality, including an occupancy sensor (so it can adjust the temperature based on whether people are present in the room) and geofencing (which allows it to use your smartphone’s location data to turn the temperature up or down when you leave and return home).One caveat: Our testers find that the manual controls aren’t the easiest to use.

Wiring adapter included: No; sold separately for $25 at Amazon, Best Buy, and Google.CR’s take: The Google Nest Learning Thermostat earns one of the top spots in our smart thermostat ratings. It also stands apart with its physical design and software interface, featuring a slick combination of the old and new. By its appearance and manual operation, it harks back to a time when temperature was adjusted by turning the thermostat dial. Under the covers, though, it’s apparent the designers have discarded old paradigms for a fresh approach to controlling indoor temperature. The Nest earns an Excellent rating for automating heating and cooling and offers a wealth of smart features to enhance its functionality, including an occupancy sensor, geofencing, and voice and app control via Amazon Alexa, Google Assistant, and Samsung SmartThings. One caveat: Our testers found that the manual controls aren’t the easiest to use. Google also makes wireless remote Nest Temperature Sensors for the thermostat, which are sold separately for $39 each at Google and Home Depot.

Upgrade Pick

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Google Nest Thermostat Review

Wiring adapter included: Yes.CR’s take: Resideo’s latest smart thermostat is the sleek Honeywell Home T9 RCHT9510WF, which earns an Excellent rating in our test for manual operation and does a great job of automating your heating and cooling. This thermostat comes with a wireless remote temperature sensor for more precise heating and cooling throughout your home and offers a number of other features, including geofencing, a built-in occupancy sensor, a touch screen, vacation scheduling, and voice and app control via Amazon Alexa, Google Assistant, and Samsung SmartThings. Unlike the other Honeywell Home model listed here, the T9 doesn’t work with Apple HomeKit. If that’s a must-have feature for you, consider the other model. Additional temperature sensors cost $40 each or $75 for a two-pack, and are available at Amazon, Best Buy, and Honeywell Home.
For the contractor version of this thermostat that can also control whole-home humidifiers, dehumidifiers, and ventilators, see the similar Honeywell Home T10 Pro THX321WFS. We haven’t tested it, but we expect it to offer identical performance.

Wiring adapter included: Yes.CR’s take: The sleek Honeywell Home T9 RCHT9510WF garners an Excellent rating in our test for manual operation and does a great job of automating your heating and cooling. This thermostat comes with a wireless remote temperature sensor for more precise heating and cooling throughout your home and offers a number of other features, including geofencing, a built-in occupancy sensor, a touch screen, vacation scheduling, and voice and app control via Amazon Alexa, Google Assistant, and Samsung SmartThings. Additional temperature sensors cost around $40 each or $75 for a two-pack, and are available at Amazon, Best Buy, and Honeywell Home.For the contractor version of this thermostat that can also control whole-home humidifiers, dehumidifiers, and ventilators, consider the similar Honeywell Home T10 Pro THX321WFS. We haven’t tested it, but we expect it to offer identical performance.

Budget Pick

CR’s take: Though the Emerson 1F97-1277 is also harder to set up, it performs quite well in our other tests. We prefer this Emerson’s backlit screen, with its colored temperature up and down buttons, to the display on the 1F85U-42PR. In addition to a 7-day program, this Emerson offers a 5-1-1-day program. And it supports a single indoor or outdoor remote temperature sensor, sold separately.

CR’s take: Though the Emerson 1F97-1277 is also harder to set up, it performs quite well in our other tests. We prefer this Emerson’s backlit screen, with its colored temperature up and down buttons, to the display on the 1F85U-42PR. In addition to a seven-day program, this Emerson offers a 5-1-1-day program. And it supports a single indoor or outdoor remote temperature sensor, sold separately.

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CR’s take: The Aprilaire 8600 is a solid programmable thermostat. It offers a large grayscale touch screen with a backlight (to easily make adjustments in the dark), and features additional 5-2-day and 5-1-1-day programming schedules and a variety of holds, including temporary ones and longer vacation holds. It performs quite well in all our tests and earns an Excellent rating for programming. One time-saving programming feature to note: a copy function that quickly replicates settings.

CR’s take: The Emersons on this list are decent thermostats, but both suffer from the same drawback: They’re much more difficult to set up than the other top picks on this list, earning only a Fair rating on that test vs. a Very Good or higher rating for the other models. But once set up, the Emerson 1F85U-42PR is a breeze to program with a heating/cooling schedule and performs well on our other tests, too. This Emerson also offers 5-1-1-day and 5-2-day programming. But it’s the only one of these six thermostats to deploy mechanical buttons and the only one not to switch automatically when daylight saving time comes and goes. For a similar version of this thermostat with identical performance in our tests, see the Emerson 1F85U-22PR.

CR’s take: The Emersons on this list are decent thermostats, but both suffer from the same drawback. They’re much more difficult to set up than the other top picks on this list, earning only a Fair rating on that test vs. a Very Good or higher rating for the other models. But once set up, the Emerson 1F85U-42PR is a breeze to program with a heating/cooling schedule and performs well on our other tests, too. This Emerson also offers 5-1-1-day and 5-2-day programming. But it’s the only one of these six thermostats to deploy mechanical buttons and the only one not to switch automatically when daylight saving time comes and goes. For a similar version of this thermostat with identical performance in our tests, see the less expensive Emerson 1F85U-22PR.

Wiring adapter included: No; sold separately for $17 at Amazon.CR’s take: It might not look like the most cutting-edge piece of hardware, but the Braeburn BlueLink 7320 is a CR Best Buy pick, thanks to its impressive performance and more affordable price. This Braeburn offers plenty of features, too, including a touch screen, vacation scheduling, geofencing (to turn the temperature up or down when you leave and return home), and voice and app control via Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant. It also works with both wired and wireless remote temperature sensors to balance heating and cooling throughout your home. (A wireless sensor is included in the box.) In our tests, the Braeburn receives high scores across the board, including an Excellent rating for automation. Additional wireless temperature sensors range from $66 to $98 and are available at Amazon and Walmart.

CR’s take: The Honeywell Home Vision Pro 8000 Touch TH8110R receives a CR Best Buy designation due to its winning combination of performance and price. In our tests, it gets high ratings across the board, including an Excellent score for programming. This Honeywell Home model features a touch-screen display; vacation, home, and away modes for quick temperature changes; and compatibility with Honeywell Home RedLink accessories, which include wireless temperature sensors and an internet gateway for remote control of the thermostat via your smartphone.

CR’s take: The Honeywell Home Vision Pro 8000 Touch TH8110R receives a CR Best Buy designation because of its winning combination of performance and price. In our tests, it gets high ratings across the board, including an Excellent score for programming. This model features a touch screen display; vacation, home, and away modes for quick temperature changes; and compatibility with Honeywell Home RedLink accessories, which include wireless temperature sensors and an internet gateway for remote control of the thermostat via your smartphone.

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CR’s take: The Lennox ComfortSense 7500 Series offers color touch-screen controls that feel very similar to using a smartphone app. It features multiple types of programming schedules (one-week, 7-day, and 5-2-day), an away mode, and the ability to create three unique weekly schedules. The device can also create reports to track your monthly energy usage. The Lennox 7500 earns a display rating of Excellent, thanks to its well-designed, applike interface.

CR’s take: The Lennox ComfortSense 7500 Series offers color touch screen controls that feel very similar to using a smartphone app. It features multiple types of programming schedules (one-week, seven-day, and 5-2-day), an away mode, and the ability to create three unique weekly schedules. The device can also create reports to track your monthly energy usage. This model earns a display rating of Excellent, thanks to its well-designed, applike interface.

Thermostat Comparison