Difference Between Ecobee and Honeywell

Ecobee and Honeywell are two of the biggest names in the smart home market. They take good care of your home through an array of smart home products that work to improve your everyday life.  In today’s connected world, smart homes are all the rage – a dream home where all your smart devices and appliances can connect to each other and interact with each other. There are a host of smart home devices available out there. We look at the two companies and present an unbiased comparison between the two.

More about Ecobee

Ecobee is a Canadian home automation company and one of the top players in the smart home business. It is a leading producer of residential and commercial thermostats. Based out of Toronto, Ecobee makes smart thermostats, smart light switches, temperature sensors, smart cameras, and contact sensors. The company was founded in 2007 and it was then Ecobee introduced the world to smart thermostats. Ever since, it has become one of the companies to watch in today’s home automation market, taking on its close rivals Nest and Honeywell. Ecobee was acquired by Generac Holdings in 2021 for a whopping $770 million.

Why Honeywell?

Honeywell is a multinational conglomerate and a global leader in providing smart building solutions for aerospace, defense, and manufacturing. Honeywell is an industry leader in development and production of high performance actuation systems. It primarily operates across four functional areas: home and building controls, aerospace, safety and productivity solutions, and industrial control systems. Mark C. Honeywell founded the company in 1906 as a merger between Honeywell Inc. and AlliedSignal. The name Honeywell still stands till date because of their brand value and rich history. Honeywell is a pioneer in automation control and a leading manufacturer of a wide range of smart thermostats, from Wi-Fi enabled thermostats with room sensors to programmable and non-programmable thermostats.

Difference between Ecobee and Honeywell

Product Line

 – Ecobee is a home automation company and a leading producer of residential and commercial thermostats. Ecobee also designs and makes smart cameras, smart sensors for doors and windows, smart light switches, and contact sensors. Honeywell has a much diverse range of products, ranging from smart thermostats to air purifiers, biometric readers, access systems, high performance chemicals and materials, heaters, portable air conditioners, smart cameras, fire alarm systems, network video recorders, smart sensors and switches, and more.

Design/Aesthetics 

– If you’re looking to fit your home with smart climate control, you have two options, Ecobee and Honeywell. Both are good-looking, energy efficient smart thermostats. Ecobee comes with integrated microphone and speaker, which is a pretty big deal. It has a responsive touchscreen display in the middle and the LED strip at the top looks just great when Alexa is summoned. Coming to Honeywell, the round plate of Honeywell thermostats with the glossy black display adds a subtle touch to your smart home décor.

Features 

– Ecobee SmartThermostat with Voice Control comes with SmartSensor technology to connect wirelessly with all ecobee thermostats. It acts as a motion sensor which sends notifications when it is armed and adjusts temperature based on the occupancy of the room. Honeywell T9 Smart Thermostat uses Smart Room Sensors to help you adjust room temperatures based on occupancy and humidity of the room. It can handle more than one room at once. But you have to program it manually to enable it to learn your schedule.

Ecobee vs. Honeywell: Comparison Chart

Summary

Both Ecobee and Honeywell are the two biggest players in the smart home automation business and they both work basically in the same way, each with its own fair share of pros and cons. Honeywell has been in the smart thermostat game for a really long time so it is fair to say that Honeywell holds a significant share of the thermostat market. In addition, Honeywell designs and makes a host of products, much more than Ecobee. Strictly talking about thermostats, Ecobee is the more modern-looking with a sleek design and tons of smart features, whereas Honeywell looks almost similar to a traditional thermostat but with a more user-friendly interface.

Does ecobee work with Honeywell?

Ecobee works with the Apple HomeKit, meaning it can seamless interact with a wide range of smart home devices. Unfortunately, Honeywell is not compatible with the Apple HomeKit.

Which thermostat brand is best?

Google Nest is probably one of the best smart thermostat brands in the world, along with Honeywell, Ecobee, Emerson, Lowe’s, and Mysa. 

Are ecobee thermostats worth it?

Ecobee is a leading name in the thermostat market and is widely considered one of the best smart thermostat brands out there. Ecobee designs intelligent thermostats that use smart sensors and third party digital integrations to adjust temperature in your room. So, ecobee thermostats are a great bang for your bucks.

Is ecobee discontinued?

Ecobee is not actively discontinued as you can get support and purchase the thermostats from most of the major retailers out there. 

What does ecobee work with?

Ecobee thermostats seamlessly work with a plethora of digital assistants such as Amazon Alexa, Google Assistant, Apple HomeKit and SmartThings.

Does ecobee need AC wire?

Ecobee thermostats require a C-Wire for operation, but not all of them. They also come with a power extender kit which can use the existing wires to power the device.

Sharing is caring!