How to Build a Smart Home for under $100

While there are a lot of benefits to automating your home, it can be a daunting and expensive undertaking. Can you build a smart home while on a budget? The good news is there are cost-effective options to building a smart home for those that don't want such a hefty upfront investment. We've put together a budget-friendly combination of smart home devices for under $100:

Smart Speaker

A hub is an essential part of a smart home and serves as the brains behind your smart home by connecting multiple smart home devices in one place. Voice assistants, such as Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant, are a good alternative to a central hub.

While voice assistants may not have as much functionality as dedicated hubs, such as SmartThings or Wink, they are an excellent economic starting point to building your smart home. Voice assistants create a solid foundation to continuously build your smart home ecosystem. 

It's important to note that Google Assistant and most Amazon Alexa devices do not have Z-Wave or Zigbee connectivity, so your smart home devices need to be Wi-Fi enabled or need to be connected via a hub in order to connect to your Voice Assistant. We've got a simple table that summaries which smart home brands are compatible with your voice assistant. 

Amount Spent: $49.99 

Budget Remaining: $50.01

Smart Outlets

Once you have picked a smart speaker, you can start buying devices for it to control. Smart outlets are a logical next step as they can transform any electronic or appliance into a smart device when plugged into a smart outlet.

Any electronic or appliance plugged into a smart outlet can be remotely controlled through a smartphone and can be turned off when idle to reduce your utility bill. Some smart home outlets even provide energy consumption reports to help you understand which appliances consume the most energy and how much it is costing you, so you can take proactive measures to lower your energy consumption. 

Many smart outlets are Wi-Fi enabled which makes setup a breeze and can easily integrate into your smart home ecosystem. 

Amount Spent: $24.99 

Budget Remaining: $25.02

Smart Lighting

Smart lighting is an affordable way to integrate smart home devices into your home as you can always start with one smart bulb and continuously add more as you build your smart home.

Smart bulbs can be individually controlled or grouped together and can be scheduled to automatically turned on or off according to your routine. You can connect them to a voice assistant, so they can be controlled using just your voice and help set the perfect lighting ambiance for the occasion. 

If you're planning to connect your smart bulb to a voice assistant, we recommend selecting a smart bulb that speaks the same protocol as your voice assistant (usually Wi-Fi) to ensure integration is seamless.

Amount Spent: $24.99 

Budget Remaining: $0.03