Aqara Smart Hub M3 for Home Automation, Matter Controller, Thread Border Router, Features Aqara Zigbee(Not 3rd-Party), Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, PoE, IR, Supports Alexa, Google Assistant, HomeKit, IFTTT

I upgraded to the Aqara Smart Hub M3 to replace my old Aqara hub, and I’m so glad I did! The setup was a breeze, and it integrates seamlessly with all my smart devices. The hub supports Matter, Thread, Zigbee, Bluetooth, and Wi-Fi, making it incredibly versatile. It works perfectly with Alexa, Google Assistant, Apple HomeKit, SmartThings, and IFTTT, giving me full control over my home automation. It's a fantastic, reliable hub with excellent connectivity. Highly recommended!

I had to come back and change my review. I just had to. I had some issues with the hub and sockets, the Aqara CS was top! They’ve sent the replacements and provided support. I wanted to leave a 4* review, but the CS is so good, you have to give them 5*, especially when everything works now as it should !

I'm gradually building my smart home and wanted a hub that could integrate with Home Assistant, work offline, and still support features like the Aqara G3's facial recognition. After five months, it's working well, with a few important details to keep in mind: Zigbee Support: The hub supports Zigbee but only for Aqara Zigbee devices. If you have other Zigbee brands, they won’t work directly with the M3 hub. Matter Connectivity: Matter devices, such as plugs and lights, do work. But I seem to get the best results if I connect them to the M3 hub first, then add them to other ecosystems like Home Assistant or Apple HomeKit. But this is just personal preference. Infrared (IR) Control: The M3’s infrared sensor works well for controlling devices like TVs and heaters. However, only Aqara devices connected to the M3 will show up in Home Assistant, not the infrared or Matter devices. To work around this, I’ve set up an Aqara button that works in both the Aqara app and Home Assistant. In the Aqara app, for example, a single button press turns on the TV, while in Home Assistant, that same press triggers automations to control non-Matter devices. Offline Functionality: The M3 is connected via Ethernet, and I’ve restricted its internet access, allowing it to function mostly offline. However, for some automation adjustments, internet access may need to be restored briefly. Expectations: When the M3 was first announced, I expected more from its Zigbee capabilities. But since I use Home Assistant for broader automation, this wasn’t a major issue. In practice, it has become a solid addition to my smart home setup. Overall, if you’re considering purchasing the Aqara M3 hub, as long as you're aware of its limitations and capabilities—especially regarding device compatibility—you likely won’t be disappointed. It's a compact size and good value for money considering what it can do. If you can get it reduced, even better. I'm giving the M3 4 stars, as I can't give it 4.5 due to the review system. It doesn't deserve a full 5 because it's not fully Zigbee compliant, but it's close.

Easy to set up and works well. Instructions could of been better so ended up looking online.

I bought this item looking to replace my Home Assistant setup hoping to simplify my entire system with a better user interface and not something that preoccupies me with coding. At the time of this review, the Aqara Hub was easy to install but the big problem was that hardly any of my Zigbee and Wi-Fi devices are compatible with it. This hub is quite proprietary and seems the only Zigbee devices that it works with are mainly those made by Aqara. Shame as I liked the hardware compactness and the intuitive user interface all at a reasonable price. Anyone starting to build a smart home system from scratch should not have this issue as long as compatible devices are also purchased. I am staying with HA on an intel NUC for now as I have too much invested in a mixture of smart device manufacturers.

Excellent easy to configure

Not bad product IR booster is good but my problem is it keeps going off-line. I’ve tried everything even the customer service has told me to try all sorts different things but still goes off-line so I keep having to rest and then it comes back online, and then just keep getting the same problem.

Disappointed. I have a few hubs for one reason or another, I decided I wanted Aqara lights in the near future which requires a hub. But, now just checking out the hub it sounds amazing... Bluetooth, WiFi, ZigBee, Matter, Thread + "THIRD PARTY DEVICES", lots of talks of Hue working with it etc, so I'm thinking this can replace all the hubs, nice! ... Reality is, "Third Party" list consists of Tesla & Sonos, that's it. And the Hue support amounts to your Hue Hub pairing with the Aqara app, but you still need the hue hub, so that was poor. I also have a number of ZigBee devices I've collected over the years, using 2 other cheapo junk hubs and id hoped the 3M would replace them, unfortunately despite ZigBee written all over it - it only detects Aqara ZigBee devices and not third party brands. So, Very much a product for Aqara users and not third parties looking for an all in one hub to take over there smart home & tidy things up. As for the device, it looks well designed, high quality, nice little wall mount etc but quite disappointing, would return it but I'm still wanting Aqara lights and hopefully further down the line with updates etc maybe Aqara will make the product what it should be, both for the price tag and the technical specs it boasts.