The smart thermostat is the most effective and convenient way to automate the temperature of your house. Also known as programmable thermostats, these devices have wireless capabilities that allow you to change thermostat settings from a mobile app or through smart assistants, such as Google Assistant or Amazon Alexa. Beyond the fun and practical smart features, these smart thermostats are energy-efficient and will certainly save your money on your energy bills even on your first year of usage.
Modern-day thermostats are packed with many features and functions that completely automates what used to be a chore. If you intend on upgrading your system, but aren’t ready for a very large investment why not start with a cheap smart thermostat. Since inexpensive thermostats can offer very similar benefits and features than high-end models, it’s usually worth investing in such devices.
What is a Cheap Thermostat?
New technology is always very expensive, but luckily smart thermostat technology is not that new and many of the older models offer the same features are new models at a fraction of the prices. In the below article, we’ve considered old and new smart thermostats, which we thought were reasonably priced.
Before reading on you might also like our recent blog post on the What Is The Best Smart Thermostat for Multiple Zones? and What Is The Best Smart Thermostat for Alexa? each with dedicated articles.
What Might Be Missing In A Cheap Thermostat
This comes back to asking the question, what’s so great about new smart thermostats? When paying more for a Google Nest, Honeywell, Ecobee, or Emerson Sensi are consumers really getting additional value or are they paying for a brand name? Which are the specific features you get in 2021 for that additional price tag. Here are a short list of what these features are:
- Inexpensive thermostats do not have strong artificial intelligence to automatically change temperature
- Room sensors and multi-zone temperature settings are not always supported
- The mobile apps can have a more basic design
- Inexpensive thermostats have a more traditional look instead of the sometimes futuristic looking high-end devices
It might surprise you to know that there are hundreds of smart products available under 100$. If the above doesn’t worry you, we think you’ll like the list of thermostats we’ve created below. They’ve created thousands of happy customers with very similar features as high-end thermostats.
We recently reviewed the best smart thermostat for multiple zones and top-rated thermostats for more comparisons. Let’s move to the list of most affordable smart home thermostats:
Cheapest WiFi Thermostat With Touchscreen
Key Features
- C-Wire power supply required to power on-device sensors and automation functions. If no c-wire available in your house a power adapter is available.
- Flexible schedule and Geo-fencing: you can set a full seven-day schedule once, and the Honeywell T5+ will follow that automatic schedule for both heating or cooling
- Work with all your Favorite Smart Assistants: The T5+ works with the leading smart home partners like Apple HomeKit, Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant
Honeywell Home T5 Plus Wi-Fi Touchscreen Smart Thermostat is an Energy Star rated smart thermostat that can save you money on your energy bill. The device is equipped with WIFI connectivity in order to take commands wirelessly from your smart phone app or any other connected device. With an on-device sensor the device detects when it is necessary to begin heating and cooling in order for the temperature to follow your schedule. The smart notification feature can also alert you of extreme outdoor temperature changes in order to let you know that your system will be using more energy.
The T5 is one of Honeywell’s cheaper models. While the T9 is higher end and offer additional compatibility features it is also pricier, currently costing about 80$ more than the T5. One interesting feature of the T5 is its ability to control fan functions of smart fan connected devices. With both temperature and fan control centralized on one same device, this thermostat is sure is sure to create a pleasant living environment. The installation of this thermostat is completely feasible on your own and can be done in around 30min.
Further, with it’s Alexa and Google Assistant compatibility, it is possible or this thermostat to be turned on using simple voice commands.
Best Energy Star Certified Cheap Smart Thermostat
Key Features
- Energy Star Certified: The Merson Sensi was awarded the energy star badge many years ago and still holds it today making it a device capable of saving you up to 23% on your energy bills.
- WiFi Connectivity: Capable of connecting to your home’s wifi internet and controllable using the manufacturer’s app.
- Work With all your Favorite Smart Assistants: Compatible with all known smart home assistant solutions like Amazon Alexa, Google Assistant, Apple HomeKit (c-wire required), Samsung SmartThings, and Wink smart home platforms.
Emerson Sensi Wi-Fi Smart Thermostat is cheaper than most of the other products currently being marketed. It has all you need in a smart thermostat: Make your schedule features, wireless control and and home assistant integrations feature will turn off your heating or cooling when you are away. The design is simple and won’t stand out on your wall. While Sensi stayed with a traditional thermostat screen and overall look, this thermostat has a Google Playstore and Apple Appstore mobile app that can do most of what the other apps from Honeywell or Nest do.
The app is a way to get access to your smart home thermostat reports and statistics, while you use the thermostat itself to set a custom schedule and access other features.
It’s fast and responsive and works with WiFi, so you can be sure wherever you are, you’ll have total control of the device. For example, after reviewing the temperature inside your home remotely, you can override the temperature schedule and change the temperature right from the app.
Why do we recommend the this device most? The main reason is its compatibility with all old and new HVAC and other heating and cooling systems. I do not find any incompatible system name a system, and it’s compatible with that. I believe that it’s highly consistent and most simple to install for novice smart homeowners.
Best Cheap Compatible Wifi Thermostat
Key Features
- Compatible with Nearly All Heating Appliances: The Honeywell Home works with virtually any system home heating appliance; new and and old systems (note not compatible with electric baseboards)
- Honeywell Programming and Mobile App: The Honeywell mobile app is very developed and offers great features.
- Work With all your Favorite Smart Assistants: This thermostat is compatible with smart home assistants and many more than competitor devices (Alexa, Google Assistant, Samsung SmartThings, IFTTT, Bonomi, Wink, and Stringy)
Honeywell Home Wi-Fi 7-Day Programmable Thermostat is another low-cost option loaded with most of the required features, which certainly make your life more convenient. It’s one of the most popular devices with thousands of review on Amazon.com, which are overwhelmingly positive. Given the wide range of compatibilities with most smart assistants, a well as with most heating and cooling appliances you might have in your home, this device is an easy purchase to make for many consumers. It’s not only a cheap thermostat, but given that it’s in the Honeywell family, it also has more features than many new smart thermostats.
Equipped with smart response technology, this smart thermostat will automatically follow your schedule and provide you with the correct temperature despite other changes in the environment.
As is common is many thermostats, four programming periods can be setup, which allows users to set the different temperatures for 4 different times of the day. I also has a pretty large display, which is easy to read and shows all the necessary information to make changing setting very easy.
If you think that buying a cheap thermostat will mean losing out on key functionality, know that it is not the case with this device. While the looks might not be up to pare with newer devices, this smart thermostat has all the functionality one needs. Remember that while the device itself is cheap, all Honeywell users use the same mobile app. The mobile app acts as a remote from which you can access the thermostat, as well as get information about local weather is also accessible on the app.
Cheap Smart Thermostat Alexa compatible
Key Features
- Schedule Programming: 8 periods 7 days programming provides full control over the device and temperature of your house; it can be customized in various ways.
- Energy Efficient: Designed to save money on energy bills, you can save up to approximately 23% of your current bill i you’re not using a smart system.
- Work With all of your Favorite Voice Assistants: Compatible with Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant to allow you to use voice commands to control the device.
The Vine Smart Thermostat Alexa compatible comes with a large screen display and eight periods setting that provides very convenient use. it is more flexible time schedules than most competing products that only allow for 4 periods per day. For example it is very possible that you prefer evenings to be cooler than afternoons. With thermostats that only allow 4 periods, such specific time-based temperature settings can be challenging. It’s cheap and loaded with WiFi connectivity to connect to your smart phone, this device includes all of the features that you might like.
One great feature is temporary temperature changes. The app allows you to make changes to pre-set schedules that only affect the temperature on the day of the change. This means that the next day, the temperature would be back to normal.
We tested this thermostat and found it to be a great value purchase. We sometimes found that the WiFi connectivity to be a little unstable, which meant that at times, making changes from my phone or Amazon Alexa was challenging. Moving the wifi router closer to the smart thermostat solved our problem perfectly, but did lead to the conclusion that the built-in wifi receivers were weaker than in some other smart thermostats.
Easiest to Use Cheap Wifi Thermostat
- Intuitive and Innovative Design: With a large and colorful display, this smart thermostat is easy and intuitive to use.
- Easy to Install and Use: Installation taking less than 30 minutes, this smart thermostat will be quickly setup to allow you to begin using the smart features.
- Work With all your Favorites Voice Assistants: Compatible with the two most preferred smart home systems Amazon Alexa and Google assistant.
The Vine 2nd Gen Smart Home Thermostat is the newer version of the device reviewed above. It’s design has seen significant changes and many advanced features rarely seen in other smart thermostats. Its large display allows you to access features and functions quickly. Its interface is also user-friendly, and its remote app is easy to understand.
Just like the previous generation, Wifi connectivity requires the router to be closer to the machine (within 2 rooms). In a strong wifi area, the device works perfectly.
Cheapest Alexa Thermostat (Currently Unavailable)
Final Thoughts
While there is a large number of manufacturers of low-end devices out there, few can actually perform well at that lower price-range. We know of many customers who have purchased newly launched products from unknown brands and have later regretted it. Sticking to companies you personally know is a trick that will help you buy good devices even at a lower price.
Before buying any device, review customer reviews online and make sure that it is a popular purchase. If the purchase is popular, that means that there will also be many online threads with people asking questions and getting answers. This can be very handy when you run into a problem and need to ask the internet for advice.
Of all the thermostats reviewed about, we recommend the Emerson Sensi Wi-Fi Smart Thermostat most of all because this thermostat has a wide range of compatibilities and offers many high-end features. All the modern voice assistants work this system, and its app allows users to have full control over the device operations. When you decide to purchase a budget-friendly product, then that the one we would recommend you go for.
