Best smart thermostats UK (2026) — compared & price-tracked
A smart thermostat is a heating controller, not an upgrade to your boiler — it changes when and where your home is heated, not how efficiently the boiler burns fuel. The decision that matters is rarely the app or the styling: it is whether the unit works with your specific boiler and system, and whether it can control a hot water cylinder if you have one. Several of the products here run heating only, and two need a separate adapter or bridge before they will do what the box implies. This page compares seven UK-available thermostats on compatibility, control type, zoning and how realistic self-installation actually is, with prices and specifications checked against the manufacturers' own documentation and UK retailers on 24 July 2026.
By Tom Calder · Updated 18 July 2026 · 7 products, price-tracked
Before you buy
Compatibility, not features, decides this category, and three questions settle most of it. First, what kind of boiler and system do you have — a combi that heats water on demand, or a system or heat-only boiler feeding a hot water cylinder? Drayton's Wiser Kit 1 and the Hive combi thermostat are built for combis and control heating only; anyone with a cylinder needs a product with a second channel, which here means the Honeywell T6R-HW, the tado° starter kit or the Worcester Bosch EasyControl. Second, is your system plumbed as an S-plan or Y-plan with motorised zone valves? Resideo specifies both the T6R-HW and evohome for those layouts, while several rivals do not mention them at all. Third, does the manufacturer actually list your boiler? Hive publishes a specific incompatibility list covering heat pumps, storage heaters, electric underfloor heating, solid fuel and biomass, Honeywell SmartFit controls, the Vaillant VR 65 control centre and ten Worcester Bosch models that accept only Worcester's own TR2 room thermostat. tado publishes no blanket boiler list and instead directs buyers to its online compatibility checker for their exact make and model — a five-minute step worth doing before you order rather than after.
The second decision is how the thermostat talks to the boiler. Simple on/off relay switching does what it sounds like: the boiler is either firing or it is not. OpenTherm is an industry boiler-communication protocol — not a safety certification — that lets a compatible boiler modulate, running at lower output for longer instead of cycling, which is generally the more comfortable and more efficient way to heat a home. Most products here support both: tado, Wiser and the Honeywell T6R-HW all list relay and OpenTherm connections. Two do not work the way the marketing implies. The Netatmo Smart Thermostat for Individual Boiler is dry-contact on/off only, with a maximum switching current of 120VA — Netatmo sells a separate modulating thermostat for OpenTherm systems, and the two are easy to confuse. And Worcester Bosch's EasyControl is not natively an OpenTherm device at all: it speaks Bosch's own EMS 2 bus, and OpenTherm is simply one of the outputs its separately sold adapter converts to for third-party boilers. On the evohome pack, OpenTherm requires the R8810A1018 bridge, which is not in the box.
Zoning is where the real money goes, and where headline prices mislead most. A single-zone thermostat controls the whole house from one temperature reading in one room, which is how most UK homes already work. Room-by-room control means putting a smart valve on individual radiators, and those are almost always sold separately. Only two products here include any: the Drayton Wiser Kit 1 ships with two radiator thermostats at £179.99 and scales to 16 rooms and 63 Wiser devices on Drayton's own figures, and the Worcester Bosch bundle ships with three at £341.70 and scales to 19 Smart TRVs across 20 zones on Worcester's. The Honeywell evohome pack is the most capable of the lot — Resideo quotes up to 12 individually time- and temperature-controlled heating zones plus a separate hot water zone — but the pack as sold contains no radiator controllers at all, so its roughly £215 price is the start of the spend rather than the end of it. Hive, tado and Netatmo are all single-zone as supplied, with their own radiator valve ranges bought separately.
Finally, be honest with yourself about installation, because almost everything here involves mains wiring somewhere. The genuinely DIY parts are the battery-powered pieces: Netatmo's thermostat head runs on three AAA cells, and radiator valves screw onto existing valve bodies with no electrics involved. The parts that are not are the receivers, relays and hubs that connect to the boiler or wiring centre — Netatmo's Relay is powered from 230V mains, the Honeywell T6R-HW's 2-channel receiver box always requires a 230V supply, and Drayton's HubR wires in at the boiler. Hive's own wording is that self-installation requires competence in electrical wiring and DIY, and it sells a British Gas-backed professional install alongside the product. tado, the most self-install-friendly option here, still charges £140 including VAT for professional fitting, which is a fair signal of how hard the wiring step really is. Worcester Bosch points buyers to accredited installers rather than describing DIY, and evohome is realistically a heating engineer's job — UK quotes for whole-system fitting run roughly £600 to £900 and up. Two smaller costs are worth knowing before you commit: Hive requires its Hub, included with a first thermostat purchase, while tado's Programmer X needs no bridge at all; and tado's optional AI Assist subscription runs to £3.99 a month, which is not required for basic operation but is an ongoing cost buyers rarely expect.
Top pick: tado° Wireless Smart Thermostat X — Starter Kit including Programmer with Hot Water Control and OpenTherm. The most complete package here for the money: OpenTherm or relay control, hot water control included via the bundled Programmer X, and no separate hub or bridge to buy because the Programmer is itself the Thread border router. It is also the one the manufacturer describes as genuinely self-installable, with in-app instructions tailored to your system, though the Programmer still wires in at the boiler — which is why tado sells professional fitting at £140. Note that the Matter and Thread support is smart-home connectivity, not any form of safety approval.
| Thermostat | Works with | Control | Zoning | Fitting | Price | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| tado° Wireless Smart Thermostat X — Starter Kit including Programmer with Hot Water Control and OpenThermTOP PICK | Most gas boilers and heat pumps via relay or OpenTherm | OpenTherm or relay; hot water control included; no hub needed | Single zone; add tado° Radiator Thermostats X for per-room | Most DIY-friendly here, still wired; pro fitting £140 inc VAT | £159.99at usual price | Check price → |
| Drayton by Schneider Electric Multi-Zone Smart Thermostat and 2 Smart Radiator Thermostat Kit — Combination Boilers Only | Combi boilers only — system/heat-only buyers need Kit 2 | Relay and OpenTherm; heating only, no hot water channel | Multi-zone: 2 TRVs included, up to 16 rooms, 63 devices | HubR wires in at the boiler; the TRVs screw on, true DIY | £179.99at usual price | Check price → |
| Honeywell Home T6R-HW Wall-Mounted Wireless Heating & Hot Water Smart Thermostat (Y6H920RW5031) | 24–230V on/off and OpenTherm boilers, heat pumps; S/Y/W-plan | OpenTherm or relay; genuinely controls stored hot water | Single zone only — no radiator valve ecosystem | No hub; 2-channel receiver needs a wired 230V supply | £159.00at usual price | Check price → |
| Honeywell Home evohome Wi-Fi Connected Thermostat Pack (ATP921R3100) | Most boilers, heat pumps, district heating; S-plan and Y-plan | Relay as sold; OpenTherm and hot water need extra hardware | Up to 12 heating zones + 1 hot water; controllers extra | Engineer's job; whole-system fitting quoted c.£600–£900+ | £214.00at usual price | Check price → |
| Hive Thermostat for Heating (Combi Boiler) with Hive Hub | Most gas/LPG/oil boilers; no heat pumps, storage or solid fuel | OpenTherm or on/off relay; Hive Hub included and required | Single zone; radiator valves and multizone kits sold separately | Hive says self-install needs wiring competence; pro fitting sold | £119.00at usual price | Check price → |
| Worcester Bosch EasyControl Smart Thermostat, Plus 3 ETRVs | Worcester Bosch boilers natively; others need the EasyControl Adapter | EMS 2 modulation, not OpenTherm; hot water scheduling included | Multi-zone: 3 TRVs included, up to 19 TRVs across 20 zones | Installer-fitted; Worcester points buyers to accredited fitters | £341.70at usual price | Check price → |
| Netatmo Smart Thermostat for Individual Boiler, NTH01-EN-EC | 1,500+ boilers, any fuel, heat pumps — if dry-contact on/off | On/off relay only. No OpenTherm, no hot water control | Single zone; Smart Radiator Valves sold separately | Head is battery DIY; Relay needs 230V wiring at the boiler | £115.54at usual price | Check price → |
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tado° Wireless Smart Thermostat X — Starter Kit including Programmer with Hot Water Control and OpenTherm
Who it's for: Most UK homes — including heat pumps and cylinder systems — that want hot water control without buying a hub.
The most complete package here for the money: OpenTherm or relay control, hot water control included via the bundled Programmer X, and no separate hub or bridge to buy because the Programmer is itself the Thread border router. It is also the one the manufacturer describes as genuinely self-installable, with in-app instructions tailored to your system, though the Programmer still wires in at the boiler — which is why tado sells professional fitting at £140. Note that the Matter and Thread support is smart-home connectivity, not any form of safety approval.
- Hot water control included via the bundled Programmer X
- No hub or Bridge X to buy — the Programmer X is the Thread border router
- Suits heat pumps as well as most gas boilers, over relay or OpenTherm
- Optional AI Assist subscription at £3.99 a month is an ongoing cost that is easy to miss at checkout
- Still a wired job at the boiler end despite the DIY framing — tado charges £140 inc VAT for professional fitting
- Amazon sells a near-identically named kit with a Bridge X and stand instead of the Programmer X, so it is easy to buy the wrong bundle
Don't buy if you want room-by-room control out of the box — the Drayton Wiser kit includes two radiator valves for £20 more.
Who it's for: Room-by-room control on a combi boiler without paying whole-house-system money.
The best zoning value on this page by a distance: £179.99 buys a room thermostat plus two smart radiator valves, and Drayton's own figures put the system at one central-heating channel across up to 16 rooms and 63 Wiser devices in total. Its specification lists relay and OpenTherm connections, so it can modulate on boilers that offer it. The hard limit is the 1-channel HubR — this is Kit 1, combi boilers only, with no hot water control at all.
- Two Smart Radiator Thermostats included, so room-by-room control starts at £179.99
- Scales to 16 rooms and 63 Wiser devices on Drayton's own figures
- Relay and OpenTherm connections, so it modulates on boilers that support it
- Combi boilers only — system and heat-only boilers, and S-plan or Y-plan setups, need the different Kit 2
- No hot water control whatsoever: the 1-channel HubR runs heating only
- The HubR wires in at the boiler or wiring centre, which is mains work — only the radiator valves are genuinely DIY
Don't buy if you have a hot water cylinder to control — buy Wiser Kit 2 or the Honeywell T6R-HW instead.
Honeywell Home T6R-HW Wall-Mounted Wireless Heating & Hot Water Smart Thermostat (Y6H920RW5031)
Who it's for: An S-plan or Y-plan home with a hot water cylinder that needs one thermostat to run both.
The answer to a common and badly served UK problem: a single, sensible thermostat that controls both heating and a stored hot water cylinder. Resideo specifies it for 24–230V on/off and OpenTherm appliances including gas boilers, combis and heat pumps, and for Sundial S-plan, Y-plan and W-plan stored hot water systems with 24V and 230V zone valves, with no separate hub required. Screwfix lists a 5-year manufacturer's warranty for domestic use subject to proof of purchase and terms; the frost protection and holiday mode are built-in functions rather than any external certification.
- Genuinely controls a stored hot water cylinder as well as heating
- Specified by Resideo for S-plan, Y-plan and W-plan systems, 24V and 230V zone valves
- No hub to buy, and Screwfix lists a 5-year manufacturer's warranty for domestic use
- Single zone only — there is no radiator valve ecosystem for room-by-room control on this product
- The 2-channel receiver box always requires a 230V supply wired in at the boiler or programmer position
- Ignore the 'suitable for all boilers' retailer wording — Resideo makes no universal claim, and unsupported systems such as solid fuel are out
Don't buy if you want room-by-room zoning — evohome, Drayton Wiser and tado all support radiator valves and this does not.
Who it's for: A large or awkward home being zoned properly by a heating engineer.
The most capable system here — Resideo quotes up to 12 individually time- and temperature-controlled heating zones plus a separate domestic hot water zone, and the broadest system support of anything on this page, covering most boiler types, heat pumps, district heating, pellet burners and S-plan or Y-plan zone-valve setups. But the pack as sold is a controller, a table stand, a power lead and one wireless relay box: no radiator controllers, no OpenTherm and no hot water control. Judge it as the first component of a professionally installed whole-house system, not as a £215 thermostat.
- Up to 12 heating zones plus a separate hot water zone, on Resideo's own figures
- Broadest system support here — most boiler types, heat pumps, district heating, S-plan and Y-plan
- The only product on this page designed from the outset to grow to whole-house zoning
- The pack includes no radiator controllers at all, so it does not deliver multi-zone heating as sold
- OpenTherm needs the separate R8810A1018 bridge, and hot water needs the ATF500DHW kit or a CS92A cylinder thermostat
- Realistically a qualified engineer's job — UK quotes for whole-system fitting run roughly £600 to £900 and up
Don't buy if you want zoning on a budget — Drayton Wiser Kit 1 includes two radiator valves for £179.99.
Who it's for: A combi-boiler household that wants a familiar, well-supported app at the lowest hub-included price.
The mainstream, widely supported option, and at £119 with the required Hub in the box it is the cheapest route into a well-known British Gas-backed ecosystem with OpenTherm modulation on compatible combis. Two things to be clear about before ordering: this is the combi version, so it controls heating only and there is no cylinder for it to manage, and Hive's published incompatibility list is long. Check your specific boiler against that list rather than assuming a mainstream brand means universal fit.
- Hive Hub included in the box — no separate bridge to buy on a first purchase
- OpenTherm modulation on compatible combi boilers, not just on/off switching
- Cheapest entry into a mainstream, British Gas-backed ecosystem at £119
- The combi version controls heating only and cannot manage a hot water cylinder
- Long published incompatibility list: heat pumps, storage heaters, electric underfloor heating, solid fuel and biomass, Honeywell SmartFit, the Vaillant VR 65, and ten Worcester Bosch models that take only Worcester's TR2 stat
- Hive's 'up to 12%' and 'up to £167 a year' savings figures are its own conditional marketing claims and are not independently verified
Don't buy if you have a hot water cylinder to control — this combi SKU cannot, and Hive's Heating & Hot Water bundle is a different, dearer product.
Who it's for: Homes that already have a Worcester Bosch boiler and want zoning plus the extended guarantee.
If you already own a Worcester Bosch boiler this is a strong package: native EMS 2 modulating control, hot water scheduling, three Smart TRVs in the box, and a system that scales to 19 Smart TRVs across 20 zones on Worcester's own figures, with an up-to-12-year guarantee when installed with one of their boilers. If you do not own one, the maths falls apart — you need the separately sold EasyControl Adapter to convert EMS out to OpenTherm, iRT or a 230V on/off contact, on top of £341.70. Worcester states the EasyControl boosts a system's ErP rating by 5% with at least three Smart TRVs, or 4% without Bosch TRVs; those are its own figures and explicitly conditional on the installation.
- Three Smart TRVs included, scaling to 19 TRVs across 20 zones on Worcester's own figures
- Native EMS 2 modulating control on Worcester Bosch boilers, plus hot water scheduling
- Up to a 12-year guarantee when installed with one of Worcester's own boilers
- Not an OpenTherm device — any non-Worcester boiler needs the separately sold EasyControl Adapter, the biggest hidden cost on this page
- At £341.70 it is roughly double the Drayton Wiser kit for comparable zoning if you do not own a Worcester boiler
- Worcester directs buyers to accredited installers rather than DIY, and the headline guarantee is conditional on how it is installed
Don't buy if your boiler is not a Worcester Bosch — Drayton Wiser Kit 1 gives comparable zoning for around half the money and needs no adapter.
Who it's for: An unusual fuel or older on/off system where compatibility matters more than modulation.
The budget pick and the most fuel-agnostic here: Netatmo claims compatibility with more than 1,500 boilers and with most boiler types regardless of fuel — electric, gas, oil or wood — plus heat pumps, air-to-water heat pumps and wood or pellet stoves. The real test is electrical rather than brand-based: your system must be controllable by a dry-contact on/off room thermostat with a maximum switching current of 120VA. That constraint is also the limitation, because this is the least capable controller on the page.
- The cheapest option here at around £115 direct from Netatmo's own UK shop
- Widest fuel compatibility on this page — electric, gas, oil or wood, plus heat pumps and pellet stoves
- The thermostat head runs on 3x AAA batteries and needs no wiring at all
- No OpenTherm on this model — it is dry-contact on/off only, max 120VA switching current, and Netatmo's modulating thermostat is a separate, easily confused product
- No hot water control: there is no cylinder or hot water channel on this thermostat
- The Relay still has to be wired to the boiler and powered from 230V mains, which is the part most owners will pay someone to do
Don't buy if your boiler supports OpenTherm modulation and you want to use it — the tado° kit or Honeywell T6R-HW will, and this will not.
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Common questions
Will a smart thermostat work with my boiler?
Usually, but not always, and it is the check to do before buying anything. Every manufacturer publishes its own compatibility information: Hive lists specific exclusions including heat pumps, storage heaters, electric underfloor heating and solid fuel or biomass systems, while tado publishes no blanket boiler list and directs buyers to its online compatibility checker for their exact make and model. Treat any retailer listing that says 'suitable for all boilers' with caution — the manufacturers themselves do not make that claim.
Which of these can control my hot water cylinder?
Three of them as supplied. The tado° Wireless Smart Thermostat X starter kit includes hot water control via the bundled Programmer X; the Honeywell T6R-HW controls stored hot water on S-plan, Y-plan and W-plan systems; and the Worcester Bosch EasyControl lets you schedule when the boiler provides hot water. The Hive combi thermostat, Drayton Wiser Kit 1 and Netatmo Smart Thermostat for Individual Boiler are heating only. The Honeywell evohome system supports a hot water zone but needs the separate ATF500DHW kit or a CS92A wireless cylinder thermostat to do it.
What is the difference between OpenTherm and on/off control?
On/off relay switching means the boiler is either firing or idle. OpenTherm is a boiler-communication protocol that lets a compatible boiler modulate its output — running gently for longer rather than cycling on and off — which is usually more comfortable and more efficient. It is an industry communication standard, not a safety certification. Your boiler has to support it as well: if it does not, an OpenTherm-capable thermostat simply falls back to relay switching.
Can I fit a smart thermostat myself?
Parts of the job, yes. Battery-powered thermostat heads and radiator valves are genuine DIY. The receiver, relay or hub that connects to the boiler or wiring centre is mains electrical work — Netatmo's Relay and the Honeywell T6R-HW's 2-channel receiver both need a 230V supply, and Hive states plainly that self-installation requires competence in electrical wiring and DIY. tado is the most self-install-friendly option here and still sells professional fitting at £140 including VAT, while whole-system evohome installs are quoted at roughly £600 to £900 and up. If you are not confident with mains wiring, use a qualified heating engineer.
How much will a smart thermostat actually save me?
Less than the marketing suggests, if you already control your heating carefully. The Energy Saving Trust puts the saving from installing heating controls at around £100 a year in Great Britain and £110 in Northern Ireland, with a programmer, thermostat and TRVs together saving about £110 a year in GB, and adding TRVs to a system that already has a programmer and thermostat saving about £35 a year in GB. Those figures describe going from no or basic controls to a full set — not swapping an existing thermostat for a smart one, where the saving is smaller. Manufacturer figures such as Hive's 'up to 12%' and 'up to £167 a year' are the company's own conditional claims and are not independently verified.
Do I need a separate hub or bridge?
It varies, and it is a real cost difference. Hive requires its Hub, which plugs into your broadband router and is included with a first thermostat purchase. tado's starter kit needs nothing extra — the Programmer X is itself the Thread border router, and the Bridge X is sold separately only as a signal amplifier for larger homes. The Honeywell T6R-HW needs no hub. The evohome pack needs the separate R8810A1018 bridge for OpenTherm, and Worcester Bosch's EasyControl needs the EasyControl Adapter for any non-Worcester boiler.
Are there ongoing subscription costs?
Not for basic operation on any product here. The one to know about is tado's optional AI Assist subscription at £3.99 a month — it is not required to run the thermostat, but it is a recurring cost that is easy to miss at the point of purchase. Beyond that, budget for what expanding a system costs rather than what running it costs: radiator valves, extra zones, adapters and bridges are all bought separately.