Home Automation Hubs – Home Assistant, openHAB, ioBroker, FHEM, Homee, Mediola – Compare for Homematic CCU + HmIP AP

[tomi_cc16]

Thanks to the good documented CCU interfaces there are many Home Automation Hubs available which you can easily run on e.g. Raspberry Pi or a local server. Some are opensource and some you need to pay for the service, cloud etc.
They can be used to control different standards and Smart Home devices e.g. Philips Hue, Sonos, Xiaomi Mi, Fibaro, ... and also for Amazon Alexa or Google Home.
Here I want to give you a quick overview about the different Home Automation Hubs available today for

“HM + HmIP CCU / Raspberrymatic” - to control Homematic and Homematic IP devices

“HmIP Cloud Access Point” - can only control Homematic IP devices

Homematic IP Cloud AP - REST API can be found below

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Conrad Connect
Very similar to IFTT but can be connected also to the HmIP Access Point. Here everything is in the cloud and unfortunately costs money now.
viewtopic.php?f=49&t=45043&p=450989#p450989

Lets start with the Open Source solutions:

Home Assistant
Is today one of the biggest Home Automation Hub worldwide. Programmed in Phyton.
It has more than 1.200 plugins (called Components) also for Homematic (to connect a CCU or RaspberryMatic) and Homematic IP (Cloud Access Point).
Biggest plus – big English speaking community – many instructions, videos etc already available.
Probably the easiest open source Automation Hub to start with.
Cloud for Alexa and Google Home is available and costs 5$ per month - not really cheap !
Also has an own Homekit/Siri Plugin.

IoBroker
Right now my favorite because has a big Homematic CCU / RaspberryMatic fanbase.
Until today more than 300 plugins (called adapters) – Java based.
80% German speaking community but they also have a section for English and Russian.
Has also a Homematic IP Cloud Access Point Adapter
Homekit/Siri Adapter available.

Iot Cloud (Alexa and Google Home) 21€ per year, the Pro Version (IoT+VPN) costs 39,95€ per year.

openHab
Similar to Home Assistant a big English speaking community – more than 1.700 plugins (called bindings) and you can connect it with a Homematic CCU or RaspberryMatic.
Unfortunately no HmIP Cloud Access Point plugin available yet.
Cloud for Alexa and Google Home is free of charge.
Has an own Homekit/Siri Addon.
Cloud still for free.

FHEM
Still the biggest german speaking Home Automation Hub – but with it’s pearl program language is not really fancy or update date. You need to have programming skills because it’s really not easy to start with and to add plugins (called modules) – not plug and play. More than 1.000 plugins available.
Homematic (to connect a CCU or RaspberryMatic) and Homematic IP (Cloud Access Point) Plugins/Programs available.
Homekit/Siri in combination with Homebridge.

General documentation and Forum in English available.

Homebridge
If you want to use your smart home with Siri and Homekit a Hombridge server cannot be missing in your household. Just install it on a small RaspberryPi.
More than 1.300 plugins available and you can connect it with a Homematic CCU or RaspberryMatic. Unfortunately no HmIP Cloud Access Point plugin available yet but if you use e.g. Home Assistant there are normally extra Homekit plugins in the Home Automation Hubs available.

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There are also professional services available that cost money:

Mediola
Probably most of you who have a new CCU3 knows already about Mediola because their mini server is already included in the CCU3 to build your own dashboard in the AIO Remote NEO App. You can use the CCU3 as a mediola mini server and buy additional plugins that you can use for a year (SUS) e.g. Cloud, Automation, … If you want to control different wireless communications protocols (in 433MHz, 868MHz) you can also buy a Mediola Gateway V5+.
Unfortunately no HmIP Cloud Access Point plugin available yet.
The idea is good but the yearly SUS service to receive further service updates can quickly cost, if you want to use many plugins, a ton of money.
If you don't add new devices than no new SUS is needed.
Cloud costs 29,95€ per year

Homee - by Codeatelier
So big potential but – the idea is great you buy a “brain” cube and can add further cubes with different standards e.g. Z-Wave, Zigbee, Enocean to control smart devices - especially it has a Homekit Plug & Play integration!!!
Also since 2016 it can call the CCU and control Homematic devices. Unfortunately, Homee hoped for a boost after they did the CCU integration in 2016 – did not happen - so since 4 years this function got no update from them – also Homematic IP devices connected to the CCU can not be controlled today and they announced on Facebook that no more updates will come.
Cloud is for free.
Unfortunately also no HmIP Cloud Access Point integration.
There policy I don't understand as a German company to not integrate the biggest german Smart Home brands Homematic /Homematic IP.

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Homematic IP Cloud Access Point REST-API can be found here:
https://github.com/coreGreenberet/homematicip-rest-api


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[Fonzo]

In addition, Homematic / Homematic IP can also be controlled via

Conrad Connect

Conrad Connect is a Metacloud Service service similar to IFTTT. Homematic can be accessed via Mediola Cloud Services and NEO Server or CloudMatic. If a Homematic access point is available the access point can also be controlled without further services directly from Conrad Connect. The services that are available are in comparison to IFTTT still few, but above all products are supported that are available in the German market.

One of the professional systems that are available in the market for a long time and which has been tried and tested for many years also belongs

IP-Symcon

The system runs either on its own platform SymBox which is installed in particular by electricians and integrators. As a result, systems such as KNX, 1-wire, M-Bus can be addressed directly on the bus if required. The connection to Homematic is done by a CCU. To access additional platforms like Z-Wave, EnOcean etc. additional gateways can be purchased for the respective system or one of many usb sticks can be used for a system running IP-Symcon. If a CCU3 with NEO is used there is also an NEO Plugin for IP-Symcon available to control all the devices that are accessed via IP-Symcon with the NEO visualization platform.
For users who want to put together a system itself, there is also the possibility to install the system on different computers and different operating systems. Widely used here is a Raspberry or a NAS if this should already be available at home.
The system can be accessed worldwide by secured remote access. For voice control Google Home, Alexa, and Homekit are available.
Homekit is free of charge for the use of Alexa and Google Skills you need a subscription for 39,99 € per year. With the subscription, you can update the software to the newest version during the subscription period with the service IP-Symcon Connect included, which gives a user secured remote access to the system and the ability to use Alexa and Google Home Skills.
The forum is the longest available German forum in the area of home automation and it is predominantly German spoken. In an English section, questions can also be asked in English and will be answered in English.

[Sergo]

Many thanks for this summary!
So, if understood correctly, if I'm with:
CCU3
+ Homematic IP devices
+ Homematic devices
and my requirement to is to enable Siri integration, there is no an single hub that will provide needed for my environment at this point of time?
Siri is supported only via Homebridge (its fine), but Homebridge currently does not support Homematic IP devices, correct? Installing in addition Home Assistant appears for me as building too complex system and low fault proof.. just feelings

[Fonzo]

So, if understood correctly, if I'm with:
CCU3
+ Homematic IP devices
+ Homematic devices
and my requirement to is to enable Siri integration, there is no an single hub that will provide needed for my environment at this point of time?

The easiest way is to use Siri on a CCU3 with node red and RedMatic. Otherwise many of the systems mentioned above are working also with Siri, only the home automation system itself then runs externally and not on the CCU3. Homekit == Siri, so in every system were Homekit is supported you can use Siri.

[Sergo]

The easiest way is to use Siri on a CCU3 with node red and RedMatic. Otherwise many of the systems mentioned above are working also with Siri, only the home automation system itself then runs externally and not on the CCU3. Homekit == Siri, so in every system were Homekit is supported you can use Siri.

Thanks for pointing out! Yes, I heard about Redmatic & Node Red, will look deeper in to that direction.. There is even add-on for CCU viewtopic.php?t=43508
I considered it as physically separate HUB before

[Fonzo]

There is even add-on for CCU viewtopic.php?t=43508

It is working directly on the CCU3 itself no need for extra hardware only install the add-on on the CCU3.

[tomi_cc16]

I updated the description above so I hope it will help to better understand because you summary was wrong.

Home Automation Hubs can control many things - not only Homematic CCU - so they are quite powerful and most of them are easy to install on a RaspberryPi.
Most of them have Homekit/Siri/Alexa/Google Home support - added that in the texts above - and when they can control CCU than of course they can control Homematic and HomematicIP devices.

Red Matic - is not a Home Automation Hub - its a special Addon for the “CCU3 / RaspberryMatic” to use Node-Red. Because Node-Red is so powerfull you can do many things with the Addon directly on the “CCU3 / RaspberryMatic” and don't need than an extra Home Automation Hub. But for many things a Home Automation Hub is still usefull.

An Overview of Addons and Tools for the CCU / RaspberryMatic can be found here:
viewtopic.php?f=49&t=46890

[blueznl]

I'm a little bit confused by one of your remarks. I was considering moving over to a CCU3 (mainly for speed but also the Mediola support) but the information I find is quite unclear on the license.

If I understood you post correctly, you're telling me that IF I would buy a CCU3 with Medila license, I would still have to pay 'x' euro every year to access, for example, the 'milight' plugin?

[tomi_cc16]

If I understood you post correctly, you're telling me that IF I would buy a CCU3 with Mediola license, I would still have to pay 'x' euro every year to access, for example, the 'milight' plugin?

Yes - what you buy with the CCU3 is the mediola server license to create in the NEO app your own dashboard to control the CCU3.

What is NOT included !!!
- Cloud to use it from external
- Other Mediola Plugins

[blueznl]

Ok. I don't mind playing for a plugin, but I now understand it is a recurring payment?