But smart blinds range in degrees of intelligence, with only a few brands offering quality, variety, and compatibility with home automation systems all at once. So what are the best smart blinds and shades available right now? Must read:
The best smart home bridgesThe best home automation systemsThe best smart home hubsThe best smart speakersThe best smart lights
These are the best option when you consider value for money, quality, and compatibility options in one set of smart blinds or shades. If you prioritize high IQ in your smart window treatments over customization power, SmartWings is your best option. They offer several models of motorized blinds and shades, let you customize size and mount type, and give you the option to choose from three smart home motors: a Zigbee motor directly compatible with SmartThings, Alexa, and Google Home; an Alexa motor for five specific Echo devices; and a HomeKit motor for Apple users. The ability to choose a smart motor means there is no hub required to use smart options. Though batteries in the motor last for up to six months of use, they also sell a separate solar panel you can add to your shades so you never have to worry about charging them. For standard 24x36 inches blackout roller shades with the Zigbee motor, you can expect to pay around $225, which isn’t too bad at all. Though the Lutron smart bridge is required to enjoy all capabilities of these shades, you can also pair them with Caseta dimmers and light controls, another Lutron brand. The hub can also connect up to 75 Lutron devices, something to consider if you’re a Caseta or a Lutron fan in your smart home. The only thing they are lacking in is affordability since they are one of the most expensive options. Their blackout roller shades at 24x36 inches with smart capability and remote can cost just over $740 to over $900, depending on customizations, so they’re definitely on the higher end of price. Yoolax is very specific on what their products are compatible with and which blinds need a hub to connect to an automation system, so it’s important to look out for that when choosing one of their products. These are available with two motors, one compatible with HomeKit, and the other compatible with Alexa and Google Home, or the option to purchase a separate hub. Plug-in and battery-operated options are available for sale from Yoolax. And if your window is too high to plug into an outlet, Yoolax also sells solar panels separately that install with the motorized blinds. These start at $132 and can go up to $600 depending on size and customizations. Over 300 colors and materials to choose from ensures you’ll definitely find something that matches your style at Levolor. Once you’ve settled on a color, texture, and material, choose the size and mount, control type, power source, remote, and whether you want the standard, top down/bottom up, or day/night. Depending on customizations, one of Levolor’s motorized room darkening 24x36 inches roller shades can cost from $500-$700, so it’s definitely not the most affordable option and something to consider when weighing the pros and cons of customization, price, and smart home compatibility. These roller blinds rank pretty high as far as customization power goes. If you’re looking for the ability to customize each part of your blinds or for fabric variations, SelectBlinds has both. This company offers anything from roman shades to faux or real wood blinds, cellular or honeycomb, solar, and more. You even have the option to shop by color, where you can find the perfect blinds to complement your home decor and then move to customizing patterns, textures, lift styles, roll position, headrails, and motorization. These blinds are a blackout set from their Designer Elements line, which also features different patterns, weaves and colors. For a 24x36 inches set complete with the wifi hub, expect to pay anywhere from $400-$900. These blackout cellular blinds are a great feature for the smart home enthusiast looking for simplicity and affordability that doesn’t mind buying a separate hub. The blinds are very energy efficient, keeping the sun rays out and the not letting as much heat inside as other options. The Tredansen blinds are cordless and come with a remote control and signal repeater for the wireless functions. The gateway Ikea sells for their blinds is Tradfri, which is unfortunately temporarily out of stock (thanks to supply chain issues), but it makes them compatible with the Ikea Home smart app, as well as Alexa, Google Home, and Apple HomeKit. One of these blackout shades with a remote and signal repeater, plus the separately sold gateway (when available), retails for $170, which is on par with Ikea prices, so don’t expect the high-end build quality others offer, but the price makes up for the lack of customization ability. You can see how the different brands compare on this table. Because the price for blinds varies greatly, we used the range of a standard 24x36 inches for all brands. If you’re very particular about your home decor or you’re looking for patterns and a variety in styles, then Levolor and Select Blinds are good choices. We also know not everyone wants to spend more money on buying a separate hub to connect their blinds too, so we wanted to offer different options for all. Compatibility Whether blinds are compatible with your current home automation system can definitely determine which ones you’ll buy. Making sure your blinds are compatible will determine how much you’ll be able to use them to their full potential. What’s the use of spending more for smart blinds if we can’t ask our favorite home assistant to open or close them or set automations so they can close in the evenings and open in the mornings? Quality Not all blinds are built equally. Some are built to last decades while others are built to last the year. We wanted to make sure to choose options where the prices reflect the level of quality instead of choosing out of the many overpriced options on the market. Not everyone is in the market to swap out all the blinds at home, as the cost quickly adds up to more than you may be looking to spend. This brings many to consider trying to motorize and automate their current blinds. This can be a good idea if you’ve got newer, high-quality window treatments that you don’t necessarily want to swap out, effectively tossing that investment away. Personally, I wouldn’t retrofit my blinds. At an average of $100-$300 per window for retrofitting, I’d rather go with new shades and have the benefit of brand new window treatments and the peace of mind of a good motor or system. While there are a few options to automate blinds that have good reviews among customers, they’re few and far between. For blinds, a good option seems to be RYSE smart shade starter pack, while the SwitchBot is a good one for those looking to motorize curtains. The Broadlink RM4 Pro is compatible with Google Home, Alexa, IFTTT and Siri Shortcuts, so any remote-controlled devices you add to it on the Broadlink app can be subsequently added to one of these home automation systems to use voice control.
