Hardware Guides
The device pages answer "does this specific thing work?". These guides answer the questions that come before that — which protocol to build on, what infrastructure a purchase quietly assumes, and why two perfectly good sensors can refuse to share a bus. Figures in each guide are computed from the dataset at build time.
Zigbee vs Z-Wave vs Matter: Choosing a Protocol
How the three main smart home radio protocols differ in range, hub requirements and ecosystem size — and how to choose between them for a new setup.
Read the guide →Do You Need a Thread Border Router?
What a Thread border router actually does, which devices count as one, and how to tell whether the Matter device in your basket needs one before it will pair.
Read the guide →I²C Address Conflicts, Explained
Why an I²C sensor goes missing in ESPHome, how to read the boot scan, and four ways past an address clash: re-strap, second bus, TCA9548A or software.
Read the guide →ESP32 vs ESP8266 for ESPHome: Which Board?
Choosing between the ESP8266 and the ESP32, C3, S3 and C6 for an ESPHome node: memory, serial ports, ADC and strapping pins, Bluetooth, Thread and Zigbee.
Read the guide →mmWave Radar vs PIR: Choosing a Presence Sensor
Why a PIR loses you when you sit still and a radar does not. How the ESPHome LD2410, LD2412, LD2420 and LD2450 components work, how to tune a radar that holds empty rooms occupied, and how to combine both in Home Assistant.
Read the guide →Natively Supported vs Bridge Needed: What Our Verdicts Mean
The three compatibility verdicts this site assigns, what each one commits you to in hardware and maintenance, and why "works with" on a box rarely tells you which you are getting.
Read the guide →