Aqara Hub M100: Budget-Friendly Ticket To The Matter Smart Home Party
The new Aqara Hub M100
The Aqara Hub M100, first announced back at CES 2025 in January, is now available, offering a cheaper way than ever to get started with a Matter smart home.
For less than $20, the M100 gives you an easy and affordable way into the Matter ecosystem, and can also be the starting point of your Aqara smart home journey.
The Chinese smart home specialist has really made a name for itself in the past couple of years and is often the brand I often recommend people to turn to when they ask how to start out with home automation.
The Hub M100, which is now officially available via Aqara's Amazon store and its own website, supports both Zigbee and Thread - 20 devices of each, simultaneously - and also works as a Matter controller, Thread border router, and a Matter bridge.
That means you can use it to tie together your Aqara kit and it will also play nicely with third-party Matter and Thread gear, like Eve lights or smart locks from brands like Level.
It's a budget-friendly gateway to smart home sanity, especially if you're just getting started or want to upgrade without spending M3-level money (Aqara's flagship hub, which costs $130).
It plugs straight into a USB-A port can also be used to extend an existing Thread or (Aqara) Zigbee mesh network.
And while it doesn't bring the higher-end features of the flagship M3 (no IR blasting or Edge computing smarts here), it does support Aqara's new Advanced Matter Bridging.
That means automations you build inside the Aqara Home app - like starting a robot vacuum or reacting to facial recognition from a camera - can now trigger events in other Matter platforms, including HomeKit, Alexa, or Google Home.
Aqara W100 sensor now available
Also now available is the Aqara Climate Sensor W100 ($39.99, above), which brings a few more tricks to the table than your average temp sensor.
With a 3.4-inch screen and three programmable buttons, it's not just for monitoring; it's for control. The display gives you at-a-glance temp and humidity readings, while the buttons can be set up to toggle scenes or control HVAC systems.
Dual-protocol support (Thread and Zigbee) means you can choose between native Matter integration or deeper Aqara-specific features.
So you could stick with Thread if you're building a Matter-based setup, or switch to Zigbee to unlock extras like remote thermostat control or viewing climate data on the W100 screen.
Battery life is an impressive 28 months on a pair of CR2450 cell batteries.
Aqara is also now bundling up its Camera Hub G3, along with a Door & Window Sensor, Motion Sensor P1, and a Vibration Sensor T1 to form the Camera Protect Kit Y100 starter kit.
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