zlacker

I recently started with home assistant. 80 bucks mini PC from Amazon, 25 bucks zigbee stick and bunch of different relays, modules, switches around the house. Easily setup HVAC fresh air ventilation (already had ducts in place but it was stupid x minutes per hour, now it is dependent on outside temperature), easily made my dumb switches smart where needed without them looking any different from the rest. In addition esphome on garage door opener motor with couple zigbee sensors on garage doors themselves to make my motors "smart"...

Unfortunately, to get there most out of it you have to go to AliExpress to have a selection of modules, but I made it a journey, rather than a project

>>hippic+(OP)
You don't have to go AliExpress, but you can. HomeAssistant can run a stupid number of integrations:

https://www.home-assistant.io/integrations/#all

...including all the big names like Hue. Nest. Ring. Yale. Schlage. Ikea. HomeKit. Plex. Sonos. Alexa. Sure, you can integrate arbitrary digital/MQTT/Zigbee/BLE stuff you find on AliExpress for pennies, or you can buy the name-brand stuff from big box stores.

You're not locked into just the Hue ecosystem just because you have their bulbs. I don't understand why HomeKit doesn't just talk to the bulbs instead of allowing Phillips to force you to go through their hub. This is on Apple for not supporting the lights directly.

>>LeifCa+e2
AliExpress offers variety that brand names don't. I am talking about relays mostly. Different setups, different voltage, etc. If something of the shelf that fits your need available from a reputable brand - that's always preferable. But if you need to implement something not available - AliExpress likely get that covered.