Nest or Ecobee Thermostat. What To Choose?

Thermostats are essential household appliances, especially if you live in an area with extreme weather. Of all the thermostats available on the market right now, Nest and Ecobee thermostats remain the top choice for millions worldwide. But which is better, and which should you choose for your home?

While Nest and Ecobee provide similar heating and cooling functions, Nest delivers superior control and automation over basic functions, whereas Ecobee offers more customization options. The choice between which is better is often down to subjective preference.

In this article, I’ll explain several factors to help you make a more informed decision. Some of these include features, available product options, and even pricing.

What Is an Ecobee Thermostat?

Ecobee is currently one of the leading thermostat-producing companies in the world. Originating from Canada, this home-automation company has multiple products and a loyal customer base. Today, Ecobee has several thermostat products that promise great accessibility and control. 

Read: Why Ecobee Shuts Off Before Reaching Temperature? – Troubleshooting Guide

Features

Here are some of the best features of an Ecobee thermostat:

• Ecobee thermostats have a touchscreen that lets users navigate and select different options. Not only is the Ecobee thermostat able to detect people’s presence in a space, but it also has a “Follow Me” feature which allows it to alter the humidity and temperature in rooms where it detects your presence.
• Ecobee thermostats offer a “pause” feature, which turns the thermostats off 5 minutes after a window or door is left open. 
• Their high-end product, Ecobee SmartThermostat with voice control, comes with an “AC Overcool to Dehumidify” feature that helps it collaborate with your AC to reduce the humidity in your home. For those who like to control their homes using their voice, Ecobee products like Ecobee5 come with Alexa built in.

Range of Products

Ecobee has a vast catalog of products, which include the smart thermostat premium, the smart thermostat enhanced, the smart thermostat with voice control, and ecobee3 lite. These products offer slightly more allowance for customization than Nest products.

Read: Ecobee Lite 3 Vs. Ecobee Smart Thermostat: Differences, Worth Of Upgrade?

Energy-Saving Capabilities

With inflation at an all-time high, who wouldn’t want to save all they can on energy? If you leave your thermostat to function with no constraints, you may run up massive electricity bills at the end of the month.

Admittedly, many variables are involved when determining how much energy you’re saving, including where you live, how many appliances you use, and how long you use them. Because of this, you may not be able to determine how much energy you’re saving by yourself. 

The eco+ features, such as the geo-fencing feature on the Ecobee app, make the thermostat able to detect when you’re absent or present in a room and adjust the temperature and humidity of a room accordingly. Ecobee boasts of saving up to 23% on energy bills for each customer.

The company also sends individual emails to all customers containing useful statistics like Total Monthly Savings and Neighborhood companion. By doing all these, you get to save lots of energy which consequently provides you with money you can spend on something just as vital.

Accessibility 

Ecobee’s features are available on the Ecobee App. You can set schedules and make presets for your preferred temperature conditions. All its functions are also readily available on the thermostat itself, as it comes with a temperature slider, mode menu, a toggle button, etc.

Pricing 

Ecobee’s flagship, its SmartThermostat Premium, has a decent price range of $195-$400. This energy-certified thermostat is Ecobee Smart Thermostat Premium with Siri and Alexa (available on Amazon.com), which effortlessly adapts to your temperature control requirements. 

Additionally, other Ecobee thermostats are even cheaper, so you can comfortably get any Ecobee thermostat on a $300-$400 budget. 

Read: Why Ecobee Thermostat Runs For 5 Mins And Then Shuts Off?

What Is a Nest Thermostat?

Nest is a company owned by Google that is responsible for keeping the temperature and humidity levels suitable in millions of homes worldwide. Not surprisingly, this company owns a huge market share of the smart thermostat market. 

Features

Nest currently has some of the best features a thermostat can offer. Its flagship, Nest Learning Thermostat, comes with slightly better accessibility of basic functions than other Thermostats. Like Ecobee, you can permanently set this thermostat to provide different temperatures and humidity levels for various rooms in your home. 

It also supports HVAC monitoring available on the Nest app, which saves you lots of money on HVAC systems. Rather than having to fork out huge wads of cash to fix your HVAC system, Nest Learning Thermostat helps to keep an eye out for you and notifies you if there’s any issue.

Not surprisingly, Nest has voice control features that help you adjust your thermostat with nothing but your voice. It supports Alexa and comes with Google Assistant integrated into its software.

Read: Why Nest Thermostat Turns Off By Itself – Troubleshooting Guide

Range of Products

Although there were some Nest products as far back as 2011, Nest was acquired by Google in 2014. Since then, Google Nest has come up with two thermostats: the base Nest thermostat and the Learning Thermostat variant.

The Nest thermostat was the first to be designed and is widely used among millions of houses in multiple countries. This thermostat allows you to alter your temperature and humidity needs with your smartphone.  

The Nest Learning Thermostat is their latest thermostat and comes with better “smart” technology. This thermostat can use your phone’s location and in-built sensors to determine your location and adjust the temperature accordingly. 

Also, it comes with an auto-schedule feature, which learns from your presets and programs itself. 

Read: Nest E24 Error – Troubleshooting Guide

Energy-Saving Capabilities

Because you can’t determine your energy-saving numbers yourself, it’s best to turn to what each company says. Nest says that using their products can save up to 10-12% on your heating bills and about 13% on your cooling bills. 

Using the estimated energy costs of a typical home translates to savings of around $131-$145 annually.

Nest Leaf, an energy-saving feature on their app, helps you determine what temperature and humidity are best to save as much energy as possible. 

To find this, simply look for the Leaf icon in the options on their app and click on it. To sweeten the pot, it learns from your preferences and begins to save energy automatically after some usage.

Also, Nest provides you with Savings Finder and Seasonal Savings to track your savings. With these features on the Nest app, you can see the impact your schedule has on your energy-saving efforts.

Accessibility 

Since Google owns Nest, you can also access your Nest thermostats on Google Home. However, you’ll need to set up your Nest thermostat with the Nest app before this becomes possible. 

Many people who have used several thermostats say Nest offers superior accessibility over basic thermostat functions. However, I recommend trying it out first before making your conclusion. 

Pricing

The pricing of these thermostats depends on the model you’re purchasing. Google Nest’s flagship is the Nest Learning Thermostat. This smart thermostat currently has a price range of $200-$300, depending on where you purchase it.

You can get the Google Nest Learning Thermostat for just over $200 from Amazon.com. It’s made of durable stainless steel and does not need day-to-day programming. 

Nest or Ecobee: Which Is Better?

Admittedly, both Nest and Ecobee products provide the essential functions of a thermostat quite well. Using any of their products allows you to access your thermostat and alter its settings from anywhere using your smartphone. 

Also, both thermostats allow you to be the master of your atmosphere by including temperature and humidity sensors. They’re even easily integrated into smart home automation, turning themselves off when no one is at home.

There’s also the smart scheduling feature available in both thermostats. This feature learns your daily routine and tries to adjust the humidity and temperature levels to your desired settings when you’re in the home. When you’re not, the thermostats turn themselves off or adjust to your preset settings while absent.

However, quite a few unique features set these thermostats apart from each other, and these features have been highlighted above. 

Choosing the better option based on features is quite tricky. If you want slightly better general accessibility and control and structured monitoring of your energy stats and maintenance needs, go for Nest. 

On the other hand, if you wish to have new, innovative features such as the “Follow Me” and “Pause” feature, it’s best to go for Ecobee.

Nest and Ecobee are both amazing thermostats that provide fantastic energy-saving opportunities. Since Nest’s inception in 2011, it has helped save hundreds of billions of kilowatts. 

Ecobee isn’t that far behind, as it’s become an extremely popular product worldwide. 

Conclusion 

Because these thermostats have so many unique qualities that help them stand out from the average thermostats, picking which is better is pretty challenging. Some people are better suited to Nest’s thermostats, while others are better off using Ecobee.

The Ecobee thermostat overall has better and more innovative features, but Nest offers better accessibility and synchronizes with your Google account.

Whatever your choice ultimately is, both these thermostats offer top-notch temperature and humidity regulation. So, consider the features mentioned above before deciding on which to buy.