Hearth & Lawn

Best smart thermostats for UK homes

Last updated: · By the Hearth & Lawn team

How we chose these: We haven't tested these thermostats ourselves. This guide is based on manufacturer specifications, Which? and Energy Saving Trust guidance, and UK retailer listings (John Lewis, Screwfix, Wickes and Hive). Prices were checked on 18 October 2026.

A smart thermostat lets you control your heating from your phone, set schedules that fit your week and, with some models, turn the heating down when everyone's out. Add smart radiator valves and you can heat individual rooms only when they're used.

What it won't do is save money on its own. The Energy Saving Trust estimates that installing and using a programmer, room thermostat and thermostatic radiator valves could save a typical home about £100 a year. Turning the thermostat down from 22°C to 21°C could save another £120. The saving comes from heating less; the gadget just makes that easier.

Before you buy, check what you've got. Most UK homes have a gas combi boiler, and most smart thermostats work with them. If you have a hot water cylinder, a heat pump, or electric storage heaters, check compatibility with the maker first. All three brands below have online compatibility checkers.

Quick picks

Model Price checked 18 Oct 2026 Best for Subscription
Best overall tado Smart Thermostat X Wireless £129 at John Lewis Combi boilers; adding room-by-room control later Optional (Auto-Assist)
Best kit with hot water tado X Wireless Heating & Hot Water Starter Kit £139.99 at Screwfix (was £159.99) System or regular boilers with a cylinder Optional (Auto-Assist)
Best for multi-room on a budget Drayton Wiser Kit 1 (2nd gen) £173 at Wickes; £196.80 at Screwfix Combi boilers; cheaper smart radiator valves None found for core features
Simplest Hive Thermostat Mini £79 at Hive Combi boilers; app control with a Hive hub Optional (Hive+, £3.99 a month)
Smart radiator valve tado Smart Radiator Thermostat X £61.99 at John Lewis; £65.99 at Screwfix Adding room control Optional

How much could you save?

The Energy Saving Trust's estimates for a typical home:

Change Estimated saving a year
Installing and using heating controls effectively (programmer, room thermostat and TRVs) About £100
Turning the thermostat down from 22°C to 21°C About £120

The Energy Saving Trust puts a full set of controls at around £600 installed, or around £370 for TRVs alone. Smart versions cost more than basic ones.

Which? makes the same point about smart radiator valves: claimed savings usually assume you were previously heating every room all the time. If you already turn radiators down in rooms you don't use, you'll save less.

A worked example. At the October to December 2026 gas price cap of 7.97p per kWh, a £100 saving is about 100 ÷ 0.0797 = 1,250kWh of gas a year. A £129 smart thermostat pays for itself in a little over a year if you get the full Energy Saving Trust saving. In a home that already has a programmer and thermostat and is run sensibly, the extra saving from going "smart" may be much smaller. Treat makers' headline figures (Hive, for example, claims up to £182 a year) as best cases.

The picks in detail

Best overall: tado Smart Thermostat X Wireless (£129 at John Lewis)

tado's latest X range works over Thread, a low-power smart home standard. The John Lewis listing includes the Wireless Receiver X, which connects to your boiler, and the thermostat itself. You can add tado's Smart Radiator Thermostat X valves room by room later.

The core app control is free. tado charges for Auto-Assist, an optional subscription that adds extras such as automatic away mode. Which? notes that tado offers around 10 years of software support for its products, which is longer than many rivals.

Pros

  • Strong room-by-room upgrade path
  • Long promised software support

Cons

  • Some useful features need a paid subscription
  • X range is not compatible with older tado V3+ devices

Best kit with hot water control: tado X Wireless Heating & Hot Water Starter Kit (£139.99 at Screwfix)

If you have a hot water cylinder, you need a controller that can schedule hot water as well as heating. This kit includes a programmer that replaces your existing one and acts as a Thread border router, so you don't need a separate tado bridge. Screwfix lists it as compatible with OpenTherm and relay-controlled boilers, but not with older tado V3+ products.

Pros

  • Controls heating and hot water
  • No separate bridge needed
  • £20 off at Screwfix when we checked

Cons

  • Replacing a wired programmer is a job for a qualified installer
  • Subscription for some features

Best for multi-room on a budget: Drayton Wiser Kit 1 (£173 at Wickes)

Drayton Wiser's Kit 1 is aimed at combi boilers. It includes the HubR, which connects to the boiler, and a wireless room thermostat. Wiser's smart radiator thermostats are typically cheaper than tado's, which adds up when you're fitting several. We could only confirm the valve price (roughly £43–£50 each) from search listings, not a retailer page.

We didn't find a subscription requirement for Wiser's core features. Which? says Drayton offers around five years of software support, half tado's figure.

When we checked, Wickes listed the kit at £173 but showed a "notify me when back in stock" message. It was £196.80 at Screwfix.

Pros

  • Cheaper to expand with radiator valves
  • No subscription found for core features

Cons

  • Shorter promised software support than tado
  • Stock patchy at the cheapest retailer when we checked

Simplest: Hive Thermostat Mini (£79 at Hive)

Hive's cheapest thermostat is a small, simple unit for combi boilers only. Hive says it is a Which? Best Buy and claims savings of up to £182 a year. We'd treat that as a best case. Check what's in the box: Hive's support pages say that without a Hive hub, the thermostat works in standalone mode with no app control. Make sure the bundle you buy includes a hub if you want to control it from your phone.

Hive+ is an optional £3.99-a-month subscription. Hive+ members get the Mini for £71.10.

Pros

  • Cheap and simple
  • Hive+ members get a discount

Cons

  • Combi boilers only
  • App control depends on having a Hive hub

Smart radiator valve: tado Smart Radiator Thermostat X (£61.99 at John Lewis)

Smart radiator valves replace the thermostatic head on a radiator so you can schedule each room. Which? says they typically cost £35 to £80 each. tado's X valve is rechargeable rather than using disposable batteries. It was £61.99 at John Lewis and £65.99 at Screwfix (down from £79.99).

You'll need a compatible tado X thermostat or bridge for it to work.

What about Nest?

Google said in April 2025 that it would not launch new Nest thermostats in Europe, including the UK, because of the variety of heating systems here. Any remaining stock of older models is sold while supplies last, and Google has since withdrawn support for its earliest-generation Nest thermostats. There's no new model to buy, so we haven't included one.

Fitting: what you can and can't do yourself

  • Smart radiator valves: Which? says fitting them is usually a DIY job if your radiator already has a TRV. The smart head screws onto the existing valve body, often with an adapter. If your radiators don't have TRVs at all, you'll need a plumber to fit valve bodies first.
  • Wireless thermostats that replace a battery-powered one are often simple to set up.
  • Anything wired to mains electricity (receivers, programmers, wired thermostats) should be fitted by a qualified electrician or heating installer.
  • Any work on the boiler itself must only be done by a Gas Safe registered engineer. It's the law for gas appliances.

Getting the most from it

  • Don't fit a smart radiator valve in the room with the main thermostat, and Which? advises against fitting them in bathrooms.
  • Ask your installer whether one radiator should be left without a TRV; some systems need at least one radiator left open.
  • Set realistic temperatures. The Energy Saving Trust suggests the lowest comfortable temperature, often 18°C to 21°C.
  • Keep vulnerable people warm. The NHS advises heating your home to at least 18°C if you can, particularly if you're 65 or over or have a health condition. Don't cut heating so far that rooms become cold and damp.

See also: our guide to the cheapest heaters to run and cheap draught-proofing fixes.

FAQs

What is the best smart thermostat in the UK? For most combi-boiler homes, tado's Smart Thermostat X Wireless (£129 at John Lewis) is our pick for its room-by-room upgrade path and long software support. Drayton Wiser is cheaper to expand with radiator valves.

Do smart thermostats save money? They can, if you use them to heat less. The Energy Saving Trust estimates installing and using heating controls could save about £100 a year in a typical home that had none. If you already have a programmer and room thermostat, the extra saving is smaller.

Do smart thermostats need a subscription? Not for basic app control from tado, Hive or Drayton Wiser. tado's Auto-Assist and Hive+ (£3.99 a month) are optional paid extras.

Are smart radiator valves worth it? They make most sense in larger homes where some rooms are rarely used. Which? notes that savings claims assume you previously heated every room constantly.

Can I fit a smart thermostat myself? Battery-powered wireless thermostats and smart radiator heads (where a TRV already exists) are usually DIY. Anything wired to the mains needs a qualified installer, and any work on a gas boiler must be done by a Gas Safe registered engineer.

Can I still buy a Nest thermostat in the UK? Google said in April 2025 it would not bring new Nest thermostats to Europe, so there's no new model on sale.

Sources