As others have mentioned, be VERY cautious about free or reduced-cost smart thermostats offered by utility companies. There are almost always strings attached. I’ve installed 3 Venstars so far. The latest one can monitor/control the AC based on humidity. It was also a cinch to integrate with Home Assistant.
Ecobee over Nest for sure as long as you have a common wire. For added nerd out time, try Beestat.com. Lots of data on your home.
I have 3 Nest thermostats that I bought before Google bought Nest. They are easy but we turned the learning function off. We have an Alexa smart house so they aren’t very useful outside of the Nest app. I really wish we had gone all Ecobee the amount of data it gives you and seems to work with every smart ecosystem. Generac bought Ecobee and I am curious to see where that partnership goes.
I have a Nest thermostat. Very easy to program. Nest will go into ECO mode when there is no movement where the thermostat is located. Will operate furnace, air conditioner, etc. Works well with wifi. Can check in on the temperature inside your house
I have had both Ecobee and Nest. Both are very good at what they do. Unless your thermostat can tie into your alarm system, it comes down to aesthetics and which one you like to work with better. Nest has more access to the system via the Nest itself is about the only difference I have seen. Both apps are good although the Nest app is not quite as good and if you try to tie it into a house system the Google Home app sucks. It is awful.
@Masitsa
What do you mean by more access?
Daisy said:
@Masitsa
What do you mean by more access?
On the Nest itself you can do everything the app does as well. The Nest has the spin dial and it will go to all sorts of settings to include WiFi login info and wiring diagrams and checks. It is very intuitive once you get used to how it works. The only real downside of Nest is that Google owns them and Google Home is a crap app. We had a Nest and a Yale lock and the Nest was easy to manage, the Yale lock was anything but easy and a constant pain because of the Google Home app. If you don’t have any other Nest items or not in the Google ecosystem then the Nest is just fine, as you don’t need the Google Home app. If you are planning to be in the Google ecosystem then obviously you will need the Home app.