What a Z-Wave bridge does
A Z-Wave bridge is the controller that runs your Z-Wave network and connects it to your home network, over Ethernet or Wi-Fi. You need one because no Apple, Google or Amazon device has a Z-Wave radio. HomePods, Nest speakers and Echos can't talk to a Z-Wave lock or switch directly; the bridge does it for them.
Makers call the same thing a hub, gateway or controller. We list 485 of them in the Z-Wave bridges category, 322 with a product page. Most were never sold on their own. They came with an alarm or internet subscription (Alarm.com, ADT, Verizon, TELUS, LG Uplus) or with an installer system such as Control4, and they only work with that service.
Which bridge for which system
The bridges you can buy and set up yourself all work the same way: the Z-Wave devices pair with the bridge, and the bridge shares them with Apple Home, Alexa or Google Home. Those apps see a lock or a switch; the bridge translates.
| Bridge | Apple Home | Alexa and Google Home |
|---|---|---|
| Home Assistant with a USB adapter such as the Connect ZWA-2 | HomeKit Bridge integration | Home Assistant Cloud subscription, or a manual setup |
| Hubitat Elevation | Built-in HomeKit integration (not Apple-certified) | Built-in integrations |
| Homey Pro | HomeKit experiment in Homey | Built-in integrations |
Some details that matter when you choose:
- Home Assistant's HomeKit Bridge takes at most 150 accessories per bridge; with more devices you add a second bridge.
- Hubitat's HomeKit integration arrived in platform version 2.3.4. It shares devices one way, from Hubitat to Apple Home, and Apple Home warns that the accessory isn't certified when you add it.
- Homey calls its Apple Home support an experiment. Not every Z-Wave feature shows up in Apple Home, and removing a device from Homey removes it from Apple Home too.
- SmartThings also connects Z-Wave to Alexa and Google Home, but Samsung's SmartThings Station has no Z-Wave radio. You need a hub that has one, such as the Aeotec Smart Home Hub.
Wi-Fi to Z-Wave
Searches for a "Wi-Fi to Z-Wave bridge" usually come from one of two problems.
The first is getting Z-Wave onto the network at all. Every bridge above does that: it sits on your network and runs the Z-Wave radio.
The second is range: the Z-Wave devices are in one part of the house and the computer running Home Assistant is in another. Z-Wave is a mesh, so mains-powered devices such as plugs and wall switches relay for the rest, and adding one halfway often solves it. If not, you can run Z-Wave JS on a small computer near the devices and point Home Assistant at it over the network. The Connect ZWA-2 also has an experimental portable mode that connects it to Home Assistant over Wi-Fi.
Old and discontinued bridges
Many bridges in our list are old models that are no longer sold or supported. The Nexia BR100 needed a subscription and is discontinued; Lowe's shut down its Iris service in 2019. Vera now belongs to Ezlo, whose Ezlo Plus replaced the Vera Plus and Vera Edge.
The devices outlive the bridge. Any Z-Wave controller can exclude a device, even one it didn't add, so you can reset devices from a dead system with a new bridge and then add them to it. A USB adapter such as the ZWA-2 can move a network over from most other USB adapters; moving from a hub usually means adding each device again.
Buy the bridge for the same region as your devices. A US lock won't join a European controller; the ZWA-2 is the exception, one model that you switch between regions.