Setting Up Home Automation Without a Central Hub
The standard approach to home automation involves a hub: a central device that collects signals from all the smart devices in the home and provides a single point of control. Smart speakers with built-in Zigbee radios, dedicated controllers like the Philips Hue Bridge or Fibaro Home Center, and general-purpose platforms like Home Assistant running on a Raspberry Pi all fall into this category.
Hub-free setups have become more practical in recent years. Not every situation calls for a central controller, and some households prefer a simpler approach. Here is how different hub-free configurations work, what their limitations are, and when they make sense.
Direct App Control Over Wi-Fi
Many devices — Wi-Fi plugs, cameras, lighting strips, and some thermostats — connect directly to the home's Wi-Fi router and are controlled through their manufacturer's mobile app. There is no hub; the app communicates directly with the device on the local network, or via the manufacturer's cloud if outside the home.
This works well for a single device or a small collection from the same brand. Problems emerge when devices from different brands are involved: each requires its own app, there's no native way to create cross-brand automations, and cloud dependency means the device may stop working if the manufacturer discontinues the service.
In Italy, the most common Wi-Fi devices at retail level include Meross, TP-Link Tapo, Shelly, and Sonoff. Shelly and Sonoff stand out because both have well-documented local APIs — commands sent directly to the device without going through any cloud server. This removes the service-continuity risk and works even when the internet connection is down.
Local API Automation
A local API lets software on the same network send HTTP or MQTT commands directly to a device. Shelly devices, for example, expose a web interface at their local IP address and accept REST commands that trigger actions: turning a relay on or off, reading energy consumption, setting a schedule.
Without a hub, these commands have to come from something: a phone running a shortcut, a custom script on a laptop left always-on, or a browser bookmark. For simple cases — "turn off this plug at midnight" — a scheduled task on any Windows PC with curl, or an iPhone shortcut using the HTTP Request action, is sufficient.
The limitation is that local API automation without a hub requires manual effort for each device and doesn't scale well. Adding a fifth device means writing a fifth set of scripts or shortcuts. There's also no persistent state awareness: the script doesn't know if the previous command succeeded.
Direct Pairing with Voice Assistants
Amazon Echo (4th generation and newer) includes a built-in Zigbee coordinator that allows direct pairing with Zigbee devices — no separate hub required. A Zigbee bulb or sensor can be discovered through the Alexa app and controlled with voice commands or Alexa Routines without any third-party hub in the chain.
Google Nest speakers don't include a Zigbee radio but do support Matter over Wi-Fi and Thread. A Thread border router (included in Nest Hub 2nd gen) allows Matter-compatible Thread devices to join the network without a hub. As of early 2026, the range of Thread-native retail devices available in Italy remains narrow, concentrated in lighting and sensors.
Apple HomePod (2nd gen) includes a Thread border router as well, and acts as a HomeKit hub for local and remote access to HomeKit-compatible devices. HomeKit requires strict Apple certification from manufacturers, which limits the number of compatible Italian-market devices but improves reliability and privacy.
Matter Over Wi-Fi
Matter, released in 2022, allows compatible devices to be added directly to any Matter-supporting ecosystem — Apple Home, Google Home, Amazon Alexa, or Samsung SmartThings — without ecosystem-specific bridges. A Matter Wi-Fi plug bought in Italy can be controlled from an iPhone using Apple Home and simultaneously from an Android phone using Google Home.
This is the closest current standard to a truly hub-free multi-ecosystem setup. The device connects to Wi-Fi and is discovered through the Matter commissioning process (typically a QR code scan). The catch is that Matter Wi-Fi devices still require a controller app and, for remote access outside the home, a hub acting as a Matter controller — which means an Echo, Nest Hub, HomePod, or SmartThings Hub on the local network.
For strictly local control within the home, a Matter Wi-Fi device can be operated through its manufacturer's app without any additional hardware. Automations between Matter devices from different brands do require a controller application, which in practice means one of the major ecosystems running on a device already present in the home.
When a Hub-Free Setup Makes Sense
A hub-free approach is reasonable in three scenarios:
- Single-device or single-brand deployment. One brand's app, five devices, no cross-brand automations needed. A family using only Meross or only Shelly products for plugs and energy monitoring can stay within the manufacturer's app without meaningful loss.
- Rental property or temporary installation. No permanent infrastructure to install, easy to remove and take, low upfront cost. Wi-Fi devices with cloud control are straightforward to set up and reset.
- Voice assistant already present. A household with an Amazon Echo 4th gen already on the network can add Zigbee devices directly without any additional hub hardware.
When a Hub Is Worth Adding
A central hub — even a Raspberry Pi running Home Assistant — becomes valuable when the number of devices grows beyond about ten, when devices from multiple protocols need to interact (Zigbee motion sensor triggering a Z-Wave lock), or when complex automations with conditions and time-based logic are needed.
Home Assistant running on a Raspberry Pi 4 costs roughly €80–120 for hardware and connects to Zigbee, Z-Wave, and many Wi-Fi devices simultaneously through USB dongles. It runs entirely on the local network with no cloud dependency. For Italian households with irregular internet connections (some rural properties in Tuscany or Umbria still have unstable connectivity), local-only operation is a meaningful advantage.