Hive Thermostat review: Smart heating control that tracks your spending

Recent house renovations provided the perfect opportunity to rethink the heating system in my home and test out the smart Hive Thermostat for T3. While building work was in full swing last year with rooms reconfigured and various radiators moved, taken out or newly installed, I used a basic thermostat to control what little heat the house retained. As a result, finally going smart with Hive felt like a long time coming.

We now have two separate heating zones in the house – I chose Wunda’s Rapid Response Underfloor Heating for the kitchen/living area, and, for the purposes of this test, I’ve had the Hive Thermostat installed to control the radiators in the existing part of the house. To date, both solutions are working well and have been simple to control and effective.

If you’re contemplating installing one of the best smart thermostats and are keen to know more about how the Hive thermostat works, here’s what to consider in terms of price, design and performance.

Price and availability

Hive is a smart home brand created by Centrica – the parent company of British Gas – but you don’t actually need to be a British Gas energy customer to use its smart thermostat. I currently use E.ON, for example.

At the time of writing, you can go online and buy the Hive Thermostat for £119. To access smart features and connect to the Hive app, you will also need a Hive Hub, which costs a further £70. Hive’s basic app features give you remote control over your heating so you can turn it on and off via your smartphone, view basic heating history, create a schedule, or use the boost button to switch on the heating for a short time without changing your schedule.

If you’re interested in more detailed analytics and suggestions on efficiency, you’ll need to subscribe to Hive+, which is free for the first year and then £3.99 per month. With this you can track your estimated spend, set budgets and get alerts if you go over budget.

Installation and set up

As well as being able to control central heating, Hive has limited functionality for a cylinder hot water system that allows you to turn the water on or off or set schedules. I have a combi boiler, so Hive now simply controls my central heating.

The Hive kit includes a smart thermostat temperature controller that needs to be placed in an effective position around the house – either freestanding for flexibility or wall-mounted in a fixed spot. You also need the Hive receiver that connects to the boiler but mains wiring to the boiler must follow electrical safety rules so you’ll need a professional to install it. I chose the pro-install option when ordering my Thermostat online.

The final piece of the jigsaw is the Hive Hub that plugs into your router via Ethernet or connects wirelessly so you can access the Hive Home app and control the thermostat remotely.

According to Hive Heating Director Gav Murray, one of the most common mistakes people make when heating the home is installing the thermostat in the wrong place. The Hive Thermostat takes its readings from its built-in thermometer, so putting it in a cold area like a drafty hall or near a window can prolong the time your heating is on and will increase your energy bills. Likewise, if you have it too close to a heat source or in direct sunlight, this can cause it to switch off before your room is at a comfortable temperature. For best practice, Hive suggests finding a suitable position 1.5 metres from the ground, in a central area, so I chose a good spot in the living room.

After a year of building work delays, having the Hive smart thermostat set up in under an hour by a British-gas registered engineer felt like a real treat. Once installed, the engineer helped me download the accompanying Hive Home smart app and talked me through how the system worked, offering ideas on how I could get the best from my home heating.

So far, the system seems to be behaving, aside from one glitch when the hub went offline and I had to call the Hive Customer Services team to talk me through how to get back online. The Hive team answered my call quickly and were very helpful with advice and information, which I found reassuring.

Thermostat and app

Measuring a compact H9.6 × W9.6cm, the Hive Thermostat is modern in design. It has a metal surround and glass front that comes to life when you adjust its dial. Like the Google Nest Learning Thermostat, you can adjust the temperature by turning the dial on the thermostat. The Hive’s Heat Boost button on the top of the thermostat is probably the feature I’ve been using most outside of my set schedule, which sets a temporary target temperature and then returns to the schedule.

I can control basic features on the freestanding thermostat including the Heat Boost button, holiday mode, set the frost protection temperature and child lock. I can also create a schedule via the thermostat, but the app gives you much more insight and control.

The basic app features let you track home temperature and daily usage, but the advanced Hive+ app features provide more advanced insight on usage and home efficiency. You can currently get a year’s free subscription to Hive+ online, so you can find out for yourself if it’s worth the subscription fee.

Hive also gives you the option to connect to Amazon Alexa, Google Home or Apple home to use voice assistant, but this isn’t something that interests me. I also like the flexibility of being able to turn my phone off at night, so having a separate freestanding thermostat works well.

Performance

Since installing the Hive Thermostat, I’ve been happy with how effective the new heating schedule is working for my home, showcasing my heating history and usage trends so I can keep an eye on consumption.

Setting it to turn on in the morning when the kids wake up, and for a couple of hours before sleep at night has been just enough to keep the house at a comfortable temperature throughout the day. When I’m feeling the chill outside of my set schedule, I’ve been turning on the Heat Boost button for a quick hour’s blast of heat.

As mentioned, the app’s basic features track home temperature and daily usage in a graph. Its geolocation setting also sends me an alert on my phone when I’ve gone out and forgotten to turn the heating off so I can do it remotely. However, unlike some smart home heating systems, it doesn’t automatically turn it off.

It’s early days and I’ve been experimenting with what works temperature wise, but so far my heating performance is documented as ‘All good’. The away mode is useful too as it reduces heating or switches it down to a minimal level.

While the basic interface on the app is easy to use, I’ve found it a bit more complicated to navigate Hive+ and learn about all its features. There are limits to how ‘smart’ Hive Thermostat is. Unlike other models, it doesn’t automatically learn your behaviour and build a heating schedule. Over time, Hive+ provides usage insights and trends, along with suggestions to help you manually adjust your schedule and improve efficiency. You can also track a heating budget and review recommendations to help manage energy use. Overall, I like the Hive+ option as it gives me full control over how I manage my heating.

Verdict

Hive suggests that homeowners can save up to £174 per year on heating bills by using its smart Thermostat (based on typical UK gas usage and average energy prices). As I’m just into my second month using the Hive system it’s hard to say how effective it will be in the long run on my energy usage, but so far, I’m happy with how much control it’s given me over my heating. Overall, I think if you’re looking for a basic smart thermostat that offers insight and gives you the option to adjust the heating as you see fit, the Hive Thermostat makes for a good value buy.

Alternatives to consider

If you’re after something a bit more comprehensive, I’d recommend the Wiser 2nd Gen smart home heating system. It’s highly customisable, so you can tailor it to suit your home exactly, but the hub itself is relatively straightforward to install onto your boiler. One of its biggest strengths is how expandable it is, and you can start small and add extra components over time as your needs change.

That said, it is a little more expensive. The smallest bundle starts from around £195, and additional radiator thermostats cost £56.50 each, so building out a full system can add up fairly quickly.