TP-Link Tapo Smart HomeBase H500 review: much more than camera storage

Smart speakers like the Amazon Echo and displays like Google’s Nest Hub do a good job of serving up smart home controls. But since they’re also entertainment devices, there’s a sense that they aren’t as focused on smart home automation as they could be.

Step forward, the TP-Link Tapo H500. Also known as the Smart Homebase, this is a device that focuses more closely on acting as a central command system for your smart home – plus, with expandable storage, it works as a place to store security camera footage too.

TP-Link already sells a wide range of affordable Tapo security cameras. But, crucially, the £160 H500 works with Matter, the smart home connectivity standard that helps devices from different manufacturers all speak the same language.

Is this a must-buy for any smart home builder? Read on to find out.

TP-Link Tapo Smart HomeBase H500 review: Price and availability

Announced back at CES at the start of 2024, the H500 finally went on sale in the summer of 2025. It was priced at £159.99 / $149.99 at the time of writing in late-August.

This makes it exactly the same price as its closest rival, the Eufy HomeBase 3. That also acts as a hub and storage centre for home security cameras, but lacks the Tapo’s ability to hold and power a tablet, and misses out on Matter support too. The Amazon Echo Hub is also a similar price, but includes a touchscreen display and can be wall-mounted.

TP-Link Tapo Smart HomeBase H500 review: Design and setup

The H500 is shaped like a triangular prism, with cooling vents on three sides and a flap at the front that opens to become a tablet stand. There’s a set of buttons on the front, but they don’t do what you’d expect. Instead of being used to answer a call from your video doorbell, they’re actually for controlling intercom-style calls between the H500 and other compatible Tapo devices, like cameras or another hub. This feels like a minor feature that’s at odds with the prominent button placement.

The rear is home to a power socket, an Ethernet port and an HDMI connection for hooking up a TV or monitor, which can then be used to view live footage from your security cameras.

There are also USB-A and USB-C ports for powering a tablet, which then sits on the stand at the front and acts as a camera monitor and smart home control centre when running the Tapo app. More on that in the next section.

One end of the H500 opens to reveal a bay for compatible 2.5-inch SATA hard drives or solid-state drives. Adding one isn’t strictly necessary, as the hub has 16GB of its own storage, but the bay means this can be expanded by up to 16 TB. That’s 16,000GB, or enough for literally thousands of security camera recordings.

Setting up the H500 is just a case of opening the Tapo app and adding it to your smart home system. Or, if you’re new to the brand you’ll need to create an account, then start building a smart home from scratch, with the H500 as your first device. It’s all quite straightforward, even if this is your first smart home system.

TP-Link Tapo Smart HomeBase H500 review: Performance and features

There are three key features here. The first is how the H500 acts as a local storage hub for all of your security cameras and video doorbell. In a world where companies like Ring charge a subscription for cloud storage, Tapo’s offer of free, local storage is a welcome one.

Granted, you need to buy the hub first (unless you put microSD cards in each of your cameras), but it’s a one-time cost, and there’s no fear of a subscription increasing over time. You’ll also likely need to buy a larger drive to bump up total storage to one or two terabytes. But, again, this feels worth it compared to paying out every month to access your recordings.

The next main feature is how Tapo’s tablet app turns your device into a smart home command centre. I loaded the app onto my iPad, then sat it on the H500 and plugged it into the USB-C port. I now have a touchscreen for controlling cameras, lights, plugs, switches and a robotic vacuum cleaning – plus it can be used for viewing security camera footage, and checking the status of door sensors, motion detectors and various other Tapo sensors, like those for temperature, water and humidity.

While this feels like a bit of a luxury when paired with a new iPad, it’s a great feature if you have an older iPad (or other tablet) looking for a use. I’ve always liked the idea of having wall-mounted iPads for smart home control, and the Tapo app answered this desire without any invasive DIY.

The tablet app can show a live video stream from up to four Tapo cameras at once, but the H500 can connect to up to 16 cameras and 64 sensors simultaneously. It also brings new functionality to some older cameras, such as artificial intelligence for facial recognition and improved motion detection. The H500’s speaker can be used as an additional chime for your Tapo video doorbell, and it’ll act as a siren when an alarm is triggered.

This requires a Tapo contact sensor, like the T110, which attaches to a door or window and tells your system when they are open or closed. Because the Tapo app isn’t strictly a home security system by default, you have to dig into the Smart section of the app, then into the Automation page. From there you can create an automation that triggers an alarm sound of your choice (for a custom duration) when the contact sensor is open between 11pm and 6am, for example. Each of those variables can be adjusted, and you can turn the automation on or off in the app.

It’s not quite the same as punching your PIN into a keypad by the door, or tapping a control hub with a key fob. But it’s a highly configurable home alarm system all the same. Shortcuts can also be created for controlling several devices at once (such as multiple contact sensors and motion detectors), and there’s a page full of pre-made automations created by TP-Link.

Lastly, we have Matter support. Instead of just working with a single smart home system, like Amazon Alexa, Google Home or Apple HomeKit, the H500 attempts to work with all products that are compatible with Matter, regardless of their manufacturer. Matter is a wireless connectivity standard that aims to make all smart home devices work together. The reality is…mixed, but interoperability has improved leaps and bounds in recent years.

What this means for the H500 is that it, and by extension the Tapo app, work with devices from various companies. These include light bulbs, switches, plugs, thermostats, door locks, security sensors, leak detectors, media devices, robotic vacuums and many other smart home products. If you buy a Matter-compatible device, it’ll show up in the Tapo app. Its functionality might be more limited than in the device’s own app, but it’s a nice way of getting everything in one place.

How much Matter support means for you depends on how many compatible devices you have, but it’s a feature that should make the H500 more useful over time.

TP-Link Tapo Smart HomeBase H500 review: Verdict

If you already have some Tapo security cameras, or plan to buy some soon, then buying the H500 feels like a no-brainer. It adds extra AI smarts to simpler cameras, while also giving them a central storage centre that can be expanded to an enormous 16TB.

For some buyers, that’ll be enough. For others – and for those who want to build a more complex smart home - Tapo’s tablet app turns your old (or new!) iPad into a home control centre and a monitor for your cameras.

Tapo isn’t the only company to do this, and wall-mounted tablets have controlled smart home systems for years – but when you throw in Matter support, plus the handy little tablet stand and USB power ports, the H500 turns into a powerful hub for home automation.

It’s not perfect – some aspects of Matter are still work-in-progress, and the unit itself runs rather hot – but there’s real potential here. I’d love TP-Link to add doorbell intercom support to the H500’s under-utilised buttons, and for a simpler way to create a home alarm system. If TP-Link did that, and offered a physical keypad or RFID sensor, the H500 would quickly become the heart of a more complete security system.