Ecobee's New Lower-Priced HomeKit Smart Thermostat Now Available

The smart home thermostat company Ecobee today announced that its new Smart Thermostat Essential is now available to order on its website, and at select retailers in the U.S. and Canada. The thermostat was unveiled at CES 2025 in January.

Ecobee Smart Thermostat Essential
In the U.S., the Smart Thermostat Essential is priced at $129.99, making it Ecobee's most affordable smart thermostat.

Ecobee's smart thermostat can help you save money by intelligently optimizing your home's temperature. For example, the thermostat can reduce energy usage while you are away from home. When paired with Ecobee's SmartSensors, the thermostat can detect occupancy and optimize comfort in certain rooms throughout the home.

Ecobee claims the thermostat can pay for itself by helping you spend up to 23% less on annual heating and cooling costs.

The thermostat supports Apple's smart home platform HomeKit, and it can be controlled with Ecobee's app on the iPhone, iPad, and Apple Watch. It also works with Amazon Alexa, Google Assistant, Samsung SmartThings, and more.

Compared to Ecobee's highest-end Smart Thermostat Premium, priced at $249.99 in the U.S., the lower-priced Essential model lacks features such as a built-in occupancy sensor, dual-band Wi-Fi, a built-in indoor air quality monitor, hands-free calling and intercom functionality, built-in Siri voice control, and a few other things.

Popular Stories

iPhone 17 Pro 3 4ths Perspective Aluminum Camera Module 1

iPhone 17 Pro Launching Later This Year With These 12 New Features

Sunday April 13, 2025 7:52 am PDT by
While the iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max are not expected to launch until September, there are already plenty of rumors about the devices. Below, we recap key changes rumored for the iPhone 17 Pro models as of April 2025: Aluminum frame: iPhone 17 Pro models are rumored to have an aluminum frame, whereas the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro models have a titanium frame, and the iPhone ...
Apple 2025 Thumb 1

10 Products Still Coming From Apple in 2025

Friday April 11, 2025 4:14 pm PDT by
Apple may have updated several iPads and Macs late last year and early this year, but there are still multiple new devices that we're looking forward to seeing in 2025. Most will come in September or October, but there could be a few surprises before then. We've rounded up a list of everything that we're still waiting to see from Apple in 2025. iPhone 17, 17 Air, and 17 Pro - We get...
Beyond iPhone 13 Better Triad

Apple's 20th Anniversary iPhone May Finally Go All Screen

Tuesday April 15, 2025 6:31 am PDT by
Apple is preparing a "bold" new iPhone Pro model for the iPhone's 20th anniversary in 2027, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. As part of what's being described as a "major shake-up," Apple is said to be developing a design that makes more extensive use of glass – and this could point directly to the display itself. Here's the case for Apple releasing a truly all-screen iPhone with no...
iOS 19 Roundup Feature

iOS 19 Will Add These New Features to Your iPhone

Tuesday April 15, 2025 7:37 am PDT by
The first iOS 19 beta is less than two months away, and there are already a handful of new features that are expected with the update. Apple should release the first iOS 19 beta to developers immediately following the WWDC 2025 keynote, which is scheduled for Monday, June 9. Following beta testing, the update should be released to the general public in September. Below, we recap the key...
Foldable iPhone 2023 Feature Homescreen

Foldable iPhone Resolutions Leak With Under-Screen Camera Tipped

Monday April 14, 2025 3:12 am PDT by
Apple's upcoming foldable iPhone (or "iPhone Fold") will feature two screens as part of its book-style design, and a Chinese leaker claims to know the resolutions for both of them. According to the Weibo-based account Digital Chat Station, the inner display, which is approximately 7.76 inches, will use a 2,713 x 1,920 resolution and feature "under-screen camera technology." Meanwhile, the...
iPad Pro iPadOS

iPadOS 19 Will Be 'More Like macOS' in Three Ways

Sunday April 13, 2025 6:43 am PDT by
A common complaint about the iPad Pro is that the iPadOS software platform fails to fully take advantage of the device's powerful hardware. That could soon change. Bloomberg's Mark Gurman today said that iPadOS 19 will be "more like macOS." Gurman said that iPadOS 19 will be "more like a Mac" in three ways:Improved productivity Improved multitasking Improved app window management...
Apple Vision Pro with battery Feature Blue Magenta

Vision Pro 2 Rumored to Have Two Key Advantages Over Current Model

Sunday April 13, 2025 7:15 am PDT by
Apple is working on a new version of the Vision Pro with two key advantages over the current model, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. Specifically, in his Power On newsletter today, Gurman said Apple is developing a new headset that is both lighter and less expensive than the current Vision Pro, which starts at $3,499 in the U.S. and weighs up to 1.5 pounds. Gurman said Apple is also...
Apple Bristol Current

An Apple Store in the UK is Permanently Closing Later This Year

Monday April 14, 2025 7:33 am PDT by
Apple has confirmed that it will be permanently closing its retail store in the heart of Bristol, England, and there is no replacement in sight. Apple Bristol in 2023 Apple Bristol will be closing its doors on Saturday, August 9, due to redevelopment plans at the Cabot Circus Shopping Centre, and the adjacent Bristol Shopping Quarter. According to news reports, and a building application, the ...
M6 MacBook Pro Feature 1

Waiting for the Perfect MacBook Pro? 2026 Might Be the Year

Thursday April 10, 2025 4:19 am PDT by
Apple in October 2024 overhauled its 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro models, adding M4, M4 Pro, and M4 Max chips, Thunderbolt 5 ports on higher-end models, display changes, and more. That's quite a lot of updates in one go, but if you think this means a further major refresh for the MacBook Pro is now several years away, think again. Bloomberg's Mark Gurman has said he expects only a small...

Top Rated Comments

Rychiar Avatar
6 weeks ago
paying full price for a thermostat is crazy. I got the premium Ecobee for under $100 from my power company
Score: 5 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Le Big Mac Avatar
6 weeks ago

Well this sounds great, because the intercom and calling system and all those other doodads are things I’d never use.

I wonder if it’s more accurate now. I bought an Ecobee in the past and ended up having to return it because it was showing the temperature in the house as like 10 degrees off what it actually was.
I haven’t had that problem with them, and have found them rock solid.

Biggest disappointment is all the HVAC cos making systems that work only wit their proprietary thermostats, which generally are overpriced and suck from a functionality standpoint. (Lennox dropped HomeKit support from its newest ‘stat).
Score: 5 Votes (Like | Disagree)
QuarterSwede Avatar
6 weeks ago

We just had our furnace replaced so took the opportunity to also update our 25 yo thermostat. The ecobee Enhanced has been great so far and the temp seems accurate. We only have heat, no AC and a simple single stage gas furnace. The best part is being able to have different schedules each day. If I set the temp for 67 degrees at 5AM, it will fire up the furnace before that time to have the house at the correct temp when I get up. With the old thermostat, I had to set it to start 15 minutes or so prior to wake up time and it only had two schedules for M-F and Sat-Sun. Being able to control from my phone is nice and may come in handy. It is on Wi-Fi but on our IoT network so I can't use HomeKit. Still debating putting it on the same network as our AppleTV. Thoughts?
When I had my thermostat on HomeKit I never adjusted it. If you find that you want to adjust manually from time to time then it might be worth it.
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)
techmuscle Avatar
6 weeks ago

Yes I've seen it for as little as $15 with rebates from the utilities. I got my ecobee3 lite (essentially the same thing as this renamed one) for $40 each under the rebate deal at the time, still not bad.
Unfortunately with PG&E, you have to have both heating and AC to qualify for a rebate for a smart thermostat.
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Le Big Mac Avatar
6 weeks ago

I wonder if it’s more accurate now. I bought an Ecobee in the past and ended up having to return it because it was showing the temperature in the house as like 10 degrees off what it actually was.
FWIW, you can adjust the temperature calibration

https://support.ecobee.com/s/articles/How-to-use-Temperature-Correction-on-your-ecobee-thermostat
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)
QuarterSwede Avatar
6 weeks ago
I’ve had an ecobee before in a previous house. In our new one I went with the cheaper Amazon thermostat and, aside from its “okay” app functionality, it works well. I really like that it blends in with the wall since it’s all white, even the face, and only shows the temperature in white. Once we set the program to follow I literally haven’t touched it since. I’ve seen no reason to upgrade.
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)