Z-Wave Explained: What is Z-Wave and why is it important for your smart home?

If you’ve been stocking up on the best smart home kits, you’ve probably noticed the Z-Wave logo on many of your connected device boxes. And you’ve probably asked yourself, “What is Z-Wave?”

If that’s the case, you’ve come to the right place. Here, we’ll explain exactly what Z-Wave is, why it’s important, and what you need to know in terms of setting up your smart home.

So what exactly is Z-Wave?

Z-Wave was born from an idea by Danish company Zensys in 1999 and came to the US in 2002. Z-Wave, like Zigbee, is a wireless protocol that essentially focuses on connectivity within the smart home.

Hold: What is Zigbee?

As the popularity of smart homes skyrockets, more and more connected devices are being added to people’s homes. Many of these devices (sensors, light bulbs, heating controls, locks, plugs, and the like) are packaged in Z-Wave to communicate with each other.

In fact, there are over 100 million Z-Wave devices in smart homes worldwide, with over 4,500 certified Z-Wave-enabled devices to choose from.

A much lower power alternative compared to Wi-Fi, but with a much greater range than Bluetooth, Z-Wave works by using low energy radio waves to communicate from one device to another.

Also, note that another protocol called Thread will play an important role in the future of the smart home as Matter’s smart home ecosystem takes hold.

What is Z-Wave Plus?

You may have seen the phrase “Z-Wave Plus” used for the latest smart home devices. Basically, it was a major update to the platform that was released a few years ago… but it looks good in the marketing material.

Z-Wave Plus, also known as the Z-Wave 500 series, took the technology that was released back in 2004 and added things like longer range, longer battery life, OTA update, and additional RF channels.

If you’re buying a Z-Wave product today, chances are it’s Z-Wave Plus, although recent Z-Wave devices will work with 700 series hardware.

Z-Wave Plus V2 certification program is the latest version. It includes the enhanced S2 security framework as well as SmartStart, a configuration feature that enables true plug and play for the consumer’s smart home.

Z-Wave’s 700 series, which launched in 2019, made things even more agile and durable, with 64% less energy used and far greater memory and processing power.

The Z-Wave 800 series is actually the latest framework, adding range, battery life, and security upgrades. However, while there are some dongles and hubs running on the newer platform, it will be a while before we see mass adoption from device manufacturers.

Getting technical for a moment, Z-Wave operates in the 800-900 MHz radio frequency range, but the only reason you might care is that, unlike Zigbee, which operates at 2.4 GHz (a main for Wi-Fi), Z-Wave doesn’t really suffer from any major interference issues.

The actual frequency at which a Z-Wave device operates depends on the country in which it is used. For example, the US uses 908.40, 908.42 and 916 MHz; while the UK and Europe use 868.40, 868.42, 869.85Megahertz. Therefore, it is important to ensure that you purchase a Z-Wave device designed for your region.

Confrontation: Zigbee versus Z-Wave, what’s the difference?

Unlike Wi-Fi, where devices have to connect to a central hub (usually a router or other access point), all Z-Wave devices connect to each other to form a mesh network.

The central smart home hub you use to manage your Z-Wave devices connects to the Internet, but the devices themselves (sensors, light bulbs, etc.) don’t have Wi-Fi at all, they just use Z-Wave connectivity to talk . to the center, and that connectivity does not have to be direct; Mesh networking means that signals can jump from one device to another.

The technical term is “source-routed mesh network topology.” Keep it in your locker if you want to impress your friends.

However, not all Z-Wave devices can repeat a signal, some can simply transmit their own. This is why Z-Wave repeaters are popular; essentially an “always on” mains-powered device, such as a smart plug that can receive and send a signal from another node to the hub.

What is Z-Wave LR?

However, Z-Wave Long Range will likely make repeaters a thing of the past. Announced in September 2020, Z-Wave Long Range promises up to 4 times the wireless range compared to regular Z-Wave signals.

You can have up to 232 nodes in a standard Z-Wave mesh network; that means 232 devices for you and me. It’s a far cry from the 65,000+ nodes available on Zigbee, but we’re guessing it’s still enough for all your Z-Wave smart home gear.

However, Z-Wave LR increases this to over 4000 nodes in a network, so it is going in the right direction.

Z-Wave Long Range promises a much longer range than regular Z-Wave, which is limited to 100m per “hop.”

ZWLR has a specification capable of supporting up to several miles, according to the Z-Wave Alliance, and Silicon Labs’ first implementation features a proven transmission range of one mile.

Unlike normal Z-Wave mesh networking, ZWLR devices operate within a star network topology, in which a central gateway/hub serves as a focal point, facilitating direct point-to-point connections with end devices.

This configuration ensures an optimized communication path, significantly reducing latency between the gateway/hub and endpoints.

Z-Wave LR SoCs (systems on a chip) could also be installed in furniture and hard-to-reach places inside walls, etc., to make the mesh network even stronger. And the good news is that Z-Wave is completely backwards compatible, so the new long-range devices will work just as well with devices from years past and with devices released in the future.

Described as “the most secure smart device ecosystem on the global market,” Z-Wave uses the same AES-128 symmetric encryption as Zigbee. It’s not entirely hack-proof (what is?), but most smart home vulnerabilities are due to login procedures in a device’s software, not its connectivity.

At CES 2025, the Alliance revealed that there are now more than 100 certified long-range Z-Wave devices, including a new line of ZWLR smart home devices from Shelly.

Until now, ZWLR has been exclusively for the US, but the ZWLR specification for the European market (including the UK) has already been completed and will be available to member companies in an upcoming release.

Who and what uses Z-Wave?

The great advantage of Z-Wave is that its devices are completely interoperable. All Z-Wave devices, without exception, work with other Z-Wave devices, and that’s because the Z-Wave Alliance is owned and maintained by a private organization.

Sigma Designs purchased Z-Wave from Zensys in 2009, and Silicon Labs recently acquired the business for a whopping $240 million, and is responsible for approving the software and hardware of Z-Wave certified devices.

The Z-Wave Alliance now has over 700 members, with over 4,500 certified products from these brands worldwide.

There are a staggering number of over 100 million devices on the market with Z-Wave inside them; which covers 70% of the smart home market.

In the Z-Wave Alliance State of the Ecosystem Report 2023 The most popular Z-Wave devices were revealed to be:

• Smart water shut-off valves
• Intelligent security systems
• Smart home control systems
• Chair or seat pressure sensor
• Flood sensors and/or leak detectors

the future

The big news for Z-Wave in recent years is that the Z-Wave Alliance is now a Standards Development Organization (SDO), opening up the Z-Wave network layer and communication protocol to the Z-Wave Specification , which means more freedom for the Z-Wave Alliance.

“It’s a process to get there and the first process was really getting the Z-Wave Alliance, and Z-Wave in general, to be an independent platform away from Silicon Labs. You can imagine that was a big effort. We actually did it in eight months, which is kind of a miracle,” Mitch Klein (former CEO of the Z-Wave Alliance and head of strategic partnerships at Silicon Labs) told us.

“The next step is to create the open Z-Wave stack, which will allow other silicon companies to join.”

Z-Wave: Should you care?

The great thing about Z-Wave is that while it will certainly make your smart home setup more seamless, you don’t actually have to do anything to get the most out of it. Z-Wave devices will find each other in your home, creating a stronger mesh network, and it’s up to you if you want to go further by linking equipment from different brands using apps or the hubs mentioned above.

The rise of big-name smart assistants built into speakers like Amazon Echo or Google Home also means that, fortunately, you don’t need to worry too much about what protocols your smart devices are running. Having all your devices running on the same protocol has some benefits (a single app is the most important), but the reality is that that is extremely unlikely, especially given Z-Wave’s low power consumption… it’s not good for HD video on security cameras. , For example.

So while it’s a good idea to look for the Z-Wave certification label on the box, there are always other ways to make your connected kit work well on different platforms.

A major change is expected in terms of communication and compatibility, thanks to the Matter smart home initiative.

Z Wave and Matter

Looking from the outside, it may seem like Z-Wave could be a victim of this shakeup, as it is not a communications protocol that the new initiative is using and Matter is an initiative essentially run by Z-Wave’s long-term rival, Zigbee, under its new appearance as the Connectivity Standards Alliance.

However, rather than seeing the matter as a thread, Z-Wave appears to be excited by the prospect of a more interoperable smart home.

Avi Rosenthal, Managing Partner of Bluesalve Partners, who currently serves as Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Z-Wave Alliance, explained to us:

“Do I see Matter as competition? I absolutely do. Do I also see Matter as an opportunity? “I absolutely do.”

Rosenthal was willing to extend an olive branch to the CSA so, he believed, everyone could reap the rewards of those opportunities.

“We are willing to help; “We are willing to be part of the conversation.” he explained. “We don’t see it as an us-and-them scenario, we see it as an opportunity for all of us to work together.”

The chairman of the Z-Wave board of directors told us at CES 2025: “There is no technical reason why a Z-Wave device cannot be controlled or control a Matter device, a Thread device, a Wi-Fi device or a Bluetooth device. “It’s just an evolution of software development to allow that to happen.”

Z-Wave Hubs and Applications

Although the Z-Wave kit communicates with each other over the network, many systems that include it inside are still very separate and have their own applications and hubs. However, there are many great Z-Wave options, both hardware and software, to keep everything working under one roof.

On the hardware hub side, the Aeotec and Samsung SmartThings hubs do a great job of not only bringing all your Z-Wave devices together, but they also support Zigbee, so they can offer some cross-platform automation options as well.

For specific Z-Wave hubs, check out the Aeon Labs Aeotec Z-Wave Z-Stick, which simply plugs into your PC’s USB port, or the VERA Edge.

Due to the open nature of Z-Wave, many of the brands with Z-Wave kit have great apps that not only control their own native devices, but also third-party Z-Wave technology.

Check out the big names like Aeotec, Samsung, Insteon and Abode, but also consider openHAB, Homey, Zooz, Home Assistant Companion and Imperihome.

Z-Wave devices to test

• Fibaro flood sensor
• Kwikset Obsidian Smart Lock
• Door/Window Ring Sensor
• Oomi Double Wall Switch
• Logitech Home Harmony Hub Extender
• August Smart Lock
• professional homebody
• Ezlo for sure
• Zipato 2 bulb
• Aeotec SmartThings Center
• Gate of the abode
• Yale connected without key
• mydlink D-Link sensors
• Somfy ILT Series Blinds
• ADT Security Center
• GE lighting control

Z-Wave FAQ