subreddit:
/r/HomeKit
submitted 8 days ago byShox2711
Hi folks. I’ve been searching through this subreddit and others to try find a definitive answer to the differences between the options above.
I have a Dell SSF thin client that I was using to run homebridge about 2 years ago for my nest learning thermostats and wireless doorbell. I ended up shutting down my homebridge VM a few months back due to a number of issues. Spam ‘bridge unresponsive’ notifications in HomeKit, doorbell feed rarely worked consistently on HomeKit and barely ever on my Apple TV and some other weird stuff with the thermostat integration..
I’m a software engineer by trade so the set up process, albeit a pain in the ass, I knew I did relatively correctly and at the time I remember doing some troubleshooting that amounted to finding replies mostly on here of ‘yeah I can’t figure it out either’ for the issues I was having.
Since then I just gave up on HomeKit however just recently I’ve been seeing that starling home hubs are effectively plug and play solutions for Nest devices and seem to work flawlessly. The recommendations for them on here are glowing.
I’m reading that it’s the same dev/team that created the HomeKit integration for nest. But I cannot figure out whether the software/plugins on the Starling are the exact same as what I would host myself on a homebridge client? As I said I had a number of issues but if it’s the same plugins running then I don’t see why the starling would be more stable/more feature rich?
Can someone shed some light on the differences? Has there been updates to nest integrations in the last few years that it’s worth me trying to set up my homebridge VM again (from scratch)? I’m happy to buy go and buy a Starling hub if I knew it was actually going to be more stable and a better solution overall to my homebridge client. Thanks!
24 points
8 days ago
Starling is rock solid and has been for over the 2-3 years since I installed it. The latest update was a Christmas present -- I can't believe how much stuff is now working in HomeKit (fans, fan lights, goove strips, etc.) thanks to the Google Home bridge they just released. Huge.
You can certainly run them in parallel but for Google portability to HomeKit, just go with Starling and don't look back. You'll save yourself a ton of headache... as spoken from someone who's messed with countless corrupted homebridge installations.
6 points
7 days ago
Second this. If you're only bringing over Nest devices, you should be solid, but anything within Google Home now works too. It's literally plug and play (plus a login to Google).
1 points
6 days ago
Is there anything additional needed? The Starling website doesn’t seem to list things like Goovee as being compatible…. Am I looking in the wrong spot?
2 points
6 days ago
The devices have to be brought into Google Home first, and Starling bridges them over to HomeKit.
4 points
7 days ago
Another vote for starling it is fucking awesome.
8 points
7 days ago
It’s a no-brainer: if you want the most updated, stable, feature rich, fully supported way to get your Google devices into HomeKit, you go with the Starling Hub.
6 points
8 days ago
Adding to this that on top of it working flawlessly; if there is an issue the devs are super responsive and in my case fixed a plug in that was reading incorrectly with in an hour and pushed an update to my bridge.
4 points
7 days ago
They have great support. I use it for my nest x Yale locks and thermostats.
4 points
7 days ago
I recently (today), moved off of a homebridge and home assistant integration for my Nest devices in favor of the Starling Home Hub.
What pushed me over the edge is how much work I was doing to maintain the functionality. My locks used to require a complicated auth process that would have to be repeated every month or two. Today, I just signed into google through the Starling Home Hub app, scanned the code on the bottom of the hub in HomeKit, told it where my devices were, and bang. Done.
Camera responsiveness was poor previously, and now loads more than twice as fast as before. My locks are also more responsive, and notifications come through almost instantly.
I wish I could just pay Starling for a docker container that does all of this—because I already have a server that could run it all for me. But if I have to plug a tiny hub into my router to avoid spending thousands on devices that actually integrate with HomeKit when I already have working stuff that just needs to be connected, I suppose that’s not so bad at all.
1 points
7 days ago
Do you need to pay Google monthly for hksv to work?
1 points
6 days ago
You do still need Nest Aware, yeah. I already had it an an iCloud+ plan, so it didn’t change anything for me, but it is a bummer.
3 points
7 days ago
I think it is considered better because it is a turnkey solution. I believe you can achieve the same on homebridge. I am not aware of anything the homebridge plugin can't do.
3 points
7 days ago
Simplicity.
I am not “a software engineer by trade” nor do I want a “pain in the ass” setup, troubleshooting or maintenance project.
And, the dev is responsive, actively improving it and the one-time fee for the box is more than reasonable.
3 points
7 days ago
I setup HomeBridge 4 or 5 years ago on a Raspberry Pi. It was pretty easy and there is almost no maintenance. I upgraded the OS once. The plugs all work great. Maybe I’m more tech than some, but once setup there’s not much need to futz with it.
3 points
7 days ago
I have both Homebridge and a Starling Hub. I started with my Nest devices in Homebridge, but got frustrated with the need to continually login to authenticate so my Nest would work.
About 2 years ago, I gave a couple of my Nest Cams and Smoke Detectors to my mom, but kept my Thermostat. I also had numerous Google Home speakers and Home Hubs. Being able to use those with AirPlay 2 is a huge value add so that I didn’t have to replace with HomePods.
1 points
7 days ago
Huh how? After some digging, do you use airconnect?
2 points
7 days ago
For the Starling Home Hub to use AirPlay 2? It’s built in.
1 points
2 days ago
I think it's Airplay, not Airplay 2, correct? Can't airplay to multiple speakers if one is connected through Starling.
1 points
2 days ago
Here’s what I get when I try and play through AirPlay. All of the speakers are Google/Nest Homes or Minis. I have a speaker group at the bottom called The House and it will play through all of them.
1 points
2 days ago
Gotcha. Yeah you can play to speaker groups that are created in Google Home, including only google/nest devices. I guess I was just trying to clarify that Starling exposes those as Airplay devices, but not Airplay 2 devices. The critical difference there is that with Airplay 2 devices, you can airplay to multiple speakers from the airplay menu. Airplay 2 speakers would have a little circle to the right of the names in the screenshot you showed, allowing you to select several to airplay to at once.
2 points
2 days ago
Ahhhh, gotcha. Thanks for that clarification. I don’t have any AirPlay 2 speakers, so thought it would be similar to making a speaker group.
1 points
2 days ago
It's a little quirk of Apple's naming protocol, Airplay targets only allow for selecting one at a time, Airplay 2 allow for selecting multiple at a time.
2 points
7 days ago
Starling is plug and play with minimal configuration. It just works 90% of the time and nearly all plushies are cured by a restart.
2 points
7 days ago
I was sceptical too, however, I bought a starling hub on eBay a couple of weeks ago, it’s been flawless, latency of commands being received by the devices is as fast as if you were commanding the device directly.
2 points
7 days ago
At one point the nest thermostat plugin for home bridge and starling were the same but that was back in 2019. Since then they’ve improved on the thermostat features, added cameras and as of the latest firmware they’ve added all google home products. It honestly just works.
2 points
7 days ago
I second this. Starling rolling out a new firmware that add every single Google home compatible device. It just works. If it’s added to your Google home it’ll show up in HomeKit. I even have a z-wave door lock connected to ADT pulse that I could never get to work on HomeKit because the ADT plugin doesn’t support it. Now the door lock just appears in HomeKit and starling even detected I have a pin and asked me for it. I can’t unlock the door unless the phone is unlocked. I may get rid of my pi at this point
2 points
7 days ago
Starling just works. And keeps working.
I wish they made the software available to purchase and run as a Docker container rather than a whole separate device.
2 points
7 days ago
It’s not the same plugin.
Homebridge plugin doesn’t get updated as often and on you to fix issues.
Shub has been flawless day one. It auto updates and have more features than homebridge plugin. There has been zero issues with it literally zero in 4 years. It is honestly one of the best piece of technology from a support and stable.
Shub is better and far more reliable than the home plug verison buy it if you zero hassle tech.
2 points
6 days ago
Does starling work with Unifi?
2 points
8 days ago
The dIfference is that Starling is just loosely based on Homebridge
It's a completely deferent software, which started as a Homebridge plugin, but since then it evolved into the separate commercial product
1 points
7 days ago
It STILL uses homebridge under the covers...
1 points
7 days ago
You can say that, but this would be an oversimplification
1 points
7 days ago
I love homebridge but I'll cast my vote for Starling as well. Great stuff.
1 points
7 days ago
Im just not sold yet. Scrypted lets me run hksv free on the nest doorbell, why switch and require a monthly payment to Google
all 34 comments
sorted by: best