Comparison

HSBuddy vs Hubitat

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

HSBuddy

Control your HomeSeer home automation system from your mobile device and Apple Watch. Manage devices, run events, view camera feeds, and create custom dashboards. Automate tasks with Siri shortcuts and widgets.

Highlights
  • Control and edit devices
  • Run and edit events
  • View camera feeds
  • Customizable dashboards
  • Siri shortcuts
  • Home Screen widgets
  • Push notifications
Features
Read full description

HSBuddy is a free application for iOS® that turns your mobile device into the ultimate companion for your HomeSeer® home automation system. With the included Apple Watch companion app you can take control of your home from your wrist! Certain features require an additional HomeSeer controller plug-in which you can install from the plug-in manager in your HomeSeer configuration pages. Look for HSBuddy under the User Interfaces section. Complement your home automation experience and use HSBuddy to: • Control and edit devices • Run and edit events • View history of device state changes * • View images from your home cameras ** • Create your own customized dashboards • Speed up your daily automation tasks » Create Siri shortcuts » Place Widgets for your Home Screen • Send push-notifications to your devices as part of your server events • Browse your HomeSeer server logs * • Enable geo-location on the app and location-based events * • Automatically switch between local-WiFi and remote connectivity to your server based on your location. • Connect to multiple HomeSeer servers and switch quickly between them • Use Smart Tags to quickly control a device or run an event by tapping a tag with your phone *Requires installing the free HSBuddy HomeSeer controller plug-in **Compatible with some existing HomeSeer controller camera plug-ins To use this app you need a running instance of HomeSeer. To find out more, visit http://www.homeseer.com For more information and troubleshooting help, go to http://hsbuddy.avglabs.net

About

Hubitat

Control and monitor your smart home devices remotely. Set up location-based automation and receive important alerts directly to your phone. This app enhances your existing home automation system.

Highlights
  • Access Dashboards
  • Monitor and control devices
  • Arm/disarm Safety Monitor
  • Change Modes
  • Define Geofence for Presence
  • Receive Push Notifications
Features
Read full description

Hubitat Elevation Mobile App is an accessory to the Hubitat Elevation home automation system. Users of Hubitat Elevation can use the Mobile App to: - Access Dashboards to monitor and control devices, arm or disarm Hubitat Safety Monitor, change Modes and more. - Define a Geofence for Mobile Presence detection based on phone location. The Geofence center defaults to your hub location but can be dragged to any location and the radius set. - Receive Push Notifications from Hubitat Elevation apps.

Screenshots

HSBuddy4 screens
Hubitat4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is review sentiment: HSBuddy at 76% against Hubitat's 28%. HSBuddy also leads on rating (4.6 vs 2.8). Hubitat's advantage is ratings volume (163 vs 29). On price, update cadence, ads and in-app purchases there is nothing between them.

Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

HSBuddy holds the better App Store score, 4.6 against 2.8. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Hubitat has 163 ratings behind it against 29, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 76% of HSBuddy's written reviews are positive against 28% of Hubitat's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Both ship on a similar rhythm, roughly every 2 months. The most recent releases landed on October 7, 2026 and October 18, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard3 real differences · 7 level
HSBuddy versus Hubitat: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterHSBuddyHubitat
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.6 (29 ratings) — better2.8 (163 ratings)
Positive reviews76.5% of reviews — better28.0% of reviews
Number of ratings29163 — better
Update frequencyEvery 2 monthsEvery 2 months
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationFreeFree
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod, Apple Watch — betteriPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS13.012.1 — better
Further details — not scored
Size60 MB29 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperAntonio Vargas GarciaHubitat, Inc.

Customer experience

HSBuddy

All ratings29 ratings
Positive86.2%
Neutral3.4%
Negative10.3%
Written reviews17 reviews
Positive76.5%
Neutral5.9%
Negative17.6%

Hubitat

All ratings163 ratings
Positive40.5%
Neutral10.4%
Negative49.1%
Written reviews93 reviews
Positive28.0%
Neutral11.8%
Negative60.2%

Bugs and requests

HSBuddy

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

Hubitat

Reported bugs

18 issues
  • App crashes on startup consistently
  • Geofence detection fails to send events to hub
  • Geofence shows incorrect location (off by km)
  • Login screen keyboard covers continue button
  • App hangs at 'Loading User Data' screen
Show 13 more
  • Dashboard doesn't load after backgrounding
  • Local LAN mode not working, stuck on cloud
  • Hub discovery doesn't work on iOS
  • Duplicate rooms and devices displayed
  • Incorrect device status reporting
  • Notifications show 'invalid token' error
  • App doesn't support screen rotation
  • Email verification code not received
  • Presence detection broken after updates
  • App unable to connect to hub after updates
  • Geofence size resets to default
  • What's New screen cannot be dismissed
  • Layout issues with overlapping buttons on iPhone 7

Requested features

15 requests
  • Native iOS app with proper UI/UX design
  • Dark mode option
  • Widget support for quick device access
  • Ability to add/discover devices from mobile app
  • Automation and scene creation from app
Show 10 more
  • iPad landscape view support
  • Drag-and-drop dashboard tile customization
  • Multiple geofence locations
  • Motion sensor activity logging in dashboard
  • Improved dashboard responsiveness and layout
  • Manual IP address entry for hub connection
  • SMS-based account verification
  • Battery usage optimization for geofencing
  • Real-time notifications with better visibility
  • Detailed user manual and in-app help

In-app purchases

None

HSBuddy

No in-app purchases

None

Hubitat

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is HSBuddy free?
HSBuddy is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Hubitat free?
Hubitat is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, HSBuddy or Hubitat?
HSBuddy is rated higher. HSBuddy averages 4.6 out of 5 from 29 ratings, while Hubitat averages 2.8 from 163 ratings.
Do HSBuddy or Hubitat have ads?
Neither HSBuddy nor Hubitat shows ads.
Which is updated more often, HSBuddy or Hubitat?
HSBuddy ships an update every 2 months, and Hubitat every 2 months. Most recently, HSBuddy was updated on October 7, 2026 and Hubitat on October 18, 2026.

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