Smart Thermostats
Amazon Smart Thermostat
Real smart-thermostat savings for under $80 — the best entry point if you just want the basics done well, without paying for a room sensor or premium display you may not use.
2 min read
HVAC & Home Efficiency Specialist
Overall Rating
4.1 / 5
Price range: $79.99 MSRP; frequently discounted to $50–$65
Pros
- +Lowest price of any mainstream smart thermostat by a wide margin — often under $60 during sales
- +Alexa Hunches uses existing smart-home activity (or a simple voice command like "Alexa, I'm leaving") to detect when you're away and adjust automatically
- +One of the easiest app-guided installations in the category, according to independent testers
- +Compatible with most 24V HVAC systems
Cons
- –No room or temperature sensor included — no way to address a hot or cold problem room without buying separate Echo devices with sensors
- –Basic display shows less information at once than the ecobee or Nest, and dims in a way some testers found hard to read from a distance
- –Presence detection relies on Alexa's broader smart-home signals rather than a dedicated occupancy sensor, so accuracy depends on what other smart devices you already have
- –Fewer standalone smart features than ecobee or Nest — this is a thermostat for the Alexa ecosystem specifically, less useful if you don't already use Echo devices
The short version
The Amazon Smart Thermostat's pitch is simple: most of what makes a thermostat "smart" — scheduling, remote control, presence-based adjustments, energy tracking — doesn't require a $250+ price tag. At $79.99 MSRP (and frequently available for $50-65 during sales), it delivers real automated scheduling and Alexa integration at roughly a quarter of the ecobee Premium's price.
The standout feature is Alexa Hunches: rather than relying on a dedicated occupancy sensor, it uses signals from your broader smart-home activity (or a direct voice command like "Alexa, I'm leaving" or "Alexa, goodnight") to adjust the temperature automatically when you're away or asleep. It won't match a dedicated room sensor for precision, but it's a genuinely useful automation layer for the price.
Independent testers consistently rate the app-guided installation as one of the easiest in the category — a real advantage if you're not confident about DIY thermostat wiring.
Where it falls short
There's no included room or temperature sensor — the feature that lets the ecobee Premium and Nest 4th Gen address a specific hot or cold room in your house. If your home has an uneven-comfort problem, this thermostat doesn't have a built-in way to solve it (short of buying separate Echo devices with temperature sensors).
The display is more basic than the competition: clear enough up close, but some testers found it hard to read from across a room, and you can't see both the current and set temperature at the same time without a tap. And because presence detection leans on your existing Alexa ecosystem rather than a dedicated sensor, how well it works depends partly on what other smart devices you already own — a household with several Echo devices and smart plugs will get more accurate detection than one with just the thermostat itself.
What it costs
MSRP is $79.99, but it's frequently discounted — $57.99 during a recent Prime Day sale, and regularly available in the $65-75 range even outside major sales events. This is comfortably the least expensive path into a genuinely smart thermostat covered in this comparison.
Who it's actually right for
The Amazon Smart Thermostat is the right call if you want real energy savings and remote scheduling without paying a premium price, if you're already using Alexa and Echo devices at home, or if your home doesn't have a persistent problem room that would benefit from a dedicated sensor. It's a weaker fit if you specifically need room-by-room temperature zoning, want indoor air quality monitoring, or you're not in the Alexa ecosystem at all — the presence-detection features lean heavily on Alexa specifically, unlike the more platform-agnostic ecobee.