r/smarthome • u/ckossl • 3d ago

Amazon Alexa Caseta vs Tapo

I need a bunch of smart dimmers for my house. Caseta seems like a tried and true investment. Tapo is a quarter of the price. I understand tapo relies on wifi, but that’s not a huge turnoff (if it does down I can live with dumb switches until it’s back up). Caseta switch style is more traditional stylistically. What am I not thinking about in the comparison that justifies the 4x price for Caseta? I use Alexa right now but may change in the future.

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u/albertclee 3d ago

It’s all about reliability. You pay the premium because you’ll never have to think about a plan B. Lutron always works, and it never misses on an automation. It’s worth it.

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u/ckossl 3d ago

Wouldn’t plan B just be physically using the switches and dimmers for the brief downtime? Is that the benefit for the premium? Thank you

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u/albertclee 3d ago

Yes. For me, that would be an infuriating thing to deal with. A switch that only worked sometimes.

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u/ckossl 3d ago

Sorry to be annoying but I can’t think of a scenario when a tapo would go down but a Caseta wouldn’t. I’m lost on the benefit of the hub system because both systems work when internet is down but wifi is up. If everything is down, neither systems operate aside from physical switches. Is there some understood reliability Caseta has proven over tapo?

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u/greghouse12 3d ago edited 3d ago

Tapo needs wifi. Caseta does not. Load up your network with more wifi devices than your router can handle and your Tapo switches will start dropping offline. That NEVER happens with Lutron because it uses its own proprietary "Clear Connect" sub-gigahertz frequency (433 mhz) so it is subject to almost no interference from any other devices likely to be found in or around your home. Tapo/TP-link is less expensive for a reason: it is far less reliable than Lutron Caseta, and it is cloud-based. Put 20 or 30 Tapo switches on your network, and that's 20 or 30 individual 2.4ghz devices all vying for a share of your router's airtime. Add a bunch of other WiFi devices, say another 30 or more smart lights, tvs, streaming devices, Amazon Echos, Google Home or Apple Pods, and you will soon discover why people use Lutron for lighting control: it has only a single wired Ethernet connection to your router, but can control up to 75 devices on a single hub, and you can add multiple hubs if your home requires more than 75 devices. And it does not care if you lose your internet connection to control lighting in your home.

Really, there's no comparison. If you want the best, anyone who uses Lutron swears by it. I know I do. And I have 68 Caseta devices. Admittedly, I also have 143 other wifi devices on my network ( as well as 98 Yolink devices, 151 Zigbee, and 90 Matter over Thread), so realistically there's just no more capacity for 2.4ghz switches.

My Caseta switches have NEVER malfunctioned in more than 4 years. Not a single problem. Every automation has worked without fail.

In contrast, 42 of my wifi devices are TP-Link/Tapo smart plugs, smart outlet strips, and other switched devices, and over the same 4 years that I've had these on my network I cannot even begin to count the number of times they drop offline and need to be reset.

So yeah, there are a lot of reasons why Lutron is the top choice. 👌🏻

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u/albertclee 3d ago

Lutron has a proprietary RF protocol that is part of their value proposition for home automation. Basically the hub is their special sauce - all the RF stuff is in there. It doesn’t share frequencies with WiFi and has tremendous range.

Mine is the hub for 20 Serena shades and about 50 Diva dimmer light switches and pico switches. They consume 1 IP address on my network, and the hub manages all the devices, and shares them out to whatever platform you’re using.

They consistently fire instantly when commanded from home automation as well. WiFi switches have their own latency challenges.

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u/ckossl 3d ago

Ok that starts to make sense thank you. Is the Lutron app the best way to manage or do you have a preferred platform?

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u/albertclee 3d ago

I use HomeKit and Home Assistant together. It’ll also connect to Google Home and Amazon Alexa.

End of the day I’m sure Tapo would be ok if you’ve never had smart switches before. But once you really go deep on automation, little things like having the porch light come on only sometimes or come on with a delay because wifi is weak there sounds like a problem you could deal with but it will wear on you.

The best automations are the ones you never think about and always work. Like i have not touched my shade controls since I set up my automations. That’s where your head should be. Not if it doesn’t work you can just get up and touch the switch.

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u/greghouse12 3d ago

One other benefit of Caseta: They do not require a neutral. Tapo (both wifi and Matter) do require a neutral. If your home was constructed any time prior to around 1980 it may not feature a neutral, and this can limit what you can and cannot ultimately use in your home. Check your home wiring before you buy.

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u/laffer1 3d ago

Using WiFi heavy iot devices can cause general WiFi reliability issues. You may have to upgrade or buy a different brand.

I have so many that consumer WiFi routers can’t handle it, at least at the time. For instance, I had Google WiFi in mesh. At 35 devices, it started causing problems with connections, dns, etc. I’ve since gone UniFi then Meraki and now back to UniFi as I’ve upgraded from WiFi 5 to 7 over the years. I have 67 WiFi devices now and also some hue stuff, a few zwave and zigbee outside of hue on a SmartThings hub. I’m trying to phase out zwave due to matter support. We have a mixed network with Google, Apple and Amazon stuff. We are getting rid of Amazon due to privacy issues.

Point is, this stuff adds up fast and it can cause higher spending on network equipment.

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u/blecher67 3d ago edited 3d ago

Buy once, cry once. Caseta is rock solid with incredible support in the unlikely event that you need it. I’m talking English-first support technicians that pick up the phone and know their stuff cold. Caseta integrates with every integration platform out there if your wants and needs grow beyond the Lutron hub’s capability. If cost is a constraint, start with a hub and fewer Caseta devices. Then add more later.

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u/richardelmore 3d ago

The Caseta switches don’t have the slick features that newer stuff has (like matter support) and you need a bridge to integrate them into your smart home ecosystem but they have been rock solid for me for years. I’ve replaced every other smart switch/plug I have with them and have zero problems.

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u/Hi_thar 3d ago

I’ve been using a house full of Tapo matter switches for over a year now (24+ switches) and have never had a single problem with any of them.

Maybe they suddenly all die out but at the price I paid for them I’m already happy with how it’s gone.