Philips Hue Bridge vs Samsung SmartThings Station
These hubs anchor different ecosystems: the Philips Hue Bridge runs Philips Hue, the Samsung SmartThings Station runs SmartThings. The Samsung SmartThings Station pairs more of this database directly — 7,221 devices against 595 for the Philips Hue Bridge — because of its radio coverage. Radio hardware differs: only the Samsung SmartThings Station is a Thread border router. The Philips Hue Bridge runs automations locally without a cloud dependency; the other relies on cloud processing.
| Philips Hue Bridge | Samsung SmartThings Station | |
|---|---|---|
| Price (MSRP) | $69.99 | $79.99 |
| Ecosystem | Philips Hue | SmartThings |
| Matter controller | No | Yes |
| Thread border router | No | Yes |
| Zigbee radio | built-in (same brand only) | built-in |
| Z-Wave radio | none | none |
| Bridges its devices into Matter | Yes | No |
| Local (no-cloud) control | Yes | No |
| Subscription required for core features | No | No |
| Ethernet port | Yes | No |
| Wi-Fi | No | Yes |
| Max paired devices (manufacturer) | 50 | — |
| Natively paired brands | Philips Hue | — |
| Release year | 2015 | 2023 |
What each hub actually pairs
- Devices that work with the Philips Hue Bridge — 595 direct, 0 via bridge/add-on
- Devices that work with the Samsung SmartThings Station — 7,221 direct, 0 via bridge/add-on
Frequently asked questions
Which pairs more devices, the Philips Hue Bridge or the Samsung SmartThings Station?
The Samsung SmartThings Station: 7,221 devices in this database pair directly, versus 595 for the Philips Hue Bridge.
Can I run the Philips Hue Bridge and Samsung SmartThings Station together?
Usually yes. Matter's multi-admin lets the same Matter device join several controllers at once, and Thread border routers from different vendors share one mesh. Zigbee and Z-Wave devices, though, pair to exactly one hub at a time.