Smart home hub vs Wi-Fi router: which costs more to run? (2026)
Estimates use U.S. average $0.180 $/kWh, typical wattage, and typical hours/day from our catalog. Adjust on each appliance page.
Smart home hub
- Typical watts
- 5 W
- Hours/day
- 24
- Monthly est.
- $0.65
- kWh/mo
- 3.6
Wi-Fi router
- Typical watts
- 10 W
- Hours/day
- 24
- Monthly est.
- $1.29
- kWh/mo
- 7.2
Wi-Fi router is estimated to cost more per month at typical use.