For many homeowners, a great-looking front yard is their pride and joy. But having a beautiful lawn requires a lot of work.
Thankfully, smart home technology means you can outsource a lot of that labor.
While a smart robot lawnmower will cost you a pretty penny, a smart home water sprinkler controller is considerably more affordable.
Plus, it’ll save you money on your water bill, conserving water in the process.
Here are our top picks for the best smart home water sprinkler controllers.
What is a Smart Home Water Sprinkler Controller?
A smart home water sprinkler controller allows you to control your sprinkler system via your smartphone.
These smart devices have weather forecasting abilities to ensure your lawn only gets watered when actually necessary.
They can automatically set a watering schedule for you to keep your lawn in ideal condition.
The best smart home water sprinkler controllers can even be voice controlled with Alexa or Google Assistant. Best of all, they’ll save you money on your water bill, soon paying for themselves.
| Best smart home water sprinkler controllers | Product Information | Check Price |
|---|---|---|
Top
Top | Rachio 3 Smart Sprinkler Controller, 16 Zone 3rd Generation | Check Price |
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Top | Orbit 57985 B-hyve XR 8-Zone Smart Sprinkler Controller | Check Price |
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Top | RainMachine Touch HD-16, Cloud Independent Smart Wi-Fi Irrigation Controller | Check Price |
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Top | Aeon Matrix Yardian Pro Smart Sprinkler Controller with Instant Button Control, 8 Zone | Check Price |
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Top | Rain-Bird ESP-TM2 Indoor Outdoor Irrigation WiFi Zone Controller Timer Box | Check Price |
Our Picks for the Best Smart Home Water Sprinkler Controllers
Rachio 3 Smart Sprinkler Controller
- Save money and water! See up to 30-50% savings on your monthly water bill!
- Avoid watering in the rain. Exclusive weather intelligence plus automatically skips unnecessary watering with features like rain skip, wind skip, freeze skip, and more.
- Control from anywhere with the easy-to-use app. Run sprinklers, view upcoming schedules, and observe your estimated outdoor water usage.
The Rachio 3 Smart Sprinkler Controller connects to your home wifi network so you can control your sprinkler system from anywhere via your smartphone.
With the mobile app, you can customize watering for each zone based on plant type, soil type, sun exposure and slope.
You can also view historical and upcoming watering times, and keep a close eye on your water usage.
With Weather Intelligence™ Plus technology, the Rachio 3 is able to accurately predict the weather. Then it automatically adjusts your watering schedule appropriately, depending on whether it’s dry or rainy.
It also means your sprinkler system will never run when it’s icy outside.
The Rachio 3 works with Alexa and Google Assistant voice commands, as well as IFTTT. It’s also compatible with smart home platforms including Nest, SmartThings, and Wink.
The Rachio 3 works with almost any sprinkler system, and DIY installation is easy with app-guided setup and one-touch connectors.
Overall, installing it yourself should take less than 30 minutes.
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| Simple installation | Expensive |
| Works with Alexa & Google Assistant | Mobile app lacks some features |
| Weather-based watering cycles | |
| Best Smart Home Water Sprinkler Controllers Reviews |
Orbit 57985 B-hyve XR
- EASY PROGRAMMING: Use the free B-hyve app to create watering schedules, set duration times, get alerts and control everything right from your smartphone.
- AUTO ADJUSTS TO WEATHER: Automatically adjusts to weather changes, including rain, wind and freeze delays, and gives more water in dryer times too
- PROTECT YOUR LAWN INVESTMENT: B-hyve’s exclusive WeatherSense tech receives local weather data and adjusts your smart sprinkler controller to deliver the right amount of water to your plants
The Orbit 57985 B-hyve XR has a friendly price point at just $149, but it’s not as easy to install — or quite as easy to use.
This smart sprinkler controller will ensure your yard gets the right amount of water based on the weather thanks to its Smart WeatherSense technology.
It’s equipped with dual-band wifi and Bluetooth so you can control it via your phone. It can be installed inside or outside of your home, and includes a weatherproof case for outdoor mounting.
Via the app, you’ll go through an initial setup process providing details about all the different plants in your yard as well as your soil, slope, sprinkler type, etc.
With either 8 or 16 zones, you can customize your watering experience to suit all your different plants, flowers, and shrubs.
You can control the B-hyve XR from the controller itself, but it’s not recommended: It only has one button, and requires a complicated succession of long and short presses to do anything.
You’re much better off simply using the app. Or integrate it with your Amazon Alexa or Google Assistant and control it via voice commands.
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| Affordable | Bulky size |
| Can be mounted outdoors | Wiring connections require some finessing |
| Convenient display | |
| Best Smart Home Water Sprinkler Controllers Reviews |
RainMachine Touch HD-16
- Smart schedule & save water - save water With real-time weather adjustments. (Epa Water Sense certified, check for rebates)
- Cloud independent - all personal data stored locally. Rain Machine continues to work even when Wi-Fi is down.
- FREE WEATHER DATA - Direct access to NOAA, METNO or Wunderground, Open Weather Map, NetAtmo. Use National or Personal Weather Stations for pinpoint accuracy.
The RainMachine Touch HD-16 is an excellent option if you have unreliable wifi, as it’s the only model on this list with an Ethernet port.
You can also choose to store all data locally rather than uploading it to the cloud, which is great for those concerned with privacy. However, it’s not as easy to use as the Rachio 3.
The RainMachine app has a ton of options and menus that will be overwhelming for the average user, but great for serious gardeners who love tech.
But unlike the Rachio 3, it can’t create custom watering schedules for you.
One unique feature is Adaptive Frequency, which skips a schedule if the controller determines it needs to water for only a few minutes and then tacks those minutes on to your next watering.
You can also tell the RainMachine about your local watering restrictions and it will work around them.
RainMachine has many smart home integrations including Amazon Alexa, Apple HomeKit, Google Assistant, SmartThings, and IFTTT.
Overall, this is a powerful smart sprinkler controller for nerds who want ultimate control over their yard or don’t want to use the cloud.
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| Responsive touch-screen | No automatic custom watering schedules |
| Lots of smart home integrations | App options can be confusing |
| Can work around watering restrictions | |
| Best Smart Home Water Sprinkler Controllers Reviews |
Aeon Matrix Yardian Pro Smart Sprinkler
- Save Water, Save Money – save up to 50% of your monthly water usage with our Smart Program and Rain Skips
- Smart Home Ready – Works with Amazon Alexa, Google Home, and Apple HomeKit products
- Control from Anywhere –Setup your smart program, monitor your skip rules, check your water usage, and control your entire sprinkler system through the Yardian app from anywhere and everywhere. Available on iOS and android.
The Aeon Matrix Yardian Pro Smart Sprinkler is a solid smart irrigation systems controller that is unfortunately somewhat confusing to use.
It has a sleek modern design that makes it resemble an Apple product, so it will look great mounted inside your home. Installation is easy, and it comes in 8-zone or 12-zone configurations.
The best feature of the Yardian Pro is its intuitive smart scheduling. It considers plant species, soil types, sun exposure, slope, and other variables in order to formulate the optimal schedule for your lawn.
It can also be customized to work with your local watering restrictions. And of course, it keeps a close eye on local weather data.
The biggest downside of the Yardian Pro is that the app is quite confusing to use. You’ll do a lot of hunting to find the settings and buttons you need.
And the onboard controls on the controller itself aren’t much better, so be sure to keep the owner’s manual on hand.
For a more user-friendly experience, you may want to stick with the Rachio 3.
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| Easy installation | App is confusing |
| Sleek modern design | Can't be mounted outdoors |
| Smart scheduling | Onboard controls are hard to use |
| Best Smart Home Water Sprinkler Controllers Reviews |
Rain-Bird ESP-TM2 Indoor Outdoor Irrigation WiFi Zone Controller
- Controls 4 sprinkler zones, Quick to Install, Suitable for indoor or outdoor installations, Factory installed 6’ outdoor rated power cord for your convenience
- Simple to Program. Quickly program a schedule in just 3 steps. NEW large back-lit LCD display for improved visibility in low-light and direct sunlight conditions WiFi Connectivity
- Advanced Features. Contractor Default allows you to easily save and restore your custom schedule. Delay Watering up to 14 days and automatically resume watering after the set delay has elapsed
The Rain-Bird ESP-TM2 Indoor Outdoor Irrigation WiFi Zone Controller won’t win any awards for its cluttered-looking design, but it will take care of your lawn.
However, its programming features aren’t nearly as sophisticated as the other models on this list.
You’re limited to 3 programs with 4 different start times per program, so customization is somewhat limited.
But for people who simply want to get the job done without having to get too involved in programming their system, the Rain-Bird may be a good option.
It automatically adjusts based on your local weather, saving you up to 50% on your water bill.
It comes with the ability to control 12 different zones. However, you can’t water just one zone at a time, which may be a downside for some homeowners.
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| Easy-to-read LCD display | Cluttered looking design |
| Automatic weather adjustments | Installation isn't the easiest |
| Quick to Install | Can't water just one zone |
| Best Smart Home Water Sprinkler Controllers Reviews |
Final Thoughts
We hope you enjoyed reviewing our picks for the best smart home water sprinkler controllers. If you want to conserve water, save money, and keep your yard looking great, consider investing in one.
Depending on whether you want simple automated watering or want to customize it to your heart’s content, there’s definitely a smart water sprinkler controller out there to suit your needs.
