IoT & Smart Home · pricing
Apple HomeKit pricing
Apple HomeKit publishes 3 tiers. Below is each one, what it adds over the tier beneath it, and where the ladder stops being worth climbing for most people.
- Entry price
- Free
- Model
- Not recorded
- Tiers
- 3
- Free tier
- Yes
Apple HomeKit plans, side by side
Every published tier in ascending order of price, with the number of features each one lists. An absence here means the record does not itemise it, not that the tier lacks it.
| Plan | Price | Features listed | Step up from the tier below |
|---|---|---|---|
| HomeKit (free) | Free | 4 | Entry tier |
| iCloud+ 2TB (required for Secure Video) | $9.99/month | 3 | +$9.99/month, 3 more features |
| Home hub (requires device purchase) | On request | 3 | Priced on request |
What each tier adds
The set difference between each tier's feature list and the one beneath it. Where a tier lists nothing new, the vendor has either stopped repeating the inherited list or the tier raises limits rather than adding capability, the record does not distinguish the two, so this page does not either.
HomeKit (free)
FreeThe entry tier. It covers local control of homekit devices, siri voice control, device automations, home sharing.
iCloud+ 2TB (required for Secure Video)
$9.99/monthOver HomeKit (free), this tier adds:
- HomeKit Secure Video 4K (in iOS 27)
- 2TB iCloud storage
- Private email relay
Home hub (requires device purchase)
On requestOver iCloud+ 2TB (required for Secure Video), this tier adds:
- Remote access
- HomeKit Secure Video (free with iCloud+ 2TB)
- HomeKit automations
Where Apple HomeKit stops being free
HomeKit (free), Free
- Local control of HomeKit devices
- Siri voice control
- Device automations
- Home sharing
iCloud+ 2TB (required for Secure Video), $9.99/month
The first thing you pay for:
- HomeKit Secure Video 4K (in iOS 27)
- 2TB iCloud storage
- Private email relay
What the product covers
The full Apple HomeKit feature record, grouped as the catalogue groups it. This is the product as a whole; the record does not map every feature onto a specific tier.
Core
- Siri Integration
- End-to-End Encryption
- Automation Scenes
- Remote Access
Integrations
- HomePod
- Apple TV
- Apple Watch
- Third-party accessories
Platform
- IOS support
- MacOS support
- WatchOS support
- TvOS support
People bring Apple HomeKit in for unified control of multi-vendor smart accessories, time, location, and sensor-triggered automations, siri voice control of accessories, remote access via a home hub, grouping accessories into scenes. If that is not the job you are buying for, the alternatives to Apple HomeKit are worth a look before you commit to a tier.
How that compares in IoT & Smart Home
Too few iot & smart home tools in this directory publish a starting price to quote a meaningful median, so the table below is a like-for-like list rather than a ranking.
| Tool | Entry price | Model | Rated | Head to head |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apple HomeKit (this page) | Free | - | - | |
| Control4 | $1000/project | - | - | vs Apple HomeKit |
| Arlo | On request | subscription | - | vs Apple HomeKit |
| Arduino Cloud | Free | subscription | - | vs Apple HomeKit |
| August Smart Lock | On request | one-time | - | vs Apple HomeKit |
| Amazon Alexa | Free | free | - | vs Apple HomeKit |
| Aqara | On request | one-time | - | vs Apple HomeKit |
Ratings are aggregated from third-party sources and imported with each catalogue entry, they are not reviews hosted on Softwr. How each figure is used is set out on the Apple HomeKit badges page.
Before you pay for Apple HomeKit
Three things this page cannot tell you, and all three change the bill. The record carries a price and a billing period but not the unit - per-seat and flat-rate pricing are indistinguishable in this data, so a five-person team may be looking at five times the figure above. It carries no annual rate, so any discount for paying yearly is not something this page can quote. And it carries no trial length.
What it can tell you is the shape of the ladder: 3 tiers between Free and On request, with the jump itemised above. Because there is a free tier, the cheapest way to answer the rest is to use it before paying anything.
Apple HomeKit runs on ios, ipados, macos, apple tv, homepod, web (via icloud.com), and is published by Apple Inc. of Cupertino, California, USA. The full record is on the Apple HomeKit review, and the rest of the category is under best iot & smart home tools.
Apple HomeKit pricing questions
- How much does Apple HomeKit cost?
- Apple HomeKit publishes 3 tiers, from Free for HomeKit (free) up to On request for Home hub (requires device purchase). The entry tier costs nothing.
- Does Apple HomeKit have a free plan?
- Yes. The HomeKit (free) tier costs nothing and covers local control of homekit devices, siri voice control, device automations. Paying starts at $9.99/month for iCloud+ 2TB (required for Secure Video).
- What is the difference between HomeKit (free) and iCloud+ 2TB (required for Secure Video) on Apple HomeKit?
- iCloud+ 2TB (required for Secure Video) costs $9.99/month against Free, and adds homekit secure video 4k (in ios 27), 2tb icloud storage, private email relay.
- Is the Home hub (requires device purchase) plan on Apple HomeKit worth it?
- That depends entirely on whether you need what it adds, which on the published record is remote access, homekit secure video (free with icloud+ 2tb), homekit automations. It costs On request against $9.99/month for iCloud+ 2TB (required for Secure Video). Softwr has not used either tier, so this page can tell you what changes, not whether it is worth the difference to you.
- Which iot & smart home tools can I use without paying?
- 3 of the 7 iot & smart home tools listed alongside Apple HomeKit have a free tier: Arduino Cloud, Amazon Alexa, Blynk.
- What am I actually paying for with Apple HomeKit?
- The record lists 12 features across 3 areas: core, integrations, platform. In practice it is brought in for unified control of multi-vendor smart accessories, time, location, and sensor-triggered automations, siri voice control of accessories.
- Does Apple HomeKit charge per user?
- The record carries a price and a billing period for each of its 3 tiers, but not the unit that price is charged in. Per-seat and flat-rate billing look identical in this data, so check the vendor's page before budgeting for a team.
- Are these Apple HomeKit prices current?
- They are what the catalogue entry holds, refreshed when the entry is. Vendors change pricing without notice and nobody at Softwr re-verifies each tier by hand, so treat this as a structured summary and the vendor's own pricing page as the authority.
- What should I compare Apple HomeKit against before paying?
- The closest iot & smart home tools in this directory are Control4, Arlo, Arduino Cloud, August Smart Lock. Each has a side-by-side comparison with Apple HomeKit covering price, platforms and features.