Smart radiator valve hub or Wi-Fi

Updated: October 2026

The listing says Wi-Fi, the price looks like a single head, and the reviews then tell you to buy a hub. You need to know which radio you are actually paying for before you compare a head near £22 with a kit near £207. This page is the smart radiator valve hub choice across the seven amazon.co.uk listings in the smart radiator valve comparison: Matter over Thread, Zigbee, Kasa’s hub link, Hive’s hub, and two Wi-Fi heads that claim no gateway. It does not name a winner. That sits on the best smart radiator valve page. Read the hub sentence, not the connectivity dropdown. Products Compared did not survey your house’s signal. A qualifying purchase through our links can earn a commission at no extra cost to you.

Our top picks

Badge	Product	Radio	Hub	Voice	Note	Price	Offer
Best overall	WILAWELS WILAWELS TRV706W Wi-Fi head	Wi-Fi	None claimed	Alexa claimed	10.0	about £26.99	View offer
	tado tado X starter kit with Bridge X	Matter over Thread	Bridge X in the box	Alexa, Google, Siri claimed	8.4	about £207.15	View offer
Preis-Tipp	SONOFF SONOFF TRVZB Zigbee head	Zigbee 3.0	Zigbee coordinator required	Alexa and Google Home	8.2	about £22.30	View offer

Best overall

WILAWELS WILAWELS TRV706W Wi-Fi head

10.0/10about £26.99

View offer

Rank 2

tado tado X starter kit with Bridge X

8.4/10about £207.15

View offer

Preis-Tipp

SONOFF SONOFF TRVZB Zigbee head

8.2/10about £22.30

View offer

On this page

1.Four different links to the phone
2.What each box still needs
3.Direct Wi-Fi in this set
4.Stay with the hub you have

Four different links to the phone

Thread, in this set, is tado X. The starter kit uses Matter over Thread, and tado’s help page says you need a Bridge X unless you use a Thread border router they list, with NAT64, inside the tado app. Zigbee, in this set, is the SONOFF TRVZB. It is Zigbee 3.0, and it is not Wi-Fi and not Thread. Kasa’s KE100 uses a Sub-G link to a KH100 hub. TP-Link’s UK FAQ says the valve will not work without that hub, that it is not Zigbee or Z-Wave, and that the hub itself uses 2.4 GHz Wi-Fi. Hive’s head uses a Hive Hub. Direct Wi-Fi, with no gateway claimed, is only the two WILAWELS listings. Those paths do not become one system because each box says smart. A Matter logo on tado does not make a KE100 into a Thread device. A Wi-Fi field on a KE100 or Hive page describes how the hub reaches your router, while the head still needs the hub.

What each box still needs

The tado X starter, B0CWPHPNFG, at about £207.15, includes Bridge X with two heads. You can skip a separate bridge only if you already have one of the Thread border routers tado lists and you accept that their support is for tado devices in the tado app. The listing still has no boiler receiver. That is a different extra, covered on the boiler control page. Hive’s head at about £55.30 does not include a hub. Hive’s shop says you need the current Hive Hub or Hub 360, and that Hub 1 does not support radiator valves. Active Heating is optional, so the valves can be added without that full kit, and the hub generation is not optional. The KE100 add-on at about £26.99 states the KH100 requirement in the bullet and leaves the hub out of the box. The three-pack at about £80.97 does not name the KH100 in its bullets, while reviews on that file still require a plug-in Kasa hub, and the 463 reviews match the single-head listing. SONOFF at about £22.30 needs a Zigbee coordinator for eWeLink, with examples ZBBridge-P, ZBBridge-U, NSPanel Pro, and iHost, or the separate Zigbee2MQTT claim for Home Assistant. Three AA cells are extra.

Testsieger

WILAWELS WILAWELS TRV706W Wi-Fi head

10.0/10about £26.99

View offer

Direct Wi-Fi in this set

Only WILAWELS claims no gateway. TRV706W at about £26.99 shows 5.0 from three reviews. One review is in English and calls the head quiet, with app scheduling, and it does not cover a full heating season. The other two reviews are not in English. Thread size and battery life are absent. TRV601W at about £22.99 shows 5.0 from five reviews, the model name and the model-number field disagree, and one reviewer needed an extra fitting part before the heads fitted. Both claim Alexa, up to six slots a day, and a window pause after a 1.5 °C drop within five minutes. Google Home is asked on the TRV601W page and not confirmed. Three and five reviews cannot show how the heads behave across a heating season, or on a busy 2.4 GHz network, or on a valve thread the page never names. If you already run a hub, that hub usually beats a new radio with a thin review file. The buying guide puts review count after fit and after the full price for the same reason.

Stay with the hub you have

A current Hive hub points you at the Hive head, not at tado X and not at SONOFF. A KH100 points you at the KE100. A Zigbee coordinator you already use with Home Assistant points you at the SONOFF claim for Zigbee2MQTT, with the pairing fuss the reviews describe. A tado V3+ home does not gain an X head: tado says the generations do not share a Home. Hub 1 does not gain Hive radiator valves. A tado head will not ask a Hive controller for heat, on tado’s own community reply. A SONOFF head is not described as joining a Hive hub, and the KE100 FAQ says the valve is not Zigbee, so it will not join a Zigbee hub either. Price the hub you lack before you treat a head as hub-less. Leave the WILAWELS claim as a trial of one radiator if you can return a head that does not fit.

Common questions

Do all smart radiator valves need a hub?

In this set, tado X needs Bridge X or a listed Thread border router, and the starter kit includes Bridge X. Hive needs a current hub. KE100 needs a KH100. SONOFF needs a Zigbee coordinator for the eWeLink path. Only the two WILAWELS listings claim no gateway, on three and five reviews. Smart on the title is not a shared radio.

Why does the listing say Wi-Fi if I still need a KH100 or a Hive Hub?

The connectivity field on the KE100 and Hive pages says Wi-Fi, while the bullets say the hub is required. TP-Link’s FAQ makes the split clear: the head speaks Sub-G to the KH100, and the hub uses 2.4 GHz Wi-Fi to your router. Hive’s bullet ties wireless control and Alexa to the Hive Hub, which is not in the about £55.30 box. Read the hub sentence when the dropdown and the bullet disagree.

Is Zigbee the same as Wi-Fi?

Zigbee is a separate low-power radio. Wi-Fi is what your phone and, usually, the hub use to reach the router. SONOFF’s TRVZB is Zigbee 3.0. The KE100 is not Zigbee, on TP-Link’s FAQ, even though its amazon.co.uk field says Wi-Fi. A Zigbee head will not appear on your Wi-Fi list. A Wi-Fi head will not pair to a Zigbee coordinator unless the maker documents that path. SONOFF documents Zigbee2MQTT. KE100 does not.

Can I use Apple or Google as the tado Thread border router?

tado says you need Bridge X unless you use a Thread border router they list, with NAT64, and their support is for tado devices in the tado app. Check that article against the router you own before you skip the bridge. The about £207.15 starter removes that question by including Bridge X, and it still omits the boiler receiver.

Will a SONOFF head join a Hive hub?

Nothing on the SONOFF listing or the Hive shop page says that. SONOFF’s eWeLink path names SONOFF Zigbee hubs, and the Home Assistant path names Zigbee2MQTT. Hive valves use a Hive Hub, and Hub 1 is already the wrong Hive hub for Hive’s own valves. Plan on one coordinator per family. A mixed cupboard of bridges is how a £22 head becomes a second system.

Does the three-pack include the Kasa hub?

The three-pack bullets do not name the KH100, and the included-parts line is empty on the file we compared. Reviews still say a plug-in Kasa hub is required. The single KE100 listing is the page that states the hub in the bullet and includes an RA adaptor and two AA cells. At about £80.97 the pack is about £26.99 a head, the same as one add-on, so you are not buying the hub by buying three heads.

Smart thermostat on 2.4 GHz Wi-Fi