IKEA wants to be the brand that makes smart home tech as easy to buy as a BILLY bookcase. And on paper, the pitch is irresistible: door sensors for $8, motion sensors for $10, water leak detectors for $10, all running on Matter, the protocol that’s supposed to make everything just work.
Price: Varies
Where to Buy: IKEA
There’s just one problem. Some of these budget sensors need a $109 hub to function. And IKEA didn’t exactly shout that part from the rooftops.
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The Promise: Smart Home for Everyone
At CES 2026, IKEA unveiled 21 new Matter-over-Thread smart home devices. The lineup includes everything from KAJPLATS smart bulbs (11 styles, all under $10) and GRILLPLATS smart plugs to a full suite of home security sensors, MYGGSPRAY for motion, MYGGBETT for doors and windows, KLIPPBOK for water leaks, TIMMERFLOTTE for temperature and humidity, and ALPSTUGA for air quality.
The strategy is classic IKEA: take something that feels expensive and exclusive, strip away the complexity, and sell it at a price that makes you do a double-take in the aisle.
This is also IKEA’s official breakup with Zigbee, the protocol that powered its earlier TRÅDFRI smart home products. Everything new runs on Matter over Thread, which means, in theory, you can onboard an IKEA smart bulb directly to Apple Home, Google Home, Amazon Alexa, or Samsung SmartThings without needing any IKEA app or hub at all.
David Granath, IKEA’s Range Manager for Lighting and Home Electronics, put it perfectly: “We want to remove barriers to complexity. If you’re an Apple user, take our bulb and onboard it to your Apple Home,” told The Verge.
Sounds great. But then the sensors launched.
The Reality: Read the Fine Print
Early reviewers spotted it quickly. IKEA’s new security sensors, the ones grabbing headlines for being incredibly affordable, have a specific, confusing requirement buried in their specs: they need a Thread Border Router to work.
What’s a Thread Border Router? It’s a device that bridges your Thread mesh network to your home’s IP network (Wi-Fi or Ethernet). Without one, those $8 sensors are just very small, very Swedish paperweights.
IKEA’s own DIRIGERA hub ($109) works as a Thread Border Router. So does an Apple HomePod Mini, an Apple TV 4K, or certain Google Nest devices. But IKEA’s original product pages didn’t make this clear. After customer confusion bubbled up online, IKEA quietly updated the listings to note the Thread Border Router requirement.
The irony is almost too perfect. In an interview by TechRadar, Granath said: “People don’t want to research standards or ecosystems. They don’t care about protocols. They want things to connect and just work.”
And yet here we are. Researching standards. Caring about protocols. Wondering if our existing smart home hub has Thread Border Router capabilities.
What Actually Needs a Hub (and What Doesn’t)
It’s not all bad news, though.
Plenty of the new lineup works without a hub. KAJPLATS smart bulbs, GRILLPLATS smart plugs, and the new smart buttons and remotes all onboard directly to Apple Home, Google Home, Alexa, or SmartThings through Matter. No IKEA app, no DIRIGERA, no extra hardware.
The sensors are a different story. The MYGGSPRAY motion sensor, MYGGBETT door/window sensor, KLIPPBOK water leak detector, TIMMERFLOTTE temperature/humidity sensor, and ALPSTUGA air quality sensor all require a Thread Border Router to function. That means IKEA’s own DIRIGERA hub or a compatible alternative like an Apple HomePod Mini, Apple TV 4K, or certain Google Nest devices.
A $10 motion sensor is an impulse buy. Tack on a $109 hub and suddenly it’s a decision. IKEA is betting that once you’ve invested in the DIRIGERA hub, you’ll keep adding those cheap sensors, and honestly, they’re probably right. But that first purchase stings more when you thought you were spending $10, not $119.
The Bigger Picture: Why This Still Matters
Yes, the hub confusion is frustrating. But zoom out and IKEA is still doing something no other mass-market retailer has attempted.
This isn’t a cautious toe-dip into Matter. IKEA has committed to Thread and Matter across its entire smart home range, retired Zigbee from new products, and updated the DIRIGERA hub to support Matter 1.4 and Thread 1.4. Backward compatibility with older Zigbee remotes still works through Touchlink. And the pricing across the board makes smart home competitors look embarrassing.
For context: an Aqara door sensor runs about $16. A SmartThings motion sensor is around $25. Eve’s Thread-based motion sensor? $40. IKEA is trying to sell you the same functionality for $8 to $10.
If you already own a HomePod Mini, an Apple TV 4K (2022 or later), a Google Nest Hub (2nd gen), or a Nest Wi-Fi Pro, you already have a Thread Border Router. In that case, IKEA’s sensors really are as affordable as they claim, you just need to know what you already own.
Should You Buy In?
Already own a DIRIGERA hub? This is a no-brainer. Load up on the cheap sensors and turn your home into a security fortress for under $50.
Starting from scratch and only want smart lighting and plugs? Buy individual IKEA Matter bulbs and plugs. They’ll work directly with whatever ecosystem you use. No hub needed.
The sensors are where it gets tricky. Without any Thread Border Router, you’ll need to budget $109 for the DIRIGERA hub, unless a device you already own supports Thread. That’s a real investment, but IKEA is clearly building out a large enough ecosystem to justify it.
Existing TRÅDFRI users with the old gateway aren’t abandoned yet. Touchlink compatibility means your old remotes still work with new devices. But the writing is on the wall. Zigbee is out, Matter is in, and the TRÅDFRI gateway’s days are numbered.
The Bottom Line
IKEA’s smart home push is genuinely exciting. Sub-$10 Matter sensors from a brand you can actually walk into a store and buy? That’s how you bring smart home tech to the mainstream.
The marketing promise says “things that just work.” The reality still requires you to Google what a Thread Border Router is. Matter was supposed to fix smart home fragmentation, and in some ways it has. But we’ve traded one kind of confusion for another: instead of asking “which app do I need?” you’re now asking “which hub do I need?”
Price: Varies
Where to Buy: IKEA
The affordable future of smart home is here. It just comes with fine print. And possibly a $109 hub.
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