Ecobee Smart Thermostat Premium

What it actually is

The Ecobee Smart Thermostat Premium replaces the existing thermostat on a central heating or cooling system with a Wi-Fi-connected touchscreen unit. What sets it apart from a bare-bones smart thermostat is what ships in the same box: a wireless remote room sensor that reads the temperature where a person actually sits or sleeps rather than only near the thermostat itself, a built-in air-quality sensor, and an integrated Alexa voice assistant speaker. That's three additional pieces of hardware most competitors sell separately, or don't offer at all, bundled into one purchase.

Real background, not marketing copy

Ecobee was founded in 2007 in Toronto and was one of the first companies to bring a Wi-Fi-connected thermostat to market, arriving around the same time as, and in some tellings slightly ahead of, Nest. In November 2021, Generac Holdings — the publicly traded generator manufacturer — announced it would acquire Ecobee in a deal valued at up to $770 million, made up of an upfront cash-and-stock payment plus additional shares tied to performance targets. That's a real, publicly disclosed transaction between two companies with SEC filings, not a private-equity rollup with no paper trail.

On independent testing, Wirecutter has named this model its top overall pick among smart thermostats, and their stated reasoning is specific rather than vague: no competing thermostat at a comparable price bundles a room sensor, an air-quality sensor, and a built-in voice assistant the way this one does. That's a concrete, checkable claim about feature bundling, not a generic "editor's choice" badge.

One number we deliberately left out: a "9.2/10 consensus score" and a "449% five-year ROI" figure that circulate on a number of SEO aggregator sites covering this product. We looked for where either number originates and couldn't trace it to a named lab, publication, or methodology. Until it does, we're not repeating it.

On energy savings, ENERGY STAR — the U.S. government's efficiency labeling program — publishes a category-level estimate of roughly $50 to $145 per year in typical savings for smart thermostats as a class of product. That's a real figure from a real program, but it's an estimate for the category, not a confirmed, tested number for this specific model in a specific home. Actual savings depend on climate, insulation, existing HVAC efficiency, and how the thermostat gets used.

Who this is (and isn't) right for

Good fit if... you already have a central, forced-air heating and cooling system and want more accurate room-level temperature sensing rather than relying on one reading near the thermostat itself, and you're comfortable with a device that also functions as a smart speaker.

Not the right pick if... your only cooling is a window unit or a portable air conditioner. This thermostat needs a compatible existing central HVAC system to control — it isn't a standalone add-on for a room unit, and it won't do anything useful without one.

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