ctrlspace
// Cheap, capable, and best used on your own terms

Sonoff

ITEAD's Sonoff line covers Zigbee and Wi-Fi devices at very low prices, and their Zigbee coordinators are among the best available. The quality of the experience depends heavily on which half of the range you buy.

Why we use Sonoff

  • The ZBDongle-P and ZBDongle-E coordinators are excellent value and run the Zigbee mesh in a lot of our installations.
  • The Zigbee relays, sensors and switches pair locally and behave well.
  • Some Wi-Fi models can be reflashed with ESPHome or Tasmota, which turns a cloud device into a fully local one.
  • Genuinely cheap, which makes wide sensor coverage affordable.

Where we do not, and why

  • The Wi-Fi range in stock form talks to the eWeLink cloud, and its local mode is limited.
  • Build quality and finish are inconsistent across the range - fine in a ceiling void, less so on a living room wall.
  • Reflashing is not something we would ask a homeowner to maintain, and newer hardware revisions have made it harder.

Pros and cons at a glance

Pros
  • Excellent Zigbee coordinators
  • Very low prices
  • Some models can be reflashed to run fully local firmware
  • Wide relay and module range for in-ceiling work
Cons
  • Stock Wi-Fi firmware is cloud-dependent
  • Inconsistent finish across the range
  • Reflashing is not a consumer-friendly path
  • Documentation and model naming are confusing

The technical position

Main protocol
Zigbee and Wi-Fi
Local control
Yes for Zigbee. Wi-Fi only after reflashing
Vendor hub needed
No
Home Assistant support
Excellent for Zigbee, good with ESPHome, limited via eWeLink
Singapore availability
Widely available

Where it fits in a CtrlSpace build

We use Sonoff Zigbee coordinators routinely, and Sonoff relays where a module is going into a ceiling void or a plant room. For anything on a visible wall we usually specify something with a better finish.

// Frequently asked

Sonoff, answered plainly

Which Zigbee coordinator do you use?

A Sonoff ZBDongle-P or ZBDongle-E in most builds, on a short USB extension cable away from USB 3 ports. That cable matters more than people expect - USB 3 interference is the single most common cause of a flaky Zigbee mesh.

Do Sonoff Wi-Fi devices work without the cloud?

Only in a limited way in stock form. Flashing ESPHome makes them fully local, but that is a step we would rather not build a household system on unless there is a specific reason.
// 9 more in this category

See others in switches, relays and sensors

Zigbee Aqara The workhorse of most Singapore builds Wi-Fi · Matter Shelly The most local-friendly relay on the market Zigbee · Wi-Fi Tuya / Smart Life Half the market, and two very different halves Zigbee ThirdReality Cheap Zigbee that mostly behaves Wi-Fi · ESPHome Athom Devices that ship already local Wi-Fi · ESPHome Everything Presence mmWave presence done properly Zigbee Schneider Electric Wiser Electrical-grade build, ecosystem strings attached Z-Wave Aeotec Solid Z-Wave, wrong side of the frequency map Z-Wave Fibaro Beautifully made, hard to justify here

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