Search interest in Google's Nest thermostats runs high in Canada, but the owner threads tell a more complicated story: a steady stream of Nest owners describe switching to ecobee, citing sensor coverage, local control, and open API access as the reasons. We compared the Google Nest Thermostat, the Nest Learning Thermostat (4th Gen), and the ecobee Smart Thermostat Premium against 23 owner reports to see where each one actually holds up for a Canadian home — and whether the switch-to-ecobee pattern shows up in the numbers as much as it does in the threads.
Best For
| Google Nest Thermostat | Google Nest Learning… | ecobee Smart Thermost… | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Multi-room sensing | — | — | ✓ Sensor included |
| Local & third-party control | — | — | ✓ Open API |
| Upfront price | ✓ Cheapest | — | ✓ |
| Owner sentiment | — | — | Least negative |
Sensors and multi-room coverage
Nest's biggest limitation, according to owners, isn't the hardware itself but how it handles multiple rooms. Both Nest models read from a single sensor at a time, and owners in multi-story or spread-out homes report the thermostat behaving "no better than a standard thermostat" once you're outside the room it's mounted in. The ecobee Smart Thermostat Premium ships with an included SmartSensor and is built to average readings across multiple sensors, which is the single most-cited reason owners give for switching — one owner specifically calls out how it detects a hot south-facing room and adjusts cooling to average it out with the rest of the house, something neither Nest model can do out of the box. Nest does sell add-on Temperature Sensors, but at $49 CAD each for a feature ecobee includes free in the box, several owners call that an expected feature Google left out rather than a premium add-on.
Local control vs. the Google ecosystem
A second recurring thread is control. Ecobee owners point to a fully documented, open API that integrates cleanly with Home Assistant and native HomeKit, while several Nest owners describe Google's approach as a "walled garden" — limited local control, cloud dependence, and a history of features being scaled back after purchase. That cloud dependence matters in practice: owners note that ecobee keeps working locally over HomeKit even if the internet goes down, while a Nest outage can leave the thermostat stuck. The Nest Learning Thermostat's signature auto-learning feature draws its own complaints: owners say it's difficult to fully disable once it starts making its own scheduling decisions, and more than one Nest owner in our sample replaced their thermostat with a non-Google model specifically to get away from it, rather than switching for hardware reasons.
What it costs to install
Installed cost varies more than the sticker price suggests. All three thermostats need a C-wire for stable operation, with an included adapter for homes that don't have one, so that part of the install is roughly equal across all three. Where they differ is upfront price: the Google Nest Thermostat is the cheapest of the three in the pack data, the ecobee Smart Thermostat Premium sits in the middle at around $299 CAD, and the Nest Learning Thermostat is the most expensive at around $329 CAD — a premium that buys a color display and auto-learning, not necessarily better sensing. Canadian utility rebates of $50–100 are available in many provinces for ecobee models specifically, which can close much of that price gap for anyone who checks with their provider before buying. Neither Nest model saves you from also budgeting for extra sensors if your home has more than one zone, while the ecobee's included SmartSensor means the $299 CAD sticker price is closer to the real total cost of getting multi-room coverage.
Who It’s For
You're already all-in on Google Assistant, live in a small single-zone home, and want the cheapest smart thermostat that still learns your schedule.
See review →
Your home has more than one room that runs hot or cold, or you want HomeKit/Alexa/Google Home compatibility and an open API for Home Assistant.
See review →What owners actually say
What buyers love
“Ecobee is in a different league. Its best feature is that it comes with sensors you put in various rooms”
r/HomeKit
“I'm a nut about using one ecosystem. I have Google everything so the nest works for me.”
r/gadgets
Common complaints
Switched after Google scaled back features
Yep, I ditched my Nest thermostat in favor of a free Ecobee thermostat provided by my electric company for this reason.
r/gadgetsNo real multi-sensor support
The remote sensor utilization on the Nest is non-existent since only one reading can be used at any given time (versus the ability to average any number of sensors on the Ecobee)
r/gadgetsNo local control or open API
I moved mine to the garage; replaced it with EcoBee. You can control it locally; even if the power is out via Homekit, and they have an open API so you can integrate it into Home Assistant.
r/smarthomeAC control issue on some units
I hated our Ecobee and swapped it for a Nest.
r/HomeKitFor most Canadian households, especially anyone with more than one heating or cooling zone, the ecobee Smart Thermostat Premium is the safer pick — it scores highest of the three (8.7/10), draws a less negative owner sentiment split than either Nest model, and the included multi-room sensor is the feature owners repeatedly say they wish Nest had. The Google Nest Thermostat remains a reasonable, cheap entry point for a single-zone home already running Google Assistant everywhere, and owners who are fully committed to that ecosystem say it still works fine for them — the complaints in our sample come almost entirely from people comparing it against ecobee, not from people unhappy with it in isolation. The Nest Learning Thermostat is harder to recommend on the owner evidence here: it's the most expensive of the three and draws the most consistently negative feedback, mostly aimed at the learning algorithm and Google's ecosystem lock-in rather than the hardware itself, which long-term owners say holds up mechanically for a decade or more. If open API access, HomeKit, or genuine multi-room coverage matter to you, the pattern across 23 owner reports points to ecobee; if you just want the cheapest smart thermostat that plays nicely with Google Home, the Nest Thermostat still does that job.