Zigbee is wonderful. Be mindful of your network layout. Ensure you have plenty of routers strewn throughout, as it’s a mesh network.
Most smart plugs are routers, which makes it easy. I’ve had great success with THIRDREALITY plugins.
The best thing I’ve done: installed a POE coordinator in the center of my home. The SLZB-06M has been a champ.
Two huge benefits of going with Zigbee over WiFi:
- Zigbee is offline.
- Adding WiFi devices adds more interference and congestion to your network, causing instability. Zigbee rides in the same spectrum, but just a sliver of it.
More ip devices on your network also increases attack surface. Keep it simple.
I believe the license isn’t, and would be next to impossible the change.
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24269167