The front door is a crucial touchpoint for welcoming visitors, accepting packages and rebuffing sales people, but for many of us, the garage door is the much more regularly used portal into our homes. Whether you’re pulling out the car or carrying some gardening tools to the front yard, the garage door is a big, motorized barrier.
So why are smart locks and doorbell cameras for our front doors so popular while smart garage door technology often goes overlooked? Smart upgrades to your garage are just as useful as anywhere else in the home and may even be more practical, considering how often the garage door is our primary entryway. Smart garage door openers come with many of the same features as other smart home devices, like remote locking/unlocking (or opening and closing) and monitoring via an app.
For those who are already familiar with smart locks, smart doorbells and smart cameras, it should come as little surprise that there are more than a few good, easy options on the market now for transforming your existing garage door opener into a garage door opener with a smart controller. Here are our favorites available now. We update this list periodically.
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Chamberlain
Available for just $20 on Amazon, the newest version of Chamberlain’s MyQ Smart Garage Hub promises to add smarts to a wide variety of garage door openers. With MyQ installed, you can check your garage door’s status and open or close the door remotely from the MyQ app on your iOS or Android smartphone. The system is easy to install, with no wires to attach to your existing door opener, though it does require bolting a bracket onto your ceiling rather than the more common adhesive tape approach used by other manufacturers.
MyQ works with a variety of smart home products such as Nest, Wink, Vivint and Xfinity Home to control and automate multiple smart home devices from one platform. Chamberlain isn’t compatible with SmartThings or Amazon Alexa, but there is Google Assistant and IFTTT compatibility, and it supports Amazon Key, which lets the company’s delivery drivers open the door to drop off your packages off inside the garage (before closing the door behind them).
In addition, Chamberlain offers HomeKit users compatibility no other manufacturer in our testing did, though it does require the MyQ Home Bridge adapter. Chamberlain’s MyQ system comes with the quality of a trusted garage brand and should be on the top of your list for well-made garage smarts.
Read our full review of the Chamberlain MyQ Smart Garage Hub.
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Chris Monroe/CNET
The $80 Tailwind iQ3 is reliable thanks to a wired setup, and with a vehicle sensor in your car, it’ll automatically open whenever you pull up. Those auto-opening and closing smarts worked well in our tests — on top of that The iQ3 can control up to three garage doors at once and works with Google Assistant and Amazon Alexa. You won’t get HomeKit compatibility, though, and installing wires can be a bit of a hassle.
Overall, this garage door controller checks all the boxes for basic smarts and convenient automation if you don’t need HomeKit compatibility.
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Chris Monroe/CNET
Available for about $90, the Garadget adds voice control and remote access to your existing garage door. The Garadget’s sensor system is made up of a reflective tag placed on the top panel of a garage door and a laser built into the Garadget device. When the laser hits the reflective tag, Garadget knows your garage door is closed. Easy, right? Like many a garage controller we tested, the Garadget does require some wiring to make the door controller work.
The Garadget has its own Amazon Alexa skill, and IFTTT integration means you can create custom commands for Google Assistant. The Garadget app for smartphone (iOS and Android) doesn’t include scheduling, but if you’re just looking for simple commands and mobile app garage remote access, the Garadget will get the job done for a reasonable price.
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Chris Monroe/CNET
By far one of the more eye-catching and interesting garage devices we’ve tested, the Garager 2 is a two-in-one camera and easy door control. This surveillance camera attaches to the bottom of your garage door opener via a magnet and controls your garage door from the Alcidae app for smartphone (Android and iOS). The camera includes 1080p color and night vision video and two-way audio, all of which is great for a device that costs less than $50, though clip storage does require a $5-per-month subscription.
The control works with Google Assistant and Amazon Alexa, via your Wi-Fi connection, for commands to open and close your garage. An upgrade over the previous model adds a magnetic base to stabilize the camera feed when you open or close the garage. If you want to add video monitoring and be able to watch and talk to your garage space, this device is for you. You can also set it up to send you notifications, and you can control it remotely or via voice assistants.
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Chris Monroe/CNET
The Nexx Garage is a smart garage controller that adds skills to your normal garage door open and close with ease. You’ll get voice commands, remote access and auto opening through the Nexx Garage app for smartphone (iOS and Android) without involving IFTTT applets. Though Nexx Garage isn’t as widely integratable as Chamberlain’s MyQ system, there aren’t any fees for the Google Assistant and Amazon Alexa voice compatibility.
The Nexx Garage’s biggest negative is the sensors you’ll need to detect the door’s status. Two sensors attach to your garage door and the wall above it and must be placed within a quarter-inch of each other for best results. The top sensor in this pair is wired, and adding more wires to any room is something I don’t prefer. Though it isn’t cheap at $100, the Nexx Garage is great for anyone wanting simple, fuss-free smarts and compatibility with the voice-activated assistants Amazon Alexa or Google Assistant.
Smart garage door openers 101
If you already own a motorized garage opener, even one with a belt drive opener or a chain drive, you can use one of the easy add-on accessories above for smart garage door control. If you’re in the market for a whole new opener mechanism and you want a smart device, you can find smart opener and door sensor options from makers such as Chamberlain, LiftMaster and Ryobi.
Smart garage door controllers come in a few variations. In general, a control attaches to your existing opener with a double-sided adhesive strip. In most cases, you’ll need to attach two small wires to the open and close command nodes on your existing garage door opener.
Smart garage kits also typically include some type of sensor to attach to your garage door. This sensor detects and transmits your garage door status, so the control accurately knows whether the door is open, closed or somewhere in between, and with the garage door opener app, can send you a push notification if your garage is open when it shouldn’t be. It also usually serves as a safety sensor.
The ability to connect to a Wi-Fi signal is key to ensuring your new smart garage door and remote control work the way you want them to. On the smart side, an add-on controller connects to your Wi-Fi network, which is easy enough. You’ll need a strong 2.4GHz internet connection that reaches your garage. Typically, a corresponding app will walk you through adding your device to the network, as well as the general installation.
Garage door opener app features and smarts differ from brand to brand. One app may offer geofencing, scheduling, remote access and voice control, while another app may just make your smartphone a duplicate of your garage door controller.
Deciding which controller is the best smart garage door opener for you comes down to what control features you want most and what smart home platforms you use in your home (such as Amazon Alexa, Google Home or Apple HomeKit). No matter your requirements, there’s likely a smart garage door opener and app out there to meet your needs.
Smart garage door opener FAQs
Are smart home garage door openers safe?
Smart garage door openers come with the same risks as any smart home device, including potential hacks if someone gains access to your network. Fortunately, smart garage doors also come with many of the same protections as other smart home devices, including data encryption and password-protected access and settings. Further, a smart garage door opener may improve home security by enabling homeowners to check if their garage door is open and close it remotely if needed.
Will my smart garage door opener work if the power goes out?
Garage door openers, smart or not, run on electricity, which means it will not work in the case of a power outage. You may still be able to manually open and close your garage door, but try to avoid doing this unless absolutely necessary, like if you need to get your car out. It can be hazardous to force a garage door up or down with an opener attached.
Can Siri or Alexa open the garage door?
Many smart garage door openers are compatible with other smart home devices, such as Amazon Echo or your smartphone. By integrating your smart garage door opener with compatible devices, you could open the door for guests while sticking a roast in the oven by saying “Alexa, open the garage door,” or even close the garage door behind you while your hands are full of groceries with a simple “Siri, close the garage door.”
