The main options
- Zigbee (2.4 GHz mesh). Huge range of cheap battery sensors, works with a USB coordinator and either ZHA or Zigbee2MQTT. 2.4 GHz is the same band as Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, so keep the coordinator away from USB 3 ports and think about channel selection. There is a Zigbee2MQTT project thread in the Home Assistant forum here.
- Z-Wave (sub-GHz mesh, region-locked). Fewer devices and higher prices, but a less crowded band and strong interoperability rules. Mains-powered devices repeat for the mesh.
- LoRa / LoRaWAN (sub-GHz, long range, low data rate). For things like soil moisture, water tank level or a gate sensor at the back of a large property, where Wi-Fi does not reach. Needs a gateway (your own, or a community one) and a network server; it is a bigger project.
- Proprietary 433 MHz sensors (weather stations, cheap door/PIR sensors, some alarm gear). Often one-way (no acknowledgement) and with little or no encryption. The rtl_433 project with a cheap USB SDR can decode hundreds of these. See the companion project thread.
- Z-Wave ANZ: Silicon Labs' regional table lists Australia (standard AS/NZS 4268) at 919.8 MHz and 921.4 MHz. US (908.4/916 MHz) and EU (868.4/869.85 MHz) devices will not join an ANZ network, so check the region on the box before you buy, including on parallel imports.
- Z-Wave Long Range appears to be unavailable here. Home Assistant's Z-Wave docs only list Long Range region options for Europe and the USA, and one Australian retailer's compatibility page says Long Range is not part of the ANZ region. Treat that as third-party information and check the product page.
- LoRaWAN: The Things Network publishes a frequency plan for AU915-928. Use gateways and nodes sold for that plan.
- Meshtastic (LoRa mesh messaging): its LoRa region table lists ANZ (915-928 MHz) and ANZ_433 (433.05-434.79 MHz) as separate options. Set the region that matches your hardware.
- 433 MHz sensors: rtl_433's default receive frequency is 433.92 MHz.
- Rules: low-power devices in Australia generally operate under the ACMA Low Interference Potential Devices (LIPD) class licence. The class licence was remade in 2025, so look at the current ACMA page rather than older articles for power limits. ACMA: LIPD class licence. Do not buy a "booster" or a mis-regioned transmitter that may break those limits.
- Home Assistant: Zigbee through ZHA or Zigbee2MQTT. Z-Wave through the Z-Wave integration with the Z-Wave JS app. Home Assistant describes the Z-Wave integration as Local Push, and says the older Z-Wave JS UI app is being phased out in favour of the Z-Wave JS app.
- Other platforms (openHAB, ioBroker, Domoticz, SmartThings) have their own Zigbee/Z-Wave support, covered in their forums.
- Back up the Z-Wave network regularly. The HA docs describe downloading a backup of the adapter's non-volatile memory, which holds your paired devices, and recommend one before any major change.
- Z-Wave: prefer Security S2 for devices that support it. Home Assistant's docs say S2 adds no extra mesh traffic, while the older S0 does, so reserve S0 for devices that need it, such as older door locks.
- Zigbee: make sure your network uses a randomly generated network key rather than a well-known default (check your coordinator software's settings), and keep your coordinator software updated. Do not expose the Zigbee2MQTT frontend or the MQTT broker to the internet.
- 433 MHz: assume anything transmitted is readable and often replayable. Do not use cheap 433 MHz remotes or sensors as the only protection for something that matters (garage, alarm).
- Do not put your gateway or SDR server on a flat network with untrusted devices.
Question for the group: which of these protocols are you using for sensors at home, and how is the range holding up (especially Z-Wave and LoRa across a big block)? Has anyone got an ANZ Z-Wave network that outgrew its first stick?