Crestron vs. Control4 – what’s the best option for your smart home?

Crestron and Control4 are both leading systems for controlling your smart home. They can provide you with the highest level of convenience and simplicity in your home life. The systems are crafted to equip your household with the most up-to-date technology and solutions, making your space comfortable, environmentally friendly and safe.

If you are wondering which one you should choose to help you control heating or lighting automation, audio visual or a smart home security system – don’t worry, they both are capable of carrying out all the key functions of your smart home.

However, there are some differences between Crestron and Control4, especially when it comes to some more intricate functions beyond the basics of home automation.

User interface

Control4 comes with a simple interface. You will find it easy to understand and navigate it and won’t need to spend much time learning how to use it. On the other hand, it does come with some limitations in terms of its customisation options.

Crestron, however, is a fully customisable system and allows for adjusting the interface towards the most individual and specific needs. As long as your installer is an experienced Crestron programmer, your home control interface can also be simple and intuitive, but at the same time responding to your individual needs.

Integration with other brands

Control4 is a system that is meant to make home automation generally more accessible. It works perfectly with the most common brands which in many cases is perfectly sufficient, depending on the level of complexity that you want your smart home system to have.

On the other hand, if your space requires a highly customised and complex automation solution, Crestron may be the way to go as it gives more integration possibilities with a far broader selection of brands and devices.

Music

Both systems are fully capable of controlling music played in your entire house or just in a particular part of it. Control4 can allow you to use a wide variety of streaming services, such as Spotify, Tidal, Deezer and many more. However, using Spotify requires using a special interface.

Crestron, on the other hand, does not have integrated music streaming services. Instead, it allows you to access a higher number of services by using Autonomics – an outside system that can be integrated into Crestron.

Lighting control

Both Control4 and Crestron use their own lighting control systems and are fully capable of controlling any number of lights in a home of any size. Control4 is believed to give its users slightly more options in terms of lighting control, partly thanks to the ambient light sensor that is built into the keypad and offers some extra advantages.

Though both Control4 and Crestron come with rich lighting automation functions, there is another system designed specifically for lighting that can be built into them to enhance the experience. Lutron lighting systems are highly advanced control systems that can be integrated with either Control4 or Crestron. It is highly reliable, offers even more lighting options and can be seamlessly integrated with automated shading to ensure the perfect atmosphere in your home at all times throughout the day.

Complexity

Aside from the matter of user interface, Crestron is also substantially more difficult to program as it comes with more capabilities. Therefore, it is important to work with an experienced home automation installer in order to get the most out of this system.