What has changed with the SmartThings API?
Samsung announced that free programmatic access to the SmartThings API is being phased out, with paid tiers taking effect from October 2026. Free access continued through the end of September. Non-commercial individual developers get a Personal Plan at $4.99 a month, and commercial tiers are planned too, though Samsung has not published their pricing or quotas (Hackaday).
Samsung's stated reason, in a 1 July 2026 response reported by Matter Alpha, was that a sustainable free tier would need limits tight enough to break the always-on automations individual developers value most. Samsung says the SmartThings app and building device integrations in the Developer Center remain free. Only programmatic API access is affected (Matter Alpha).
| Item | What is known |
|---|---|
| Personal Plan price | $4.99 per month, non-commercial individual use |
| Free access | Ran through the end of September 2026 |
| Paid tiers start | October 2026 |
| Commercial tiers | Planned; pricing and quotas not published |
| SmartThings app | Unaffected |
| Open-source exemption | Not detailed by Samsung |
| UK price in pounds | Not published; only a dollar price is quoted |
Why does the SmartThings API fee matter for Home Assistant users?
It matters because Home Assistant's official SmartThings integration is entirely cloud-based: it signs in with your Samsung account and talks to Samsung's servers. Home Assistant's own integration page now states that API access will need a paid Personal Plan after the free period (Home Assistant docs).
Matter Alpha estimated around 200,000 Home Assistant installations use the integration, though that is a third-party figure rather than an official one. Any Samsung fridge, washer, oven, TV or robot vacuum you control from Home Assistant through SmartThings falls under the same rule, as does any third-party device paired to a SmartThings hub.
The fee is per account rather than per device, so a household with many Samsung appliances pays the same $4.99 as one with a single plug. The real cost is that a previously free integration now has a recurring bill and a dependency on Samsung's pricing staying put. What it does not do is switch off your devices or the SmartThings app.
Can you avoid paying the SmartThings API fee?
Partly. The cleanest way out is to stop routing devices through SmartThings at all. Local Zigbee and Z-Wave devices that are paired to SmartThings can be re-paired directly to Home Assistant, which Home Assistant's docs suggest as a way to avoid the paid plan. Our Home Assistant vs SmartThings comparison covers how the two platforms differ.
Samsung appliances are harder. Matter Alpha notes that Samsung appliances support Matter but cannot be commissioned straight into Home Assistant, because SmartThings remains the required Matter controller. For those, the options are paying the fee, switching to simpler workarounds such as an energy-monitoring smart plug to detect when a machine finishes, or leaving the appliance in the Samsung app only.
If you use the Home Assistant Matter bridge, note that it exports Home Assistant entities outward to other ecosystems and does not change how Home Assistant reaches Samsung's cloud.
What we do not know yet
Samsung has not detailed how it will enforce the paywall, whether open-source projects such as Home Assistant could get an exemption, or what the fees will fund. There is also no confirmed UK price in pounds, and we have not seen Home Assistant publish a changelog entry describing a new sign-in flow for the Personal Plan. Treat any claim about the exact cut-off date for individual accounts as unconfirmed until Samsung or Home Assistant states it.
Should you pay for the plan or leave SmartThings?
Pay if the integration controls Samsung appliances you cannot reach any other way and $4.99 a month (roughly £4 at current exchange rates, before any card fees) is worth the automations. Leave if SmartThings is only a bridge for lights, plugs or sensors: those can move to Zigbee, Z-Wave or Matter and run locally with no subscription.
If you are weighing the platform as a whole, read our Samsung SmartThings review first. We will update this article once Samsung publishes enforcement details or Home Assistant changes the integration.
