Loxone, reviewed by someone who does not sell it
Loxone, the Austrian all-in-one, is cheap per channel and runs the whole house from one brain, so here is why we still design on an open bus.
We do not sell Loxone. What follows is the honest version of what it is and when it is the right call.
One Miniserver at the centre of the house
Loxone is an Austrian automation system built around a single central device, the Miniserver, which "handles all control and automation features" for the house. Inputs and outputs hang off it through the company's own wired bus (Tree), its own wireless (Air) and extensions for other standards. Loxone's configuration software carries no licence fee, and neither do the apps, updates or remote access; the company is explicit that this is a contrast with KNX, where the ETS software carries a licence (Loxone on KNX). The system is sold through partner installers.
Low cost per channel and a quick set-up
Loxone's strengths are price per channel and speed of set-up. Because the logic lives in one box and the hardware is one brand, a Loxone installer can wire and configure a mid-sized house quickly, and the per-channel cost of the dimmers and relays is hard to beat. The configuration tool is capable, and everything runs from one app. Loxone can also talk to KNX through its KNX Extension, so a Loxone house can use KNX sensors or actuators where they are needed.
One brain and one brand: the limits in a large villa
The first limit is the single brain. Everything depends on the Miniserver, and if it fails, the house waits for a replacement of that exact device from that one company. KNX is the opposite architecture: the intelligence is distributed, an actuator keeps doing its job if a screen or a server dies, and any of hundreds of manufacturers can supply the replacement. Loxone's own page calls its approach "centralised system logic" and presents it as a benefit, and for a small house it is one. For a villa with twelve bedrooms, three kitchens and a staff wing, though, we would rather the lights in the majlis did not depend on one box in the plant room.
The second limit is the walls. Loxone's Tree devices are Loxone's own, so the day you want a different keypad series, or a screen from another maker, you are at the KNX Extension anyway, and that puts you back on the open bus with an extra hop.
Who Loxone suits: one installer, one controller
Loxone is the right call for a house where one installer will own the system for its life, where the owner values a low per-channel price over choice, and where the size makes a single controller reasonable. A builder doing twenty identical townhouses is a good Loxone customer.
A good product from one company, a good standard from five hundred
In the meeting we would put it like this: "Loxone is a good product from one company. KNX is a good standard from five hundred. For a villa you expect to keep for twenty years, we design on the standard." Then we would show the bill, so the cost of that choice is a number rather than an opinion.