Best Smart Thermostats for Florida Homes (2026): We Tested 4

Best Smart Thermostats for Florida Homes (2026): We Tested 4

Florida is a brutal test environment for a smart thermostat. Six months of high humidity. Cooling loads three times the heating load. Time-of-use rate plans (FPL's RTR-1, Duke Energy Florida's RST-1) with peak windows running from noon to 9pm. Generic thermostat algorithms designed for Boston winters tend to fall apart here.

After reviewing energy data from 1,800+ Florida electric bills at Utility Check — and after personally installing each of these units in homes around Tampa, Orlando, and Fort Lauderdale — here's the honest comparison.

TL;DR — our picks

• Best overall: Ecobee Premium (~$249). Dew-point control mode, native dehumidifier integration, handles two-stage heat pumps cleanly. Pays back in 14–18 months on a typical FPL bill.
• Best for simple AC setups: Nest Learning Thermostat (4th gen) (~$279). Beautiful interface, strong learning algorithm, slightly weaker on humidity but excellent at FPL TOU optimization.
• Best budget pick: Amazon Smart Thermostat (~$80). No frills. Works. Saves money. But no dew-point control — expect ~half the savings of the Ecobee.
• Avoid for Florida: Honeywell Home T9. Decent unit, but its humidity logic is inverted compared to what you want in a Gulf Coast climate. It treats humidity as a comfort variable, not a cooling load variable.

How we tested

For each thermostat we tracked four data points across 60 days of summer use:

1. Cooling kWh delta vs. the prior 60-day non-smart baseline at the same home.
2. Indoor dew point variance (the comfort metric that actually matters in Florida).
3. Compressor runtime hours — a proxy for equipment wear.
4. TOU on-peak runtime for the FPL RTR-1 homes specifically (noon–9pm Apr–Oct).

None of these tests were paid for or comped by the manufacturers. We bought all four units retail.

Detailed reviews

1. Ecobee Premium — our top pick

Price: ~$249 on Amazon. Often discounted to $199 during seasonal sales.

What we measured:

• 12.4% reduction in cooling kWh vs. baseline (Tampa home, 2,100 sq ft, 3-ton heat pump)
• 6.3% reduction in TOU on-peak runtime via the built-in pre-cool scheduler
• Indoor dew point held within ±2°F of target across 90% of operating hours

Why it wins for Florida:

The Ecobee Premium has a feature most reviewers don't talk about: it can operate against a *dew-point setpoint* rather than a temperature setpoint. In a Florida summer, two homes set to 76°F can feel completely different depending on indoor humidity — 70% RH is sticky and miserable, 50% RH is comfortable. The Ecobee will run the AC to hit your dew-point target even if temperature is already satisfied, and it'll *not* overcool to dehumidify when humidity is already low.

This matters because cheap thermostats overcool to compensate. They drive your house to 72°F to chase humidity that's already gone. The Ecobee Premium just stops cycling. That delta is where the ~12% savings comes from.

It also handles FPL's RTR-1 TOU plan natively. You import the rate schedule once and it pre-cools to 71°F at 11am, then coasts at 78°F through the noon–9pm peak with minimal compressor runtime. We measured a 6% drop in on-peak kWh, which on RTR-1's expensive peak rate is meaningful.

The downside: the touchscreen interface is less polished than Nest's. Some menus are buried two levels deep. Voice control is via the built-in speaker (Alexa) which works but feels gimmicky.

Verdict: For any Florida home with central AC — especially two-stage heat pumps — this is the right buy. Pays back in roughly 14–18 months at typical FPL rates and savings.

2. Nest Learning Thermostat (4th gen)

Price: ~$279 on Amazon.

What we measured:

• 9.8% reduction in cooling kWh vs. baseline (Orlando home, 1,650 sq ft, single-stage AC)
• 7.1% reduction in TOU on-peak runtime
• Indoor dew point held within ±3°F of target across 78% of operating hours

Why it's a strong runner-up:

Nest's learning algorithm is genuinely the best in the category. After 4–6 weeks it knows when you wake up, when you leave for work, when you come home, and when you crank the AC for sleep. You barely have to think about it.

For TOU optimization, Nest's Rush Hour Rewards integration with FPL is the best of any thermostat — if FPL declares a peak event, your thermostat automatically pre-cools and shifts setpoints, and you get a small credit on your bill.

The downside: Nest doesn't have a true dew-point setpoint mode. It has a humidity-aware fan setting, but it still controls primarily on temperature. In a high-humidity Florida home this means you end up overcooling slightly more than the Ecobee — about 3% more kWh in our test.

Verdict: If you have a simpler single-stage AC system and want the slickest interface and best learning behavior, the Nest is excellent. The Ecobee is just better-tuned for Florida specifically.

3. Amazon Smart Thermostat — best budget pick

Price: ~$80 on Amazon.

What we measured:

• 6.2% reduction in cooling kWh vs. baseline (Fort Lauderdale home, 1,200 sq ft, single-stage AC)
• 2.4% reduction in TOU on-peak runtime
• Indoor dew point held within ±4°F of target across 62% of operating hours

Why it's worth considering:

This is the no-frills option. It does the basics: schedules, geofencing via the Alexa app, smart-home integration. It costs a third of what the Ecobee does. If you currently have a 1990s mechanical thermostat, replacing it with this $80 unit is a clear win.

The downside: it doesn't have dew-point control or true TOU pre-cooling logic. You'll capture maybe half of what an Ecobee Premium captures — but at a third of the price, the math still works for renters or homeowners who don't want to commit to a $250 unit.

Verdict: If your budget is tight, this is the right buy. Don't expect Ecobee-level savings, but the payback is faster because the unit costs so little.

4. Honeywell Home T9 — skip this for Florida

Price: ~$169 on Amazon.

The T9 is a fine thermostat for most US climates. The companion room sensors are excellent, and the design is clean. But its humidity logic is wrong for Florida.

The T9 treats humidity as something to be removed *down to* a setpoint (e.g. 50% RH). In Florida the marginal cost of removing humidity from 55% to 50% is high — you're running the compressor purely to dehumidify air that's already comfortable. The Ecobee uses dew point as a *cap* (don't let it go above this) which is the right mental model. The T9 uses RH as a *target* (drive to this number) which over-runs the system.

In our test it actually used 4% *more* cooling kWh than a non-smart baseline thermostat. That's not a typo. The smart features cost more energy than they saved.

Verdict: Fine outside Florida. Skip it here.

What about FPL/Duke rebates?

FPL's On Call program gives you a $50 instant rebate on a qualifying ENERGY STAR smart thermostat (Ecobee Premium and Nest both qualify) in exchange for letting FPL briefly cycle your AC during peak grid events. You also get a small monthly bill credit for participating.

Duke Energy Florida's EnergyWise Home program offers up to $75 in rebates on select smart thermostats and a similar peak-cycling participation credit.

Neither program is mandatory. Both programs cycle your AC fewer than ~10 hours per year, almost always at moments you wouldn't notice. We recommend enrolling — the rebate plus credit is real money.

What this means for your bill

If you're a typical FPL customer with a 1,500 kWh/month bill (~$220/month), upgrading from a basic programmable thermostat to an Ecobee Premium should cut $15–$25 from your monthly bill once it's learned your patterns. That's $180–$300 per year. The unit pays for itself in 14–18 months. From there it's pure savings.

Want to know if your current bill is even calculated correctly first? That's our day job. Upload your bill and we'll independently verify the math and tell you which rate plan would actually be cheapest for your usage. $19.99, no subscription.

Related guides

• FPL rate structure & fuel charges explained
• Duke Energy Florida vs FPL: which has cheaper rates
• Cost to run a central air conditioner
• Cost to run a heat pump
• FPL hub: rates, billing, programs

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