The SONOFF SNZB-01P is a small Zigbee wireless switch that costs around £15, and I’ve had one stuck to my bathroom wall for the last seven months. I bought it myself, I use it every day with Home Assistant, and I’ve got more out of it than I expected. If you’re wondering whether a cheap smart button is worth adding to your setup, here’s my honest take.
SONOFF SNZB-01P Review: The Short Version
It’s cheap, reliable, quick to respond and easy to set up. You do need a Zigbee hub to use it, and that’s the one thing that might change the maths for you. If you already run Home Assistant, it’s an easy recommendation.
- Price: around £15
- Battery: removable CR2477 battery, rated for 5 years or 100,000 presses
- Actions: single press, double press and long press
- Connectivity: Zigbee (hub required)
- Operating temperature: -10 to 60°C
- Works with: Home Assistant, SONOFF’s eWeLink app, Alexa and IFTTT (via eWeLink), and Apple Home via Matter with the SONOFF ZBBridge-U
Design and Build
The SONOFF SNZB-01P is fully rounded and pleasingly small, with a single clicky button in the middle. It’s the kind of thing you can stick almost anywhere without it looking out of place.
Power comes from a removable CR2477 battery. SONOFF reckons it’ll last 5 years or 100,000 presses, whichever comes first. Seven months in, I haven’t had to think about it once. There’s also a small pairing button on the side.
Is the SONOFF SNZB-01P OK in a bathroom?
In my experience, yes. The listing says it handles 0 to 100% humidity, which is why I put it in the bathroom in the first place. The slightly confusing bit is that the product manual says 5 to 95% non-condensing. I can’t tell you which figure is right. What I can tell you is that my bathroom gets properly steamy and the button has been absolutely fine.
What Hub Do You Need for the SONOFF SNZB-01P?
This is a Zigbee device, so you will need a Zigbee hub. There are a couple of routes.
Option 1: Home Assistant with a Zigbee dongle
This is what I use. I’ve got the SONOFF SNZB-01P paired to Home Assistant through a SONOFF Zigbee Dongle, which is just as cheap as the button. Everything runs locally, which I really like.
Option 2: A SONOFF hub and the eWeLink app
If you don’t run Home Assistant, you can pair it to one of SONOFF’s own hubs and use the eWeLink app. That gets you Alexa and IFTTT support. The newer SONOFF ZBBridge-U adds Matter support, which means you can bring the button into Apple Home too.
I haven’t tested the SONOFF hubs myself, but the single, double and long press actions should work the same whichever route you pick.
Setup
Setup takes a couple of minutes:
- Pull out the battery tab.
- Hold the pairing button on the side to put it into pairing mode.
- Add it in your Zigbee app of choice. For me, that’s Home Assistant.
You could then share it on to something like Apple Home, but I’d only bother if you want Apple Home to run the automations. Otherwise it only needs to live in whichever app is reacting to the presses.
Mounting options
There’s a metal plate in the box that you can screw or stick to the wall, or you can stick the button straight on. SONOFF also includes a few stickers so you can label what the button does, which is handy if other people in the house are going to use it.
My SONOFF SNZB-01P Home Assistant Automations
In Home Assistant you can trigger an automation when the button is pressed, then choose whether that’s a single press, double press or long press. Here are the three I’ve been running for seven months:
- Single press: toggles the bathroom light. That light is also on a presence sensor.
- Double press: toggles the bathroom extractor fan, which is wired up to a SONOFF Matter Relay Switch.
- Long press: sets the light to 100% brightness.
The toggle action in Home Assistant is what makes this work so well. If the device is off, a press turns it on. If it’s on, a press turns it off. So one button handles both jobs without any extra logic.
The long press is there because my presence sensor brings the light on dimmer at night than during the day. Most of the time that’s what I want. Occasionally it isn’t, and one long press fixes it.
What It’s Like to Live With
I use it far more than I thought I would
Funnily enough, I rarely use the single press because the presence sensor already handles the light. The double press for the extractor fan and the long press for full brightness, though? I use those all the time.
I love having a smart home, but sometimes a physical button is just the easiest option. That goes double for guests and family members who aren’t into tech. Nobody needs an app or a voice command to turn the fan on.
Reliability and range
It’s been really reliable. My SONOFF Zigbee Dongle has lived upstairs in my office and, after a reshuffle, downstairs at the opposite end of the house. In both spots I’ve had no signal problems at all. If you’ve got a bigger house, a Zigbee repeater should sort out any dead spots.
Response time is quick too, at around a second from press to action. And because it’s all running through Home Assistant, none of it relies on the cloud.
Any Downsides?
Honestly, not really. The only thing to weigh up is the hub. If you don’t already have one, SONOFF’s hubs vary in price depending on features, and the SONOFF ZBBridge-U is the priciest at £85. That’s a lot to spend for a £15 button unless you’re planning to buy more Zigbee devices to share it with.
The conflicting humidity specs are a little odd as well, although it hasn’t caused me any problems.
Verdict: Is the SONOFF SNZB-01P Worth It?
At £15, the SONOFF SNZB-01P is a genuinely useful addition to a smart home, and it’s at its best with Home Assistant. It’s reliable, fast, local and flexible thanks to the three press types.
If you’d need to buy a standalone hub just for this button, I’d hold off unless you’ve got more Zigbee kit planned. If you’ve got Home Assistant, or you’re happy to pick up a SONOFF Zigbee Dongle, it’s an easy buy.
SONOFF SNZB-01P FAQs
Does the SONOFF SNZB-01P need a hub?
Yes. It’s a Zigbee device, so it needs a Zigbee hub or coordinator. That could be Home Assistant with a SONOFF Zigbee Dongle, or one of SONOFF’s own hubs such as the SONOFF ZBBridge-U.
Does the SONOFF SNZB-01P work with Apple Home?
It can, through Matter, if you pair it to the SONOFF ZBBridge-U. I haven’t tested this setup myself.
Does it work with Alexa?
Yes, via SONOFF’s eWeLink app, but you’ll need a SONOFF hub to get it into eWeLink in the first place.
What battery does the SONOFF SNZB-01P use?
It uses a removable CR2477 battery, which SONOFF says should last 5 years or 100,000 presses.
How many actions does it support?
Three: single press, double press and long press. Each one can trigger a different automation.
Is it fast?
In my setup it responds in around a second, and it all runs locally through Home Assistant.
Got a question about the SONOFF SNZB-01P or how I’ve set it up? Drop it in the comments and I’ll do my best to help.
