If it feels like every piece of home tech is now "smart," you're not far off. The smart home space has grown exponentially in the past few years to include speakers, cameras, locks, lights and even kitchen appliances. There are also different voice assistants and IoT standards to consider, all of which can make it confusing (to say the least) to build your smart home ecosystem from the ground up. Allow us at Engadget to help with that. We've tested dozens of smart home gadgets over the years and continue to test the latest offerings to see which work well and are worth your money. We recommend, before you even dive in, to resist the urge to outfit your whole home in one go.

Your first apartment after graduation is probably not your forever home, but you can make it something you're proud of with gadgets that do your bidding. You can automate your lights, keep an eye on your pets and clean up your floors more efficiently with relatively affordable devices that won't eat up too much of your paycheck. We've tried out a lot of smart home tech over the years and here's what we recommend for newbies and those with tight budgets. Think of the smart display as your smart home command center. This one works with Alexa, fits just about anywhere and is comparatively inexpensive.

The smart home has never been more accessible, with more affordable entry points than ever. From security cameras to smart light bulbs, pretty much any internet-connected device that you can control via an app is enough to get you started on your smart home journey. But before you dive in, we advise taking a few preliminary steps. For one, don't try to outfit your entire smart home in one go. Not only can this be quite expensive, we think it's generally best to buy just one or two items first to see if you like them. From there, you can figure out if you want to buy more devices, making sure that they're compatible with one another.

Smart home technology has become increasingly popular in the latter half of the last decade and the 2020s could see it become even more mainstream. Many of the products are designed with the promise to make life easier and can help increase the security of a home with the likes of smart locks, doorbells and cameras becoming increasingly popular. Smart technology developers also claim it can help people save money. For example, British Gas says that its Hive smart thermostat could save users up to £120 a year on energy bills. Technology is expected to play an even bigger part in home security in 2020 with more residential properties equipping themselves with solutions that can be accessed remotely via mobile devices including smartphones, tablets and laptops.

In just a few short years, we've seen an incredible proliferation of devices that want to quantify, connect, and regulate your home. While the potential is huge, the actual results vary widely. Some products, like the Amazon Echo and Philips Hue light bulbs, are nailing the fundamentals, while others struggle with basic functionality. We tested 75 smart home products over hundreds of hours. In the end, we found eight stellar examples of how to do smart home right.

If you make a purchase by clicking one of our links, we may earn a small share of the revenue. However, our picks and opinions are independent from USA TODAY's newsroom and any business incentives. Apple's HomeKit smart home ecosystem might not have the same cool factor as Amazon Alexa, but it's still a compelling solution, especially if you own lots of Apple devices. Just as Amazon Alexa requires you to own an Echo speaker, Apple HomeKit requires an iPhone. And if you want remote control of your devices (which trust me, you will), you'll also need an always-on iPad left at home or an Apple TV. Since it's cheaper and more practical to leave at home, we recommend going with an Apple TV as your HomeKit hub.

Google Home is a Wi-Fi-connected speaker that's powered by Google Assistant, the same almost-all-knowing digital assistant that runs the show on Google's Pixel phones. With a user interface driven entirely by voice prompts, Google Home ($129 on the Google Store) can tell you about traffic and weather conditions, the latest news headlines and sports scores, and thousands of other informational tidbits. Basically, if a factoid is available via Google Search, there's a good chance Google Home can find it, and read it back to you. Google Home also lets you control other gadgets with voice commands. The list of supported devices is currently short, but includes the Nest Thermostat, Philips Hue smart bulbs and Google Chromecast.