Last updated: June 28th, 2026 at 20:00 UTC+02:00
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No charge for the average home user.
Reading time: 2 minutes
Abhijeet Mishra / SamMobile
Samsung has so far kept the API for its SmartThings home automation platform free, but that's set to change.
The company has announced that it's going to begin charging for access to the SmartThings API. These changes will primarily impact developers and commercial operators, not the normal home user.
Samsung has confirmed that non-commercial individual developers will be required to pay $5 per month from October 2026 for the SmartThings API.
What this means is that anyone who uses a third-party tool like Home Assistant to control their SmartThings-enabled smart home setup will now need to pay this fee. Nothing changes for you if you use Samsung's native SmartThings app to control the various connected devices you have around your home.
Even though it's going to start charging a fee for API access now, it doesn't appear that Samsung will offer any materially different functionality to those who pay for the API, at least immediately. Samsung has justified this change by saying that the fee will enable it to invest more in enterprise-grade features that partners and users have been asking for.
Without revealing any further details, Samsung did say that it's working on new integrations and that a new Developer Center hub will be made available in the future as well.
Adnan Farooqui is a long-term writer at SamMobile. Based in Pakistan, his interests include technology, finance, Swiss watches and Formula 1. His tendency to write long posts betrays his inclination to being a man of few words.
