Nuki drops Wi-Fi paywall for its smart lock, but raises the lock’s price
Image: Christopher Null/Foundry
We liked pretty much everything about the Nuki Smart Lock, a compact retrofit model that came out earlier this year, except for one thing: the monthly fee to use its Wi-Fi features.
Yep, that’s right: Nuki wanted its customers to pay $5.90 a month for Nuki Premium, a subscription plan that was required to access the Nuki Smart Lock remotely via Wi-Fi. The alternative was either Bluetooth connectivity, meaning you’d need to be physically near the lock to control it, or patching the Thread-enabled lock into your local network via Matter.
That charge for Wi-Fi access always seemed a little nuts, and indeed, Nuki never actually imposed the fee, instead pushing it off until September and then again to December. Now, the Austria-based company tells TechHive it will drop the fee for Nuki Premium entirely, essentially ditching the Wi-Fi paywall.
There is a slight catch, however: While the Nuki Premium fee is gone (as first reported by Android Authority), Nuki is raising the price for its smart lock to $199, a $40 price hike. It is also raising the price for its Smart Lock + Keypad 2 bundle, which will now cost $269, a $40 increase.
A Nuki spokesperson confirmed that Nuki Premium will be free for both new and existing smart lock users.
“With Nuki Premium, we aimed to create a sustainable business model that, in our opinion, reflects the value we deliver to our users,” said Nuki CEO and co-founder Martin Pansy in a statement. “However, we had to realize that the market isn’t yet ready for that. That’s why we’re returning to a one-time pricing model—without putting key smart features behind a paywall.”
Aside from dumping the Nuki Premium fee, Nuki is introducing a Guarantee Plus, which gives Nuki Smart Lock users a three-year extended warranty for $29.
Subscription fees are common in the smart home security market, but they’re generally reserved for security cameras, including cloud video storage as well as access to AI-powered detection functionality.
Nuki’s plan to charge a subscription fee to access its smart lock via Wi-Fi was unusual—a little too unusual, as it turned out.
This news story is part of TechHive’s in-depth coverage of the best smart locks.
Author: Ben Patterson, Senior Writer, TechHive
Ben has been writing about technology and consumer electronics for more than 20 years. A PCWorld contributor since 2014, Ben joined TechHive in 2019, where he has covered everything from smart speakers and soundbars to smart lights and security cameras. Ben’s articles have also appeared in PC Magazine, TIME, Wired, CNET, Men’s Fitness, Mobile Magazine, and more. Ben holds a master’s degree in English literature.
