How is Alva different from tado° Heat Pump Optimizer X?

tado° builds excellent room-by-room heating control — and if your only goal is to optimise a heat pump with per-room thermostats, tado° is a strong product. But the two products serve fundamentally different purposes.

Scope: tado° optimises heat pumps only. Alva Link optimises heat pumps, solar inverters, batteries, EV chargers, and water boilers — as a coordinated system. If you add solar panels or an EV next year, tado° can't help. Alva is already there.

Brand coverage: tado° supports a handful of brands at launch (Panasonic, Vaillant, Atlantic, Saunier Duval, Fujitsu, Daikin — with NIBE and others still pending). Alva Link covers heat pump brands through native Modbus integration, plus universal compatibility via SG-Ready (500+ certified models) and sensor spoofing. If your brand isn't on tado°'s list, you're out of luck. With Alva, there's almost always a connection path.

Price: tado° Heat Pump Optimizer X costs €249.99, plus €5.99/month for their Balance subscription. Alva Link is €99 at pre-order, and Autopilot is €4.99/month — but covers your entire home, not just heating.

Connection depth: tado° connects to the heat pump's proprietary interface. Alva connects via open industrial protocols (Modbus, OpenTherm, SG-Ready) that don't break when a manufacturer updates their app. Both approaches have trade-offs, but Alva's local protocol approach means your connection doesn't depend on tado° or any manufacturer maintaining API compatibility.

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