[mactunes]

I recently got interested in installing a TTN gateway in my home and adding some temperature sensors.

Having played with LoRa years ago my thought was that there should now be readily available and cheap sensors. But to my disappointment everything seems to be a bit pricey which really surprised me. I can get a Zigbee temp sensor for around 15 euros, but Lora sensors cost around double that. I am wondering as to why that is?

[SirMonkey]

This is pure speculation - I have no prove. I believe is also due to the target buyer: afaik the biggest adopters are municipalities and not general consumers.

[extra88]

The market for Zigbee products is likely much larger so per-unit costs are lower.

Also, it seems LoRa is proprietary and patent-encumbered while Zigbee is an open spec.

[ilyt]

Still need to pay up if you want to sell zigbee devices

https://e2e.ti.com/support/wireless-connectivity/zigbee-thre...

...which is also the reason Zigbee is more pricy than random wifi enabled gadget

[Tijdreiziger]

Zigbee can’t be that expensive, since you can pick up IKEA TRÅDFRI Zigbee bulbs for around €6 a piece.