I’ve been very happy with my EcoBee so far, I moved to it after way too many issues with my Nest. It seems to work just fine with HA.
homeassistant
Home Assistant is open source home automation that puts local control and privacy first. Powered by a worldwide community of tinkerers and DIY enthusiasts. Perfect to run on a Raspberry Pi or a local server. Available for free at home-assistant.io
Time to code your own thermostat.
An esp32, a 4x or 8x relay board, and a 24vac to 5vdc rectifier/regulator and you're golden.
Even has WiFi ;)
I would dearly love to become the hack a board hobbyist that a lot of you guys are, I'm genuinely in awe of some of the things I see people make but it's a little daunting.
I can't solder and haven't even tried. I get confused by the components, ohms and volts flumox me and the one time I tried to code something in ESPHome made 3 lights into bricks.
So I'm very much a "make cool stuff with off the shelf devices" kind of guy.
Have you checked to see if your state has some sort of energy program to get a smart thermostat at a discount? I got our Ecobee for $20 through our states program and it works pretty well with Home Assistant
I haven't, but I will, thanks for the suggestion