Product Library / Hubs & Controllers

Google Nest Hub Max

Compiled by SmartHomeWorkflow Research · Google Nest · Hubs & Controllers · ~$229 ($229 is Google's own US Store price on 2026-08-21, carried identically on the product page, the tech-specs page and the configurator, with '$229' and 'or $19.08/month with 12-month financing' shown beside it. ⚠ It cannot actually be bought from Google today: both colours on the configurator — 'Nest Hub Max (Chalk)' and 'Nest Hub Max (Charcoal)' — carry schema.org/OutOfStock in the page's own structured markup, and the product page shows the label 'Out of stock'. Google publishes no end-of-life notice anywhere on these pages, so the listing is live, the price is current and the stock state is the open question. Recorded as a listed-and-priced product rather than an unavailable one, per this catalogue's rule that unavailability means not sold in the US at all — never zero inventory.)

⚠ Similar names, different products: Google sells three displays whose names differ by two words, and the Max is not simply a bigger Nest Hub. Google's own device-specification article puts them side by side: Nest Hub Max is a 10" 1280x800 touchscreen weighing 2.91 lb with a 6.5-megapixel camera, Face Match, Quick Gestures and a physical mic-and-camera switch; Nest Hub (2nd gen) is a 7" touchscreen with no camera at all — its sensor list is a Soli radar, an ambient light sensor and a temperature sensor. The camera is the whole difference, and it runs in both directions: it is the reason the Max can act as an indoor Nest Cam, and the reason it is the one you would not put in a bedroom. A third name is still in Google's tables: Nest Hub (1st gen), released 10/22/2018, which Google no longer sells but still lists as receiving critical security updates. ⚠ And the store's own two pages disagree about this model's weight — the Google Store tech-specs page says '480 g (16.9 oz)' where Google's support article says '2.91 lb (1.32 kg)' for the same product. Neither is recorded here as a fact; the discrepancy is noted so a buyer comparing shelf or mount capacity checks it rather than trusting one page.

Compatibility

Protocols: WIFI · BLUETOOTH · THREAD · MATTER^[1][3][4]

Needs before it works: No — this device is the hub. Google's own tech-specs page gives it a 'Smart Home Compatibility' row reading 'Matter' and 'Works as a hub for Google Home', and a Connectivity row reading 'Thread border router built-in (802.15.4 at 2.4 GHz)'. Google's Matter hub support article says the same thing from the other side, naming 'Nest Hub Max' in the list of hubs that support Matter over Wi-Fi AND in the shorter list of hubs that also work as a Thread border router. So a Matter-over-Thread device can join a Google home through this display with no separate bridge. What it will not do is act as a hub for anyone else's platform: Google scopes the role, in its own words, to Google Home.^[1][3]

What it can do^[4][7]

Some of these may need a paid plan — see Subscription reality below.

Listed capabilities are what we could establish from vendor documentation. An ability missing here is unestablished — not necessarily absent.

Subscription reality^[7][8]

◐ Works without a subscription: Yes, but material features need a plan.

• Free: Smart home control, media search and playback, alarms and timers, calendars, notes, lists and reminders — Google states these basic Gemini for Home features are available at no cost, The built-in Nest Cam's live view, and motion and sound alerts on your phone, Face Match, Quick Gestures, Voice Match and the display's own screen functions
• Behind a plan: Continuous video recording from the built-in camera, and familiar face alerts, Event-based video history: 30 days on Standard, 60 days on Advanced, Gemini Live and the Advanced plan's daily summaries (from $10/mo)
• Plan tiers: Standard $10/mo · Advanced $20/mo
• 5-year cost if you add the plan: ~$600–$1200 depending on tier — price verified 2026-08-21

Vendor account required: Not established — we have not sourced this yet.

The display works fully without a plan; the CAMERA is the part that is half a product without one. Google's own product-page sentence draws the line: 'Keep an eye on things at home with the built-in Nest Cam. Check in for a live view and get motion and sound alerts on your phone. With a Google Home Premium subscription, you'll get continuous video recording, familiar face alerts, and more.' So live view and alerts are free; recording is not. Tier prices read from Google's own Home Premium page on 2026-08-21: Standard '$10/month or $100/year — Save $20 with an annual subscription', Advanced '$20/month or $200/year — Save $40 with an annual subscription', with the comparison table giving Standard '30 days of event-based video' and Advanced '60 days'. Google's trial footnote states the renewal in the same numbers and adds 'Valid form of payment and Google Account required at signup.' ⚠ A buyer costing this out should add the plan to the hardware: at $229 plus Advanced at $200/year, the camera half of this device costs more per year than most standalone indoor cameras.

Maintenance reality

• Works without the internet: Not established — we have not sourced this yet. It does not mean the product fails without the internet.
• Mains-powered and sealed — Google's Ports row lists a single 'DC Power Jack' fed by a '30 W power adapter' (100-240 V, 50/60 Hz), and there is no battery, filter or consumable of any kind. The one piece of physical maintenance a buyer should know about is a privacy control rather than upkeep: Google documents a hardware switch on the back, and documents what it does in unusually plain terms — 'To physically turn off the microphones, camera, and the features that rely on input from them, slide the switch on the back of Nest Hub Max. This switch, which cannot be accessed remotely, makes the microphones and camera completely inoperable. When the camera and mics are turned off, you'll see an orange light on the front of Nest Hub Max.' ⊕ cloudDependent is deliberately absent rather than set: nothing read for this record establishes how much of the display works without Google's cloud, localOperation says so, and a legacy boolean guessed here would assert something no source supports.
• Security updates: ⚠ Google Nest's declared security-update support ran to September 9, 2024 (US-declared — the maker states this commitment for its US market) — that date has passed. It keeps working exactly as it does now, and no security flaw is known or implied here — but the manufacturer no longer has a stated obligation to issue security fixes for it.^[5] ⚠ THIS DATE PASSED ALMOST TWO YEARS AGO AND GOOGLE'S SAME TABLE ROW SAYS THE DEVICE IS STILL BEING PATCHED — both halves matter to a buyer. Google's connected-home security-updates page lists the row, verbatim across its four columns (Device | Release date | Release date + 5 year minimum | Currently receiving critical security updates): 'Nest Hub Max | 9/9/2019 | 9/9/2024 | Yes'. The page's commitment is a floor, not an expiry: 'Google Nest connected home devices will receive automatic security updates for at least 5 years from the date we start selling them on the US Google Store.' What elapsed in September 2024 is Google's stated obligation, not the updates themselves. The date is recorded as published rather than softened, because a device sold new today at $229 whose minimum support window ended two years ago is exactly the fact a buyer is not told at checkout. Google also links a per-device 'Nest Hub Max results PDF' of security-validation results from the same table; that PDF was not read for this pass and nothing here rests on it. ⊕ REGION: US — Google's own commitment is anchored to its US storefront in the sentence this value rests on: 'Google Nest connected home devices will receive automatic security updates for at least 5 years from the date we start selling them on the US Google Store.' The scope comes from the document's own words, not from the fact that we list the US SKU (S-1b).

The catch

Four things, and Google publishes all of them — just never together. First, you probably cannot buy it: it is listed at $229 with financing offered, and both colours read Out of Stock in the Google Store's own structured markup, with no end-of-life notice published anywhere. Treat availability as unresolved rather than as either current or discontinued. Second, its five-year security-update minimum expired on 9/9/2024. Google's own table still marks the row 'Yes' under 'Currently receiving critical security updates', so this is a lapsed commitment rather than an abandoned device — but the commitment is what you can hold a vendor to, and it is gone. Third, the camera is the reason to buy this over the smaller Nest Hub and the reason it costs the most to own: live view and motion and sound alerts are free, while continuous recording, familiar face alerts and video history need Google Home Premium at $10/month or $100/year for Standard, $20/month or $200/year for Advanced. Fourth, the voice assistant is mid-migration and the migration is one-way — Google states that once a home switches to Gemini for Home, 'it can't switch back to Google Assistant', and the switch applies to every compatible device in the home at once. One thing worth knowing before the camera puts you off: the privacy control is a physical switch on the back rather than a software mute, and Google states what it does in unusually specific terms — it 'cannot be accessed remotely' and 'makes the microphones and camera completely inoperable'.

Who it's for

A Google-ecosystem household that wants one device to be three: a 10-inch kitchen or hallway display, a Matter controller with a built-in Thread border router, and an indoor camera with a real hardware kill switch. It fits where the camera is genuinely wanted, because that is what the extra money and the extra subscription buy — if the camera is unwanted, the smaller Nest Hub (2nd gen) is the same hub role in a device with no camera at all. It does not fit anyone outside Google's platform: there is no Alexa, Apple Home or SmartThings route, and Home Assistant gets a cast target rather than a control surface. And it does not fit a buyer who needs a supported-until date, because the published one has passed.

Sources & method

Numbered sources below back the facts marked with the matching number above. This is a research profile: compiled from manufacturer documentation, certification registries, and published testing — we state facts, not verdicts, and we have not physically tested this unit. How we work →

1. [1] Google Store, Nest Hub Max Tech Specs (US) — vendor-page research, verified 2026-08-21
   Backs: Product identity, Price, Protocols, Wi-Fi bands it can use, Role in a Thread network, Power source, Installation, App platforms, Required hub or bridge, Research status
2. [2] Google Store, Nest Hub Max configurator (US) — vendor-page research, verified 2026-08-21
   Backs: Price, Market availability
3. [3] Google, "Devices that work as a hub for Google Home" (googlehome support article) — vendor-support-doc research, verified 2026-08-21
   Backs: Protocols, Required hub or bridge, Google Home compatibility
4. [4] Google, "Google Nest and Home device specifications" (googlehome support article) — vendor-support-doc research, verified 2026-08-21
   Backs: Product identity, Protocols, Capabilities
5. [5] Google, "Security updates & security validation results for Google's connected home devices" — vendor-support-doc research, verified 2026-08-21
   Backs: Security-update support period, Market availability
6. [6] Google, Gemini for Home voice assistant (googlehome support article) — vendor-support-doc research, verified 2026-08-21
   Backs: Service status, Google Home compatibility
7. [7] Google Store, Nest Hub Max product page (US) — vendor-page research, verified 2026-08-21
   Backs: Subscription, Capabilities
8. [8] Google Store, Google Home Premium (US) — vendor-page research, verified 2026-08-21
   Backs: Subscription
9. [9] Google Store, Nest Hub Max Privacy (US) — vendor-page research, verified 2026-08-21
10. [10] Google Store, Nest Hub Max Apps & Partners (US) — keyword census across this model's three store pages — vendor-page research (absence-of-claim), verified 2026-08-21
    Backs: Apple Home compatibility, Amazon Alexa compatibility, SmartThings compatibility
11. [11] Home Assistant, Google Cast integration documentation — counterparty-source check, verified 2026-08-21
    Backs: Home Assistant compatibility
12. [12] Google Store, the WRONG Nest Hub Max slug — recorded as a research-hygiene note — vendor-page research, verified 2026-08-21
13. [13] SmartHomeWorkflow record maintenance (BQ-250 securitySupport.region backfill) — internal-review of the document this record already cites, verified 2026-08-27
14. [14] Google, "Devices that work as a hub for Google Home" — verbatim: "Many of the hubs for Google Home have a Thread border router built-in" … "The following hubs support Matter over both Wi-Fi and Thread: … Displays: Nest Hub (2nd gen), Nest Hub Max …" and "Before you can add Matter-enabled devices to Google Home, you need a Matter-enabled hub device set up on your home wireless network." — vendor-page research (BQ-319 provides sweep — first-party re-read through tools/lib/gated-fetch.mjs), verified 2026-09-02
    Backs: What it provides to your home

Compatibility and lifecycle information reflects the last-verified date above and can change without notice (firmware updates, cloud-service changes, discontinuations). It is provided as-is, for information — verify with the manufacturer before purchasing. Spot an error? Tell us and we'll fix it. Full terms: Terms of Service.

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