Nest 1st gen and 2nd gen thermostats no longer supported from Oct 25

"Dumb" home devices work as expected for 25-50 years, and then you replace them.

"Smart" home devices work as expected for about a year and then they fail in new and exciting ways, and then you replace them.

This is exactly why I’ve started only buying smart devices that work with Home Assistant and don’t rely on cloud services.

What are the best ways of finding such devices? Almost all the time when I look into some product it ends up being connected to some random cloud service with its own login.

HomeAssistant supports a bunch of home automation systems, including local-only ones like ZWave and Zigbee*. A search for "zwave thermostat" comes up with a lot of results, though I couldn't say how difficult it might be to configure them (I'm only using simpler devices like switches and sensors).

* There are internet-connected controllers and local controllers so you'd also want a local controller. I've used an Aeotec Z-Stick for ZWave devices for around a decade, it plugs into USB, HomeAssistant accesses it directly, and the ZWave network itself is connections between the Z-Stick and the devices without the internet.

The Honeywell Z-Wave thermostats are trivial to connect and work with via Home Assistant.

Source: I own one. :)