Earlier quoted context omitted.
A standard where you have to pay to play. Cheapest option is 3000$ per product and 500$ annual.
I wasn't aware of that. One other concern I have with Matter is that, if I understand correctly, Thread+Matter devices get their own IP address with internet access, whereas with Zigbee all of that has to be controlled by the gateway. In theory that's a win for Matter, but I'm a little concerned about the security and enshitification problems that might cause. I kinda like the idea that I can buy a cheap IoT lock off…
I'm sure someone will chime in and say you can setup a VLAN and restrict all Matter devices from the internet yada yada...
You don't have to do that with Z-Wave or ZigBee. And with ESPHome you know exactly what the device is doing because you have 100% control over it.