Aqara Smart Pet Feeder C1

Quick verdict

This is the one mainstream pet feeder you can buy and run fully locally. Despite the retail listing insisting on an Aqara Zigbee 3.0 hub, it is an ordinary Zigbee 3.0 device and pairs straight to any coordinator through ZHA or Zigbee2MQTT - no hub, no account, no cloud. On Zigbee2MQTT the schedule lives on the feeder itself, which is the detail that matters: your pet still gets fed while Home Assistant is rebooting or updating. On ZHA you get feeding control and reporting but the schedule has to run as a Home Assistant automation, so plan for that difference. It holds 4L, runs from mains power with D-cell batteries as outage backup, doubles as a Zigbee router, and reports portions and weight per day so you can alert on a missed feed. Sized for cats and small to medium dogs.

Standout: A mainstream automatic pet feeder that is a plain Zigbee 3.0 device, so it binds to Home Assistant with no Aqara hub and no cloud account.

Last checked: 2026-08-06

Compatibility snapshot

Why it stands out

• pairs directly to ZHA or Zigbee2MQTT with no Aqara hub and no account
• on Zigbee2MQTT the feeding schedule is stored on the feeder itself, so it keeps feeding with Home Assistant down
• mains powered and acts as a Zigbee router, with D-cell batteries as outage backup
• reports portions and weight dispensed per day, so a missed feed is detectable in Home Assistant

Reasons to hesitate

• ZHA cannot push a schedule to it - on ZHA you trigger feeding from a Home Assistant automation instead
• the power adapter is not included, and neither are the backup batteries
• portion weight needs manual calibration, and it takes 1-12mm kibble only
• sized for cats and small to medium dogs, not large breeds
• there are user reports of occasional off-schedule dispensing

Best for

• anyone who wants a mainstream pet feeder that runs entirely on a local Zigbee network
• Home Assistant setups that want feeding to continue even while the server is rebooting

Avoid if

• you run ZHA and specifically want the schedule held on the device, which only Zigbee2MQTT can write
• you have a large dog or use kibble outside the 1-12mm range

Privacy and local-control notes

A plain Zigbee 3.0 device. The retail listing's 'requires an Aqara Zigbee 3.0 hub' is marketing, not a hardware limit: it pairs straight to any Zigbee coordinator through ZHA or Zigbee2MQTT with no Aqara hub, no Aqara account and no cloud.

Home Assistant support: supported · integration path: ZHA (automatic quirk, aqara.feeder.acn001) / Zigbee2MQTT.

Buying reality check

Price notes: $99 direct from Aqara (verified 2026-08-06). The power adapter and the three D-cell backup batteries are not included. No subscription.

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