Aqara Wireless Mini Switch Generations Compared: Which to Buy

Aqara sells three generations of its single-button wireless mini switch at the same time, under three different model codes: the original WXKG11LM, the T1 (WXKG14LM), and the E1 (WXKG20LM). They look almost identical, cost about the same, and neither Aqara’s product pages nor the retailer listings explain what changed between them. If you already own one and are working out which generation it is, or you’re buying today and want more than a coin-flip, this comparison is built from what each model actually exposes in Zigbee2MQTT — not the marketing copy.

All three are Zigbee devices. They pair directly with Zigbee2MQTT or ZHA, so nothing here depends on an Aqara hub, the Aqara app, or a cloud account — the button stays fully local regardless of which generation you buy.

The short version: the original lists the widest range of button actions, but not consistently across hardware revisions. The T1 trades some of those for two configurable modes the other two don’t have. The E1 is newest and easiest to find, and restores two exposes the T1 dropped — but it’s the only generation with no triple-press at all, and carries an unconfirmed compatibility caveat worth knowing before you buy ten of them.

The three generations at a glance

Read that table carefully, because the pattern is not a straight upgrade path. The T1 is the middle generation by release order, but it’s the only one without device_temperature and power_outage_count — both present on the original, both back on the E1.

The actions fork rather than narrow. The original lists the most on paper; the T1 and E1 then expose four actions each, but not the same four — the T1 keeps triple and drops release, the E1 keeps release and drops triple, and neither lists quadruple. Which suits you depends on whether your automations need a triple-press or a press-and-release pair.

WXKG11LM (original): the most actions, if your unit supports them

The original mini switch is the only one of the three with a genuinely wide action set on paper — single, double, triple, quadruple, hold, and release. The catch is in the fine print on its own Zigbee2MQTT device page: triple, quadruple, hold, and release are explicitly flagged as “not supported by all versions of this device.” This is a hardware revision issue, not a firmware or Zigbee2MQTT limitation — some units simply don’t generate those events, and there’s no way to tell which behavior yours has except by testing it after pairing.

The original also exposes a deprecated click event alongside the standard action entity. Build automations against action; click is legacy and unmaintained. One more quirk before you assume something is broken: battery percentage can take up to 24 hours to populate after first pairing, so don’t judge battery health from the first read.

It also exposes device_temperature and power_outage_count on top of the action data — two exposes that disappear on the T1 and only return with the E1. Full pairing and automation setup is in our WXKG11LM setup guide.

WXKG14LM (T1): fewer actions, more configuration

The T1 is where Aqara added actual configuration options instead of just more button gestures. It introduces click_mode and operation_mode, neither of which exists on the original or the E1.

click_mode has two settings: “fast,” which reports only a single click with immediate transmission, and “multi,” which enables double-click and hold detection. operation_mode controls how the switch talks to the network: “command” mode enables direct bindings to other Zigbee devices but requires waking the switch before you can change the setting, and “event” mode — the default — is what sends state changes to Zigbee2MQTT for automations to use. Both are documented on the WXKG14LM device page.

In exchange for that configurability, the T1’s action list is single, double, triple, and hold — no quadruple, no release — and it drops device_temperature and power_outage_count entirely. Losing those two exposes is a real regression against the older original. It’s rated for roughly 50,000 button presses, a figure neither of the other two pages states. Setup and the mode-switching quirks are covered in our WXKG14LM (T1) guide.

WXKG20LM (E1): newest, no triple-press, one unverified caveat

The E1 is the current generation and generally the easiest of the three to buy new. It brings back device_temperature and power_outage_count, which the T1 dropped. Its four actions are single, double, hold, and release — the only generation with no triple-press at all, worth checking against your automations if you’re mixing generations in one room. Aqara rates its battery life at roughly two years on a CR2032, a duration neither of the other two product pages states.

The E1 is also the only one of the three explicitly marketed as Zigbee 3.0. The original and the T1 are Zigbee devices, but whether they’re formally certified to Zigbee 3.0 or built to an earlier revision isn’t something we can confirm from the sourcing available — we’re not asserting either way, and neither should you assume it from a listing that doesn’t say.

Exposes and actions above come from the WXKG20LM device page. Setup and pairing are covered in our WXKG20LM (E1) guide.

Which one to buy

There’s no single “best” generation — each trades away something the others have. If you’re extending an existing installation, matching what you already own avoids mixing action sets across a room’s automations. If you’re buying fresh on Zigbee2MQTT, the E1 is easiest to find; if you’re on ZHA and want a sure thing, the original or the T1 avoid the question entirely.

The same pattern shows up across Aqara’s other long-running lines: the door/window sensor generations and motion sensor generations both fork on exposed data rather than cleanly superseding each other.

If you want two buttons in one unit instead of one, that’s a different device family — Aqara’s double-rocker wireless switches (WXKG15LM/WXKG16LM, WXKG17LM) use different model codes and a different action naming scheme, and are covered separately in our double-rocker switch guide.

For the T1/E1/H1-style letter codes generally, our model naming breakdown explains what the prefixes mean across Aqara’s catalog — useful context, though as this comparison shows, the code alone doesn’t tell you the exposed feature set.

FAQ

What’s the difference between the Aqara WXKG11LM and WXKG14LM?
The WXKG14LM (T1) adds click_mode and operation_mode, letting you configure click and binding behavior that the original doesn’t support at all. In exchange, it drops device_temperature and power_outage_count, and its action set (single, double, triple, hold) is narrower than the original’s stated single/double/triple/quadruple/hold/release — though the original’s extra actions aren’t guaranteed on every hardware revision.

Is the Aqara E1 mini switch better than the T1?
Not straightforwardly. The E1 brings back device_temperature and power_outage_count, which the T1 dropped, and is easiest to buy new. But both expose four actions rather than one being broader: the E1 has release and no triple, the T1 has triple and no release. The E1 also lacks the T1’s click_mode/operation_mode options and carries an unconfirmed ZHA caveat the T1 doesn’t.

Does the Aqara mini switch work with ZHA or only Zigbee2MQTT?
The original and the T1 pair normally with both Zigbee2MQTT and ZHA. The E1 (WXKG20LM) has confirmed working support for Zigbee2MQTT and deCONZ; community reports describe button events not registering on ZHA, tracked in an open ZHA device-handler request. We could not independently verify the current status, and the device-tracking data we checked lists ZHA as unconfirmed rather than explicitly unsupported.

Which Aqara wireless switch has the most button actions?
The original WXKG11LM lists the widest set — single, double, triple, quadruple, hold, and release — but its own device documentation notes that triple, quadruple, hold, and release are not supported on all hardware revisions. Confirm what your specific unit reports rather than assuming the full list applies.

Do all Aqara mini switches use the same battery?
Yes, all three use a CR2032 coin cell. Only the T1 and E1 pages state additional battery specifics — roughly 50,000 rated presses for the T1, and roughly two years of rated life for the E1 — figures the original’s documentation doesn’t provide for direct comparison.

What this comparison verified

This comparison is built from the three official Zigbee2MQTT device reference pages for the WXKG11LM, WXKG14LM, and WXKG20LM, cross-checked against Aqara’s own product specification pages for battery and hardware details. No new hardware was purchased or bench-tested for this article — this is a research-synthesis comparison, and nothing here implies side-by-side testing of all three switches.

Two things stay unverified rather than asserted: whether the original and T1 are certified to Zigbee 3.0 (only the E1 is marketed that way), and whether the E1 has a current ZHA problem. On the second there is a real device-handler request on record, but the device-tracking site lists ZHA as unconfirmed rather than unsupported, and quirk coverage changes over time — so the honest answer is “check before you buy,” not a verdict.

Everything else — exposed entities, action lists, battery type, and the T1’s configuration options — comes directly from each model’s current Zigbee2MQTT device page. Those pages change as new releases add support, so check the current page for your model before assuming an expose listed here still matches. Whichever generation you hold, all three route entirely through local Zigbee: pairing to Zigbee2MQTT — or ZHA, with the E1 caveat above — gets you full control with no Aqara app or account.