Lutron vs Silent Gliss: Motorised Curtain Tracks Compared
Two premium tracks, very different buying experiences
If you are researching motorised curtain tracks at the serious end of the market, two names come up repeatedly: Lutron and Silent Gliss. Both make excellent products. Both have been in the motorised window treatment business for decades. But the experience of actually buying, installing and living with each system could not be more different.
This is an honest comparison. We sell Silent Gliss and have done since 1986. We do not sell Lutron. That means we are biased, and you should factor that in. But we also know the motorised curtain market well enough to give Lutron the credit it deserves, while being straight about the practical differences.
What Lutron offers
The Lutron Sivoia QS is a professional-grade motorised curtain track system designed primarily for high-end residential and commercial installations. It is a serious piece of engineering.
There are three motor sizes in the range: the D105 (rated to 48kg of curtain weight), the D145 (66kg) and the D175 (79kg). That top-end figure is genuinely impressive. If you have floor-to-ceiling interlined curtains spanning a large opening, those weight capacities matter. Very few motorised tracks on the market can handle 79kg.
Maximum track length runs to about 9.1 metres in a single piece, with the option to splice sections for even longer runs. The system supports single and dual tracks, curved configurations, bay windows and 90-degree corners. Heading options include pinch pleat and ripplefold (Lutron's term for wave heading). Noise levels sit around 38 dBA, which is comparable to the Silent Gliss range.
On the smart home side, Lutron integrates with Alexa, Google Home, Apple HomeKit, Control4, Crestron and KNX. If you are building a whole-home automation project with a professional integrator, Lutron fits neatly into that ecosystem. The integration quality is excellent.
None of this is marketing fluff. Lutron makes genuinely good hardware. The question is what it takes to get it into your home.
How you actually buy Lutron in the UK
This is where things get complicated for most people.
Lutron is strictly trade-only in the UK. There is no consumer purchase path. You cannot buy a Sivoia QS track from a shop, from a website, or directly from Lutron. There are no published prices anywhere. Not on their site, not from dealers, not in any brochure. The only way to find out what it costs is to contact an authorised Lutron dealer and go through a consultation process.
The track itself is only part of the cost. Every Lutron motorised product requires a Lutron hub to function. For the Sivoia QS, that means either a RadioRA 3 system or a HomeWorks QS processor. These are not consumer devices you set up with an app. They require professional programming by a certified Lutron installer.
The hub alone can cost anywhere from several hundred to several thousand pounds, depending on the scale of your system. A single track for one window still needs the hub. Two tracks need the same hub. The per-window cost drops as you add more windows, but that first window carries a heavy overhead.
Total installed cost, including the track, hub, professional programming and installation, typically runs from around GBP900 for a basic single-window setup to GBP7,000 or more for complex installations. For a full-house project with multiple windows, you could spend north of GBP20,000 before curtains.
There is another practical consideration. If you want to change scenes, adjust schedules or reprogram the system after installation, you may need to call the installer back. Lutron's ecosystem is proprietary. The programming tools are not available to consumers. Some dealers offer remote support, but others charge a call-out fee for any changes.
None of this makes Lutron bad. It makes Lutron inaccessible for most homeowners. The product is designed for projects where a professional installer is already involved and the budget supports that level of service.
How Silent Gliss compares
The Silent Gliss Autoglide 5100 sits in a completely different part of the market. Not because it is a lesser product, but because it is designed for a different buying experience.
The 5100 is made to measure, available up to 6 metres in length, and handles up to 25kg of curtain weight on a straight track (15kg on a bent track for bay windows). It runs on mains power via a standard UK plug. Noise levels are comparable to Lutron at around 35-38 dBA.
Prices start from GBP483 for the 5100 B model, which includes a wireless wall-mounted button. You can buy it directly from our website, configure it to your exact measurements, and have it delivered to your door. No consultation, no dealer, no waiting for a quote.
Installation is a DIY job. The track comes with brackets, fixings and step-by-step instructions. If you can use a drill and a spirit level, you can fit it yourself in under an hour. We have been selling these since 1986 and the feedback is consistent: the installation is straightforward.
The 5100 range includes several models. The T variant adds a built-in timer for automated opening and closing at set times. The TC adds both timer and remote control. There is no proprietary hub to buy and no professional programming required. The automation features are built into the product itself.
We should be honest about the limitations. The 25kg weight capacity is perfectly adequate for most domestic curtains, including lined and interlined fabrics on standard windows. But it will not handle the kind of heavy, floor-to-ceiling theatre-weight curtains that the Lutron D175 is designed for. If you have exceptionally heavy curtains or very wide spans, our Silent Gliss 5600 handles up to 40kg, which covers almost all domestic situations. For anything beyond that, Lutron genuinely is the better engineering choice.
The maximum track length of 6 metres also falls short of Lutron's 9.1 metres. For most rooms this is not a factor, but for very large openings it could be.
Side-by-side comparison
| Lutron Sivoia QS | Silent Gliss Autoglide 5100 | |
|---|---|---|
| Max curtain weight | 48kg, 66kg or 79kg (depending on motor) | 25kg (straight), 15kg (bent/bay) |
| Max track length | 9.1m (spliceable for longer) | 6m |
| Noise level | ~38 dBA | ~35-38 dBA |
| Power | 240V mains (hardwired to track position) | Mains via UK plug |
| Bay windows / curves | Yes, including 90-degree corners | Yes (bent track option, 15kg limit) |
| Heading styles | Pinch pleat, ripplefold/wave | Wave heading |
| Hub required | Yes (RadioRA 3 or HomeWorks QS) | No |
| Professional install needed | Yes (certified installer) | No (DIY with included brackets) |
| Starting price | Not published (est. GBP900-7,000+ installed) | From GBP483 (track + wireless button) |
| How to buy | Authorised dealer consultation only | Direct online purchase |
| Built-in timer | Via hub programming | Yes (T and TC models) |
| Smart home integration | Alexa, Google, HomeKit, Control4, Crestron, KNX (via hub) | Timer and remote built in, third-party smart plugs for basic voice control |
Smart home integration
This is one area where Lutron has a genuine advantage, if you are willing to pay for it.
Through the Lutron hub, the Sivoia QS integrates natively with Alexa, Google Home, Apple HomeKit, Control4, Crestron and KNX. You can build complex scenes (curtains close, lights dim, blinds drop, all from one button press) and schedule them precisely. For a whole-home automation project, this level of integration is hard to beat.
The catch is that all of this runs through the proprietary hub. Without the hub, the tracks do nothing. The hub is the cost that makes the first window expensive and every subsequent window cheaper. If you are already building a Lutron lighting system for the whole house, adding curtain tracks to the same hub is a reasonable incremental cost. If you just want one window to open and close on a timer, buying a GBP1,000+ hub for that purpose is hard to justify.
The Silent Gliss approach is simpler. The 5100 T and TC models have timers and remote controls built in. No hub, no app, no programming. Set the times, and the curtains open and close. For basic voice control, a smart plug on the mains connection gives you Alexa or Google Home integration without any additional hardware beyond what you already own.
It is not as sophisticated as Lutron's scene-based system. You will not be coordinating curtains with lighting and blinds from a single control panel. But for most people who just want their curtains to open in the morning and close in the evening, it does the job without the complexity or cost. We have a range of smart controllers and accessories that extend what the 5100 can do, if you want to explore further.
Which one makes sense for you?
The honest answer depends on your project, your budget and how much you value simplicity.
Lutron makes sense if: you are doing a full-house automation project with a professional installer, the budget allows for the hub and programming costs, you want deeply integrated scene control across lighting and window treatments, or you have extremely heavy curtains that exceed 40kg. In these situations, Lutron is genuinely the right choice, and trying to make a consumer product do a professional job would be a mistake.
Silent Gliss makes sense if: you want a premium motorised track for one or a few windows, you prefer to buy directly and know the price upfront, you are comfortable with a straightforward DIY installation, and your curtains are within normal domestic weight ranges. The 5100 handles the vast majority of home curtain setups without any compromise on quality or reliability.
Most of our customers fall into the second category. They want something that works well, looks good, lasts for years and does not require a consultant to set up. That is exactly what Silent Gliss has been building for decades, and what we have been selling and supporting since 1986.
If you are still unsure which setup suits your windows, you can browse our full electric curtain track range or get in touch and we will help you work it out. No consultation fee, no obligation. Just straightforward advice from people who have been doing this for nearly 30 years.