The dream of the smart home is as alive as ever, but many smart home devices are still prohibitively expensive. Just one smart lightbulb can set you back what it would cost to light up a whole apartment with classic light bulbs. But, there’s another way to make tons of your electronics a bit smarter, and that’s smart plugs.Smart plugs give you capable control over your home appliances regardless of what they are, as long as they plug into a power outlet. You can convert everything from your microwave to your toothbrush charger with a smart plug. Like typical smart home devices, they connect to the internet, giving you remote control from pretty much anywhere in the world, but they remain more affordable than purpose-built smart home products.Smart plugs can help you save energy (especially by fully shutting down electronics, like entertainment systems, you might otherwise leave on sleep mode), and in turn save on your power bill, but they can also help you produce less waste. Since you can just slap a smart plug into the wall and smart-ify your existing electronics, you don’t have to replace anything. So, smart plugs are clearly a smart pick, and these are the options you can get.
TL;DR These are the Best Smart Plugs:
1. TP-Link Kasa Smart Plug Mini
Best Smart Plug
Input/output voltage: 100-120 V Certification: RoHS, FCC, IC, UL Integrations: Alexa, Google Assistant, IFTTT Compatibility: Android 4.1+, iOS 9.0+ Size: 2.61″ x 1.49″ x 1.57″
On balance, we think TP-Links Smart Plug Mini is the best smart plug money can buy right now. First of all, it costs just $17. Second, despite its large and rambling name, the plug itself is tiny, measuring just 1.5 x 1.6 x 2.6 inches. We can safely say we havent had any issues with it blocking other outlets, a problem that plagues some smart plugs.Its brilliant at the smart plug basics such as letting you turn it on/off when youre out of the home, while the app will let you set schedules to custom times and days. Speaking of the app, if you have other TP-Link products you can add them into various automations. And theres also support for Alexa and Google Assistant, both of which will let you use the plug as part of their respective scenes and routines.
The downsides? It doesnt have HomeKit support, and you dont get energy tracking either. But unless either of those things matter to you, there isnt a smart plug we rate more highly.
2. Wyze Smart Plug
Best Budget Smart Plug
Input voltage: 100-120 V Max output: 15A Certification: ETL Integrations: Alexa, Google Assistant Compatibility: Android 5.0+, iOS 9.0+ Size: 2.7″ x 2.0″ x 1.5″
Founded by ex-Amazon employees, Wyzes USP is smart home products that compete with rivals on specs but undercut on price. The Wyze Smart Plug is a perfect example of that, costing $14.99 for a pack of two the quick mathematicians amongst you will already know that works out at $7.50 a plug.However, you cant actually buy them individually, but its still the cheapest smart plug on our list. And yet, the Wyze offers many of the same features of pricier competitors. Remote control? Check. Scheduling? Of course. Alexa and Google Assistant support? You bet.
We also like the vacation mode, which can turn plug on and off at random times to give the impression youre at home.
Theres no energy monitoring and no HomeKit (Wyze has been working on bringing HomeKit support to its products, but dont hold your breath). Wyzes smart plug offers the basics for an incredibly affordable price.
3. Amazon Smart Plug
Best Smart Plug for Alexa
Input/output voltage: 100-120 V Certification: RoHS, FCC, IC, UL Integrations: Alexa Compatibility: Android, iOS 10+ Size: 3.2″ x 1.5″ x 2.2″
If you worship at the altar of Alexa, consider Amazons own-brand smart plug: its cheap, its small, and it seamlessly slips into any Alexa smart home. However, Alexa doesnt actually live inside the plug the way it lives inside your Echo smart speaker; youll need an Alexa speaker of some sort to control it (or just use Alexa on your phone).Being built by Amazon, setup is a breeze. Youll actually get prompt in the Alexa app when it detects the plug is nearby even your grandad can figure it out. Once set up, youll get scheduling, remote control, and the ability to embed the plug in any of your Alexa scenes and routines.
Theres no energy tracking, and feature-to-feature the Amazon Smart Plug doesnt have any major advantages, but if youre already living in an Alexa home it offers the simplest setup and utmost reliability.
4. Eve Energy
Best HomeKit Smart Plug
Input voltage: 100-240 V Max output: 15A Certification: ETL Integrations: Alexa, Google Assistant Compatibility: Android 5.0+, iOS 9.0+ Size: 2.6″ x 2.6″ x 1.9″
One of the drawbacks of HomeKit is there are still very few devices that actually support it, and the dearth of HomeKit-compatible smart plugs illustrates that exact problem. But of the small handful of compatible options, the Eve Energy is a great pick.Better yet, it offers some great energy saving features which break down your energy usage over time so you can see the periods of day that are costing you the most.
However, it only works with HomeKit if you want an Alexa/Google Assistant plug with energy saving, skip to the ConnectSense below.
5. ConnectSense Smart Outlet
Most comprehensive smart plug
Input voltage: 120 V Max output: 15A Integrations: Alexa, HomeKit, Google Assistant Compatibility: Android, iOS 10.3+ Size: 4.9″ x 3″ x 1.2″
The ConnectSense doesnt come cheap, but the high price of entry gets you two outlets in one (rather hulking) smart plug. It also gets you HomeKit, Alexa, and Google Assistant compatibility, making it one of the very few options to support all three platforms. No IFTTT though, sorry.Yes, its a big old brick, designed to cover a standard American two-outlet block; but the ConnectSense ticks most of the feature boxes including energy monitoring, though it only gives you an average of watts. The Eve Energy and Belkin Wemo Insight do this feature a lot better.
While it is huge, the ConnectSense also offers a USB port on its side handy for juicing up your phone when the other outlets are in use.
6. Belkin Wemo Mini
Most flexible smart plug
Input voltage: 120 V Max output: 15A Integrations: Alexa, HomeKit, Google Assistant Compatibility: Android 4.1+, iOS 9+ Size: 3.8″ x 2.4″ x 1.4″
Similar to the ConnectSense Outlet 2, the Wemo Mini works with HomeKit, Alexa, Google Assistant, and even IFTTT (If This Then That). But its far more compact (the clues in the name) and costs half the price of the ConnectSense.You dont get energy monitoring features, but theres scheduling, remote controlling, and a vacation mode that will switch the plug on and off at random times. Theres also a physical button so you can switch the plug off/on manually.
We wish the app were better, but if youre running any of the aforementioned platforms you can control it with those instead. For homes running multiple assistants, this is a great pick.
7. Belkin Wemo Insight
Best for energy monitoring
Input voltage: 120 V Max output: 15A Integrations: Alexa, HomeKit, Google Assistant Compatibility: Android 4.4+, iOS 10+ Size: 2.9″ x 2.9″ x 2.3″
The Wemo Insight is a slightly bigger version of the Mini above, offering the same range of features, but with the addition of energy monitoring.Weve included it on our list simply because we love the way the energy monitoring is presented in the app, not only serving up averages of watts and hours/minutes, but crucially telling you how many dollars and cents each device is costing you.
The biggest drawback of the Insight is its size; its big enough to block adjacent outlets, which can be annoying. The app design could also be better, in our opinion.
8. meross Outdoor Smart Plug
Best Outdoor Smart Plug
Input/output voltage: 100-125 V Certification: FCC/ETL Integrations: Alexa, Google Assistant, IFTTT Compatibility: Android 4.1+, iOS 9.0+ Size: 5″ x 2.8″ x 1.5″
Not every smart plug is ready to go into the same environments, and the meross outdoor smart plug is a bit better prepared to handle the outdoors. It’s built into an IP44 water-resistant housing that’ll help keep inclement weather from standing in the way of adding some smarts to your outdoor electronics. It can even hold up in weather as cold as -4 and as hot as 104 Fahrenheit.The meross outdoor smart plug still comes with many of the functions of its indoor counterparts, such as the ability to remotely toggle the power, set up timers, and integrated its controls with smart assistants or automation tools. And, this plug actually includes two sockets that you can control independently, letting you provide smarts to two outdoor electronics with just the one plug. If you’re in need of Apple HomeKit support, you won’t find it on this specific model, but meross has a separate model that works with HomeKit.
What to look for in a smart plug
Platform support
Most smart plugs come with a companion app that opens up the various features, but if youre already running at least one smart home platform Alexa, Google Assistant, Samsung SmartThings, HomeKit then youll want to make sure any smart plug you buy is compatible. Otherwise youll be juggling multiple apps, and nobody wants that.Weve tried to provide a variety of options above so you can find one that works with your setup. If youve not yet pledged allegiance to a smart home platform perhaps youre only just dipping in a toe then our advice is to choose a smart plug thats flexible with different assistants.
Scheduling and other automations
Youve bought a smart plug, you want features, right? Of course you do. But not all smart plugs work the same way. These days, remote control and scheduling are considered table stakes, but features such as vacation mode arent guaranteed.And think about how you want to integrate them with your other smart home gadgets. Some apps will let you build helpful automations across the companys range of products, but you may instead prefer to rely on Alexa, Google Assistant etc for your routines.
Energy monitoring
Energy monitoring is a rarer feature, but once youve got it you wont look back. We all want to do our bit for the environment of course, but lets be honest, we mostly want to save a few bucks. Energy monitoring can help you save money by providing insight into how many watts youre sucking throughout the day.But keep in mind that this feature is more detailed in some plugs than others. The Eve Energy provides some nice graphs, for example, while the ConnectSense Outlet2 just gives you an average.
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