If there are some non-smart electronic devices in your home that you don’t want to get rid of, there’s a cheap and easy way of upgrading them — pair them with smart plugs. Among the features that you can get from them include controlling your devices through a smartphone app, setting timers for switching on or off, and monitoring electricity usage. Smart plugs also integrate well with the different smart home platforms, which will be one of the most important factors to consider when deciding on your purchase. To help you make your choice, we’ve highlighted our top picks for the three most popular platforms: Amazon’s Alexa, Google Home, and Apple HomeKit.
The best smart plugs
- Best for Amazon’s Alexa:
- Best for Google Home:
- Best for Apple HomeKit:
- Best for outdoor:
- Best for energy monitoring:
- Best for lamps:
How to choose a smart plug
When buying a smart plug for a specific smart home platform, you need to make sure that it’s compatible with the corresponding voice assistant. Not all smart plugs will work with more than one voice assistant, which you should also think about if you like jumping between them in your everyday routines.
Smart plugs comes with various features, and you need to determine which ones are important for you. In addition to controlling the smart plugs remotely, creating schedules, and monitoring energy usage, smart plugs can also provide surge protection and extra outlets. You’ll also need to consider if you’ll be using them indoors or outdoors, as you’ll need to spend extra on outdoor smart plugs because they come with protection against the elements.
How we chose these smart plugs
We’ve reviewed smart plugs from various brands, and we’ve determined that these smart plugs provide the best balance of price, features, and performance. Their prices may change depending on the online sales that are happening, but they’re generally affordable devices that will provide you and your family with a wealth of benefits that will outweigh their cost.
Among our chief concerns when choosing smart plugs are their durability, which is important because we’re dealing with electricity here, and their ease of use, because we don’t want people going through complicated process to set up something that should make your lives simpler.
Amazon Smart Plug
| Pros | Cons |
| Works with Amazon’s Alexa | Not compatible with other digital assistants |
| Easy to set up | |
| Compact design | |
| No need for smart hub |
The Amazon Smart Plug was designed to work exclusively with Amazon’s Alexa, adding voice control to any outlet in your home. It’s very simple to set up — just plug it in an outlet, open the Alexa app in your smartphone, and follow the onscreen instructions. Once it’s up and running, you can turn on or turn off the device that’s on the smart plug remotely, and you can also create schedules. The Amazon Smart Plug is compact so it doesn’t hinder usage of the adjacent outlet, and it doesn’t need any smart home hubs to function.
| Specifications | |
|---|---|
| Connectivity | 2.5 GHz Wi-Fi |
| Compatibility | Amazon Alexa |
| Max Output | 15A |
| Energy Monitoring | No |
| Indoor or Outdoor | Indoor |
TP-Link Kasa Smart Plug
| Pros | Cons |
| Cheap price | Requires separate app from Google Home or Alexa |
| Works with Google Assistant, Amazon’s Alexa | |
| Simple setup process | |
| Manual on/off button |
The TP-Link Kasa Smart Plug is more affordable compared to its peers, but that doesn’t mean it sacrifices performance to keep its low cost. It works with both Google Assistant and Amazon’s Alexa for hands-free controlling of the devices plugged into it, and you can remotely access the smart plug through the Kasa app, which you’ll also use for its simple setup process. There’s also a button at the side of the TP-Link Kasa Smart Plug to manually turn it on or off, for your peace of mind when you’ll be gone for a while such as when going on a vacation.
| Specifications | |
|---|---|
| Connectivity | 2.4 GHz Wi-Fi |
| Compatibility | Amazon Alexa, Google Home |
| Max Output | 15A |
| Energy Monitoring | No |
| Indoor or Outdoor | Indoor |
Wemo Mini Smart Plug
| Pros | Cons |
| Automatically pairs with Apple Home | Relatively high price |
| No hub or subscription required | |
| Compact size | |
| Away Mode deters intruders |
Adding a smart plug to Apple’s HomeKit is made even easier by the Wemo Mini Smart Plug, which actually works with all the platforms that we’ve highlighted so far. It automatically pairs with the Apple Home app though, as long as you have the latest version of the Wemo app in your smartphone. There’s no need for a hub or a subscription to use the Wemo Mini Smart Plug, and its compact size will allow you to place multiples of them on a single wall outlet. It also offers an Away Mode that will randomly turn on and off the plugged in device to make it look like someone’s home when you’re all on a trip.
| Specifications | |
|---|---|
| Connectivity | 2.4 GHz Wi-Fi |
| Compatibility | Amazon Alexa, Google Home, Apple HomeKit |
| Max Output | 15A |
| Energy Monitoring | No |
| Indoor or Outdoor | Indoor |
TP-Link Kasa Outdoor Smart Plug
| Pros | Cons |
| Weather resistant | No energy monitoring |
| Works with Amazon’s Alexa, Google Assistant | |
| Built-in power amplifier for Wi-Fi connections | |
If you need a smart plug outside your home for light bulbs and other electrical installations, the TP-Link Kasa Outdoor Smart Plug could be your solution. It features IP64 weather resistance to protect it from the elements, and it also has a waterproof cover that you can attach when it’s not in use. It works with Amazon’s Alexa and Google Assistant, and it also has a built-in power amplifier that enables long-range Wi-Fi connections of up to 300 ft.
| Specifications | |
|---|---|
| Connectivity | 2.4 GHz Wi-Fi |
| Compatibility | Amazon Alexa, Google Home |
| Max Output | 15A |
| Energy Monitoring | No |
| Indoor or Outdoor | Outdoor |
Emporia Smart Plug
| Pros | Cons |
| Energy monitoring to help save on electricity costs | Requires Emporia app to set up and use |
| Works with Amazon’s Alexa, Google Assistant | |
| Affordable price |
The main feature of the Emporia Smart Plug is its capability to monitor the electricity that’s used by your device sand appliances, which will allow you to eliminate wasteful standby power and save on energy costs. The Emporia app will allow you to control the smart plug from anywhere, but it also has a manual power switch at the side. The Emporia Smart Plug works with Amazon’s Alexa and Google Home, and its slim profile doesn’t block nearby outlets.
| Specifications | |
|---|---|
| Connectivity | 2.4 GHz Wi-Fi |
| Compatibility | Amazon Alexa, Google Home |
| Max Output | 10A |
| Energy Monitoring | Yes |
| Indoor or Outdoor | Indoor |
Eightree Smart Dimmer Plug
| Pros | Cons |
| Zero to 100% dimming for lamps | Requires Smart Life app |
| Works with Amazon’s Alexa, Google Assistant | No energy monitoring |
The Eightree Smart Dimmer Plug works with different types of lamps, including LED, halogen, and incandescent, so you can use the Smart Life app for zero to 100% dimming depending on what you need. You’ll use the same app for setting up the smart plug, turning on and off the lamps that are plugged in, and setting schedules. The Eightree Smart Dimmer Plug works with Amazon’s Alexa and Google Assistant for voice commands with their respective apps and other smart home devices.
| Specifications | |
|---|---|
| Connectivity | 2.4 GHz Wi-Fi |
| Compatibility | Amazon Alexa, Google Home |
| Max Output | 3A |
| Energy Monitoring | No |
| Indoor or Outdoor | Indoor |
This article is managed and created separately from the Digital Trends Editorial team.
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