We spoke with smart home expert Marlon Buchanan, author of “The Smart Home Manual” and founder of HomeTechHacker.com, who highlighted the nearly universal usefulness of smart plugs. “Most devices in your home won’t have any problem with most smart plugs. However, to be safe, I always recommend getting a smart plug that is rated to handle at least the same number of amps as the outlet you are going to plug it into. In the U.S., this means 15 amp smart plugs.” To narrow down our list of top options, we researched a broad range of options with different sizes, price points, compatibility, and features to suit a variety of homes. The Kasa Smart Wi-Fi Plug Mini is our top overall choice for its voice assistant compatibility, which will fit most users’ needs, and excellent value. Here are our picks for the best smart plugs to make your home a little more intelligent, one outlet at a time. Using the smart plug gives you several convenient functions, from setting schedules and timers to an Away mode that turns appliances on and off to make it look like you’re home. You can also sync it up with other Kasa Smart devices or set up automation through If This Then That technology (IFTTT). This Kasa plug doesn’t include advanced energy monitoring features, but it offers enough to save most users plenty of time and money. Despite a lower price than most competitors, the Wyze Plug Outdoor also includes several higher-end features. In addition to two outlets that you can individually control from the Wyze app or voice commands through Alexa and Google Assistant (not Apple’s Siri), the plug includes an ambient light sensor so you can have it turn on or off based on how bright or dark it is. There are typical time-based schedules and a vacation mode, along with advanced energy monitoring that tracks how much power your devices are using. The app is where you can set schedules and timers and monitor the energy usage from each outlet. You can even group the outlets (and other Kasa Smart gadgets) for one-tap control. Measuring more than a foot long and weighing about 1.5 pounds, the power strip is on the large side, but it leaves ample room to plug in each power cord. ETL-certified surge protection also helps guard your appliances against electrical damage. You can set up schedules or use Away mode to have your lights randomly turn on and off, but this plug doesn’t track or report energy usage. Though the naming is slightly confusing, Wemo’s latest Wi-Fi Smart Plug is 45 percent smaller than the brand’s previous Wemo Mini model. It’s compact enough to use in one socket with enough space to plug a different appliance into the other. The way it works is that the smart plug records the power consumption of whatever device you plug into it. You can view that energy data in the Kasa Smart app in real-time or review historic stats from the past week or month. Knowing which devices use the most power or draw a phantom energy load at which times can help you adjust your usage or on/off schedules accordingly, saving you money in the long run. And, thanks to the smart plug’s remote access and voice controls (through Alexa and Google Assistant, but not Siri), making those adjustments is easy. While the Smart Outlet 2 is pricey, you can check the power consumption of each outlet in real-time using advanced energy monitoring features. The two outlets can be controlled independently and offer the rare versatility of supporting all three mainstream platforms: Alexa, Google Home, and Apple HomeKit. You can also adjust the brightness of the blue LED indicator light on each outlet. It’s a small but thoughtful touch you don’t see on other smart plugs. The big catch is that to use the smart features—i.e., controlling the dimmer with a mobile app or voice commands via Alexa, Google Assistant, or Siri—a hub like the Lutron Caseta Smart Bridge is required. Because of that requirement, the Caseta Wireless Plug-in Lamp Dimmer makes the most sense if you’re using a smart hub to connect to multiple dimmers or other smart devices.
Compatibility
Most smart plugs are compatible with Alexa and Google Assistant, but it’s less common to find options that support Apple’s HomeKit and Siri voice assistant. You’ll often have to pay a premium for compatibility with HomeKit (or all three). Many smart plugs also support IFTTT, which lets you find or create applets that automate how various devices and services interact with each other. For example, if you have a space heater plugged into your smart plug, you can have it turn on when your smart thermostat dips below a specific temperature.
Additional Features
The average smart plug doesn’t require a lot of complicated features to be effective—turning it on and off when you want it to is plenty useful. Some smart plugs, though, are designed with other specific functions in mind, like weather resistance for outdoor use or the ability to track power usage. “If you are interested in knowing how much energy the devices plugged into your smart plug are using, get a smart plug with energy monitoring,” Buchanan says. “Many of them have apps that will tell you the energy usage over time. You can also buy smart power strips that have surge protection and allow you to control each outlet individually.”
Why Trust The Spruce?
The “smart” aspect comes in because the smart plug connects to your home Wi-Fi network, opening up a world of possibilities simply related to turning the plug on or off. You can control it with voice commands or from an app on your phone even when you’re not home. You can set it to a daily schedule or sync it with other smart home devices to activate under certain conditions. “Unlike standard plugs, smart plugs allow homeowners to control the power to devices from anywhere in the world,” says Buchanan. “With this control, homeowners can automate holiday lights, lamps, portable heaters, electric blankets, and fans. They can remotely turn on or schedule their coffee makers.” Ideally, using a smart plug would reduce power consumption from plugged-in devices since smart plugs make it easier to turn off appliances that would usually stay running or draw vampire power throughout the day. That means a net saving on energy, depending on the type of appliance and how much you’re reducing its power consumption. “Many electronic devices are energy vampires, which means they use energy even when they aren’t being used,” warns Buchanan. “The only way to stop these devices from using energy is to unplug them or, using a smart plug, cut the power to them. Common vampire devices include toaster ovens, coffee makers, televisions, printers, and microwaves. Plugging vampire devices into a smart plug will save you energy (and money) if you schedule the power to these devices to be off when you are not likely to use them.”
