You don’t have to outfit your entire house with expensive smart equipment—with potentially prying eyes—to experience the ease of life that comes with a smart home. A cheap smart plug will do. They can go a long way in making devices, like lamps or TVs, go from mindless to smart with the quick install of an app. We’ve tested several smart plugs and these are our favorites (and ones we didn’t like).
We have plenty of other recommendations to help you build a smarter home, so check out our guides to the Best Smart Bulbs, Best Smart Speakers, and Best Smart Displays.
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A Note on Smart Plugs
Tips Before You Buy
Before you start shopping for a smart plug, you’ll need to keep a few things in mind.
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What are you going to use it for? Not everything you connect to a smart plug will work the way you intend. For example, if you plug an old window AC unit into a smart plug, you might be able to control power to it, but you also might still need to hit the “On” button on the AC to get it to start cooling, therefore making the smart plug useless. If whatever you want to connect immediately starts its function with the flick of a switch (like fans, lamps, TVs), you’ll likely be OK.
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Be aware of the size. Smart plugs are thick and bulky. If you plug one into a socket, there’s a chance it might take up too much space, making it impossible to plug something else into your second socket. You can usually find a smart plug’s dimensions on the company or retailer’s website, so measure before you buy, and look at customer reviews that might mention such a hindrance.
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You’ll need an app. You usually need to install an app to set up the smart plug, and this is where you can control it and find more granular settings, like the ability to set schedules and group several smart plugs into one category. If you want to use many smart plugs in your home, you’ll have an easier time buying from one brand. Most of these plugs also work with Google Assistant or Alexa, so once you set up the app and connect them to your preferred voice assistant, you may not need to use the app anymore.
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You might experience connection issues. If your Wi-Fi or power goes out, you may have to reconnect your smart plug. It’s just one of those small annoyances of owning one.
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Photograph: Wyze
Best Overall
Wyze Plug
I’ve never been disappointed by a Wyze product, and that includes this smart plug. It’s cheap, but it doesn’t skimp on quality or function. The Wyze app is easy to navigate and the control screen is straightforward. You can toggle the plug on and off or set a timer, see your daily and weekly run time, and set it to vacation mode. With the latter, you can go out of town and Wyze’s plugs will turn on and off at random times during the day, making it look like someone’s home (potentially thwarting burglars). This is particularly helpful if you’re using the plugs with several lamps.
Works with Google Assistant and Amazon Alexa
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Photograph: TP Link
A Great Runner-Up
TP-Link Kasa Smart Plug HS105
Several WIRED staffers own and love these plugs, including senior associate editor Julian Chokkattu, who recommends them in our Best Smart Bulbs guide. He already owns fancy (and not smart) bulbs, but still wanted the ease of controlling them with his voice via Google Assistant. He connected several lamps to TP-Link’s HS105 plugs and has run into little to no issues after using them for more than a year. With the TP-Link Kasa app, you can group plugs together to turn on several items at once, see runtime, set routines, timers, and schedules. There’s also an “Away” mode that functions almost exactly like the Wyze Plug’s Vacation mode.
It’s a little pricier than the Wyze, but you can get the Kasa HS103 model for far less. The main difference between the two is the HS105 has a higher max load, so it’s better to use with devices that might require a bit more power, like fans.
Works with Google Assistant and Amazon Alexa
